swollen hands

[nichola79]

Has anyone suffered with swollen hand's and feet and know what cause's it?

[JellyJac]

Yeah me.... Think it is par for the course with UAT, but I also have stage 3 kidney disease so am convinced that has something to do with it.

[Hennerton]

You may not be on an optimum dose of medication. Do you have your most recent thyroid blood tests? If so, post here for members to comment, indicating what dose you are on.

[shaws Administrator]

Nicola, Swelling is a clinical symptom of hypothyroidism. Thanks for giving some info on your profile and I see you aren't diagnosed yet despite complaining to GP. Make a new appointment and ask for a Full Thyroid Function blood test, TSH, T4, T3, Free T4 and Free T3 plus antibodies. If he says you had one a while ago, tell him you have another new clinical symptom, i.e. swelling. Make your blood test at the earliest possible and also ask for Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate. Get a print-out of your blood tests and post for comments.

Some doctors stick strictly to the guidelines which say people shouldn't be medicated until 10 is reached and they also don't know clinical symptoms. In the USA many states medicate above 3.

Some links for you and tick off the symptoms you have and show to your GP:-

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/diagno...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[nichola79 in reply to shaws]

Thank you, I do have thyroid antibodies and will be paying privately for a full thyroid panel, I am actually seeing a private doctor that deals with b12 and thyroid issues and don't go by blood work on the 22nd January

[shaws Administrator in reply to nichola79]

That's good and I hope you are able to get well soon.

[shaws Administrator in reply to nichola79]

If you have thyroid antibodies your GP should have prescribed levothyroxine. If you email [e-mail] and ask for a copy of the Pulse online article by Dr Toft, read the question re antibodies where Dr T says to medicate 'to nip things in the bud'. You will become hypo but you should have levothyroxine now.

[Hidden]

I had a course of Manual Lymphatic Drainage by a qualified therapist who does a lot of work with cancer patients. My feet and ankles were swollen, also had a haematoma that wouldn't shift. It helped a great deal and it's most relaxing. In addition I was advised to wear support hosiery as much as possible.

When I was untreated for hypo, my feet were so swollen that I could only wear Crocs.

[PiggySue]

Hi Nichola79

That swelling (as well as my face) was the first thing to go once I started self medicating. It went quickly, within about a week. It does still come back to my fingers and feet, but is much less and not there all the time. I have antibodies and was low iron, low ferritin etc, with all the symptoms, but doctor still did not treat me, and I got fed up going back all the time - they said they would not treat until my TSH was over 5, so no treatment at 4.8, which I got several times. I think that basically the NHS tell GPs to wait with Hashi's until the thyroid has failed.

Tell your doctor, though, you might have one of the good ones, and take your list of symptoms as suggested by Shaws.

Good luck!

[Glynisrose]

I suffer all the time from swollen hangs, I recently had a problem with my foot and ankle swelling withiut injury, reason or rhyme!! Discovered it was from lack of salt.

[harleychick]

Are you on your feet a lot? Do you have a lot of salt on your foods? Get a pair of compression sox and it will help with the swollen feet. For the hands get isotope gloves and wear them at night