hashimotos

[olcxx]

hello everyone, i am 22 years old and have recently been diagnosed with hashimoto's after feeling ill and fobbed off for three years. this affected my studies and unfortunatly i had to leave universitie. i was diagnosed when my anti bodies were at seven hundred and tsh at 16. i am on 25mg levothyroxine and my tsh levels have come down but i still feel very poorly. Recently i have become extremely tired, very thirsty/dry mouth, shacky and so on. i am wondering weather this is just the hashimoto's or am i developing another autoimmune desease as im feeling slighty worse and slighty different. Any suggestions would be appriciated

[PinkNinja]

That is a very low starting dose reserved for the elderly and those with a heart condition. You should have started on at least 50mcg so no wonder you feel so awful. Dose should then be increased every 4-6 weeks until your symptoms disappear. Most doctors prefer TSH to remain in the normal range but increases shouldn't be stopped purely because your TSH has come down to below 5.

If you could get your latest thyroid test results and any other test results (with the reference ranges) and post them on the forum, we will be able to give more specific information. You are entitled to know your blood test results complete with the reference ranges.

I'm sorry you were fobbed off and are now not receiving the treatment you should be getting.

You may find the main Thyroid UK website helpful. The menu on the left has links to lots of information on thyroid disease and associated problems.

thyroiduk.org.uk

I hope this helps

Carolyn x

[olcxx in reply to PinkNinja]

thank you very much for your reply. i did up the dose from 25mg to 5Omg but only twice a week and on the days i did this i felt pretty bad so my endo said to bring it down again and if symptoms continued then to go to the GP for other causes other than the thyroid?!? im so very frustrated with all of this and feel like my life can't continue untill i get everything back to normal. it so nice to have people who actually want to help make you feel better and to actually talk to. i had an ultrasound also but the results were that there was nothing 'sinister' and it was expected with hashimotos. my last bloods were back in december and were a tsh 3.56 and t4 of 14.9

Thank you again for your help

xx

[Clutter in reply to olcxx]

Olcxx, you are undermedicated. TSH should be just below or above 1.0 and FT4 higher in range. Sometimes a dose increase can initially make symptoms worse but usually improves after a week to 10 days. You could try increasing to 50mcg daily and ride out the symptoms or increase slower by cutting a 25mcg tablet in half and increasing to 37.5mcg for a couple of weeks before increasing to 50mcg.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[olcxx in reply to Clutter]

thank you for your reply. i think i will talk to my endo and see if they think this would help-which it probably would. i guess i can ride out the symptoms as they are all just merging into one.

many thanks again

[PinkNinja in reply to olcxx]

Your TSH is still quite high in range but it sounds like you are not tolerating thyroxine very well at the moment. There are a few possible reasons for this. One of the most likely is that your iron levels aren't very good. Serum iron needs to be well within range and ferritin is best, it seems, at 70-90. It would be a good idea to get these tested.

As well as those tests, please ask them to check folate, vitamin b12 and vitamin D. These can cause symptoms even if low normal, especially the b12 and folate. You many benefit from supplementing these.

Another possibility is that your adrenals aren't responding as well as they did, especially if you have been unwell for a while. It used to be that doctors would test your cortisol level before prescribing thyroxine but it doesn't always happen. If your cortisol is low or high at different times of the day, your body may not tolerate increases in thyroxine even if your body needs more thyroxine. This is usually treated with self help measures unless the cause is Addison's disease or cushing's. it is a good idea to get your cortisol tested to see if there is an issue. A 24 hour saliva test is best but this is a private test. There are links to private tests on the main thyroid UK website I linked to.

It may be a slow process but hopefully you will notice gradual improvements as athe various things get sorted out.

When you have the tests done, please post them on the forum and I'm sure one of us will be able to help.

Carolyn x