My husband. in the army so we move every two years.We have just moved to a new place The first thing they have done is to test my thyroid before writing out my prescription.
I sat and told the doctor that my pulse was low resting it is sometimes 49 it is 53 generally.He sat and nodded etc I asked him to check vitamin D and vitamin b12 and iron as I was breathless.He looked at my last results and tsh was 0.10. (0.35-5.0) ft4 was 14.6 (11-22.0) and told me to reduce my dose to 125mcg I'm on 150mcg.I didn't bother and had my bloods done and picked results up.
Tsh was 1.12 (0.35-5.0)
Ft4 13 (9.0-19.0)
nurse said fantastic you're slap bang in the middle.
And he didn't test ft3, Vit D or Vit b12 or iron.
I felt when I was in there but he was just playing lip service now I know I'm right they don't give a **** .I'm too scared to exercise as my chest hurts but going back to docs seems pointless.
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VanessaB
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Sorry to hear you are feeling so bad and it must be so frustrating to have to start from scratch every two years. Do you see an army doctor on a base or a civilian doctor outside?
If your chest is hurting to the extent you are too scared to exercise then you need to go back and tell the doctor that. You might be slap bang in the middle of the range but you are still feeling ill, with chest pains - they need further investigation. Could you take someone along with you for support next time you go.
I am sorry you are yet another whose physician knows little and neither does the nurse.
If you email louise.warvill@thyroiduk.org and ask for a cop of Dr Toft's Pulse online article. Read question 6 and make a new appointment and insist on some 20mcg of T3 being added to your reduced 125mcg of levo (I'm glad you didn't reduce from 150mcg).
Also they should have tested your Free T3 as that's the most efficient to test. Your T4 is too low and I doubt you are converting sufficient into T3. T3 as you most probably know is the Active hormone and we cannot function normally with too little.
Your pulse is far too low and it's very obvious you're not on sufficient. They are also going by the TSH only. Give them both a copy of the following so they can read and learn as we have to do,unfortunately,if we're to recover some semblance of good health.
The way doctors used to diagnose before these blood tests were introduced which should really be used for information rather than a diagnosis was to take our temp before rising and pulse plus our clinical symptoms.
As your pulse is so low and your heart has to work harder
Because her heart’s response to the stress hormones is blunted, the heart pumps too little blood into her general circulation. The resulting less-than-adequate flow of blood to her exercising muscles leaves them deficient of oxygen. And the oxygen deficit renders the muscles unable of accommodating her desire to exercise hard enough to lose weight.
another excerpt:
I want to emphasize that the TSH test has nothing whatever to do with guarding a patient’s cardiac safety. To infer that a patient has cardiac over-stimulation because the TSH level is low is scientifically unjustified and logically unsound. It is ludicrous for a doctor to make this inference when he can easily and directly monitor how the patient’s heart is responding.
Let me emphasize another important point: Some conventional endocrinologists have grossly exaggerated the cardiac risks of TSH-suppressive doses of thyroid hormone. When compared to replacement doses of thyroid hormone, TSH-suppressive doses are not associated with an increased incidence of ischemic heart disease. In fact, TSH-suppressive doses of thyroid hormone protect the heart. TSH-suppressive dosages lower the levels of blood fats more than replacement doses do. And higher-end doses of thyroid hormone can halt the progression of coronary artery disease. In patients who don’t have coronary artery disease, myocardial ischemia and/or infarction are rare even in those who are thyrotoxic.
Vanessa, I am sorry to read the type of treatment you received. I thought the military might do better but you may have seen a civilian MD. Others here still have hopes of reforming the system. I have lost the faith. I don't know how they prescribe there but levothyroxine is so cheap in many places and it is a pill you need for the rest of your life that it is ludicrous if they dole it out in 90-day periods.
Did the doctor look into past medical history? If not, he should have done a more thorough investigation just to fulfill his obligation for a new patient. I would be tempted to find another doctor since this one has failed in my estimation and probably won't respond. He's already shown his colors. Or, raise your dose and obtain more levo on your own to supplement your prescription.
My husband sees a military doctor.He thinks the NHS is brilliant his doctor has sent him to have a camera down his throat for heartburn an MRI for a slipped disc an eye operation for these he's never had to wait.I wish I was under army care I just have to change GP's which can be hit and miss.I feel like giving up with it all and trying to get by.The look on the doctors faces totally blank as you try and explain information you've gleaned elsewhere.
Unfortunately, we have to read and learn in order to recover our health as best we can. Doctors/Endos aren't aware of how unwell we can be and, before we were hypo, we wouldn't have believed that even when medicated we could feel worse.
As thyroid hormones are vital for our whole body's function we must have optimum. Too low a dose makes us unwell and can also cause more serious problems, i.e. heart etc as everything is too slow and it cannot pump efficiently. That's why we find that our pulse and temp are too low. Unfortunately doctors are completely unaware of this phenomenon, it would seem to me.
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