Back to the doctors - armed with the Thyroid UK symptom checklist!

[kk12]

Ok sorry for the long list but here are my hypothyroid symptoms.

My TSH is 3.4, my Free T4 is 15, I am negative for Thyroid Peroxidase antibody levels - T3 and other antibody test not done as yet.

Not on any thyroid meds.

These tests were done in May 2015 and I am now taking supplements - My B12 is low at 433 . My folate is low at 5.9.My Ferritin is low at 26, my Vit D level is 47.

I'm suffering from excessive tiredness all the time just having a shower tires me out and I can't seem to get myself going till 11am.

Weight gain - I've put on 2 stone in a year despite eating a mainly low carb, high protein, high good fat diet.

I've developed pins and needles recently in my left hand and fingers. I've been suffering from bouts of insomnia and poor sleep patterns, severe loss of libido, had an attack of candida after a really heavy period a few months ago, hoarse voice, constantly having to clear my throat, have had this for years! Muscle locks particularly in my neck and shoulders, constantly cricking noises. Joint stiffness in particular my knees. Low basal body temperature, consistent in the 35's on waking, sometimes even below that!

Feeling dizzy and nausea a lot of the time. Intermittent tinnitus (had for years) but ears also feel blocked.

Scalloped tongue - this freaked me out as never noticed my tongue much but read something on here and went to the mirror to check my tongue and yep scalloped! Dry mouth, lump in throat sensation, feel very mucusy in my nose as though I have a cold when I don't.

I've always had crap eyelashes and frequently lose them. Luckily my hair and nails have not been affected.... yet although my nails suffered for a period of time last year when they went very brittle.

I have a dry scalp and some dry patches on my skin. I've had a yellow pallor to my skin in certain places and have tended to bruise easily. Despite a stringent cleansing and exfoliating regime, I have some nasty spots on my face, always at the sides of my face.

I suffer from severe migraines and pressure headaches a lot of the time. For years I believed I had menstrual migraines as they occured with my cycle. They are still occuring but now seem to happen at any time and are more severe.

I've suffered from intermittent back pain and wrist pain.... at one point I thought I had carpal tunnel syndrome however it came on suddenly and went away suddenly.

Again intermittent but I've also suffered from an intense, itchy sensation on the soles of my feet, comes out of nowhere!

Recently, I've developed alcohol intolerance - I can literally have 1 glass of wine and my head is swimming!

Abdominal distention - oh yes, I can look like I am easily 6 months pregnant side on.

My fat.... no I don't have rolls of fat that you can pinch, I have that lovely fluid thing!

I did have an episode of high blood pressure last year which has now got back to normal.

I am a walking advert for menstrual disorders - I've had all of them. I have been told I am peri menopausal which could account for this so I have gone from having a very normal 28 day cycle to now having cycles of 3/4 months in length, not ovulating. My last period lasted for 2 weeks but was very scanty, the period before that was normal in length but so heavy, I actually thought I could be having a miscarriage.

Vision - I am short sighted but all of a sudden last year, I needed my glasses to look at the TV properly, I have poor focus, dry and gritty eyes (suffer from blepharitis) and blurred vision.

All these physical and very real symptoms are now having an emotional effect on me.... I feel old, fat and ugly, I don't want to go out, I don't want to socialise, I feel social apathy, I feel like I've lost enjoyment and fun in my life, like my sparkle has gone so yes I do feel depressed but not because I am depressed in myself, I'm depressed due to feeling like crap!

Where my symptoms don't fit the typical hypothyroid checklist is that I feel warm most of the time. I have to kick off the bed covers in the night, I feel warm, my hands are warm.

I've not suffered hair loss or nail issues, they seem to grow fine.

I've had issues with sugar/salt cravings which have eased by taking a Magnesium supplement.

With all these clinical symptoms, how can a doctor just say no don't think it's your thyroid.... if it isn't my thyroid then please tell me what it is! I want to be well again... I want to go out and feel well and enjoy my life!

[Hidden]

NHS does not care about symptoms, they only care about box ticking and tsh level. If mine is not suppressed i feel awful. They will probably offer you anti depressants

[kk12 in reply to Hidden]

They will be told where to go if they do! i don't want to mask my symptoms, I want to deal with the symptoms that are causing the issues - I suspect that a lot of people self medicate from what I've read and if that's the case and they feel well then happy to do so!

[shaws Administrator]

You certainly have many symptoms of hypothyroidism. This is a couple of links from Thyroiduk.org.uk

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

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

In some countries we would be given thyroid hormones with a TSH of around 3+. In the UK we are backward and the guidelines tell GPs to wait until TSH is 10. You will see from the link above re Thyroid Blood tests interpretation that doctors have a lot to learn when they ignore our clinical symptoms.

The following is an archived link which may be helpful for you as well. Some links within might not work as it's archived as Dr Lowe died two years ago

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

Before the blood tests were introduced we were diagnosed on clinical symptoms alone and given a trial of natural dessicated thyroid hormones and if we improved we had hypothroidism. That is when medical students were taught how to diagnose patients by symptoms but nowadays, despite our symptoms which are ignored completely in favour of a computer print-out.

[kk12 in reply to shaws]

I know if I was in America then I would be treated - it seems a travesty that thyroid issues are not treated uniformly!

I had no idea that drs nowadays don't look at clinical symptoms anymore rather than relying on lab test results - that's what I thought learning medicine was all about!

[shaws Administrator in reply to kk12]

If they learn, it has to be from us the suffering patients if not doing well on levothyroxine or remaining undiagnosed. I don't understand why clinical symptoms aren't taken into account either. Of course, I forgot, an emminent doctor said that once our TSH is 'in range' but we still had dissatisfaction with levothyroxine that in actual fact what we were suffering from was not insufficient levo but we had a mental health disorder (he made it sound much nicer and called it a 'somatization disorder}. You couldn't make it up - could you.

[Roadrunnergreg]

Hi you have a lot that needs testing and addressing, low Vit D, B12, Folate, Vit d and B12 can account for some of the symptoms, as for you losing your eye lashes that's a visual sign of your hypothyroidism. B12 level should be in the upper 1/8 th Vit d above 50 ideally near the 80 range,

What doctors don't realise is that with hypothyroidism with other nutrients it's not if your in range it's where you fall in that range that's important, and normally it's in the upper quadrants of the ranges, or you still feel crap as many of us can attest to.

As for taking supplements it's the quality IE the absorption rate that's important, it's not worth taking a supplement that has so called 100% of all the nutrients in it, if your body cannot absorb them. I've been on both sides of that fence a good indicator of a good supplement is if you start feeling the benefits in a week or two. Hope that helps you...

[kk12 in reply to Roadrunnergreg]

I feel that I have got slightly more energy than I did have since taking the supplements for Vit D and the B complex and I certainly felt the difference re: sugar/salt cravings with taking magnesium which I wasn't tested for - I do believe that should only have been tested - however, it's not the full picture as the T3 and other antibody test weren't done and I know it can be difficult to get T3 done so if I don't get any joy from the Dr's then I will get private blood tests done.

[Roadrunnergreg in reply to kk12]

Yèah know what you mean about blood tests, it's the labs they are crap as the people doing it think that your previous tests put a definite relevance on what needs testing, instead of trying to tell a story. Example if your FT3/4 is in range even low they don't test it next time and just do the TSH Yet the FT3/4 etc tell a bigger story. We're in an age where we depend on sites like this via Dr Google look up STTM On Facebook (stop the thyroid madness) you'll get a lot of info there ok...