Self medicating?

[44Maxine]

Hi guys so ive had all my bloods back within normal range TSH 1.6

FT4 15.3 & FT3 5.1,

Yet my symptoms suggest otherwise, with debilitating fatigue, weight gain and digestive problems, so ive decided to order Nutri adrenal and also armour thyroid medication online to self treat, does anyone know what i would likely take dose wise with those test results or should i just build up each week until i start to feel well again😀....

Thanks in advance xx

[Hidden]

Have you tried to track down your digestive probs - h pylori? celiac? gluten sensitivity? What digestive probs? and have you had tests for your iron and B12 levels?

[galathea]

Wouldn't self medicate with those results.... Not unless you have a definite reason like raised antibodies..... Without the ranges it's hard to tell, but your free t3 looks pretty healthy. Any thyroid mess like NDT may push you too high and that's a pretty horrible feeling.

Of course, you might have a problem using the hormones you have. Maybe a thyroid uptake test...? (Usually a urine test)

All sorts of things can mimic hypothyroid.... Or stop you using the hormones.... Adrenals, b12, iron, ferritin, I would be checking that all these are good before embarking on a thyroid replacement.

I am not against self treatment, I self treat, but taking thyroid hormones if you don't need them isn't good... Check out everything else first.

Good luck,

G xx

[Jazzw]

Doesn't look like a thyroid problem - those results suggest your thyroid's in perfect working order. I know you'll have seen us here point to results in normal range and say there's still a thyroid problem, but when all three results - TSH, T4 and T3 - are where yours are, it becomes far less likely that the thyroid's the culprit.

I would suggest you check out Vit B12 next and your iron levels - B12 deficiency and anaemia have very similar symptoms.

[phoenix23002]

Without ranges with your numbers, it is hard to tell what is going on. I don't know your age but our sex hormones (estrogen/progesterone/testosterone) can start going wacky in our early forties/fifties. Mine started with insomnia, then heavy periods, then irritability, moodiness, bloating, brain fog.. so many symptoms can overlap with others for a variety of conditions.

I read the book 'What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause' by Dr. John Lee and started with a tiny dose of OTC natural progesterone cream (less than the 20 mgs suggested in the book) and the first thing that resolved was my insomnia (thank goodness). You might look into that and/or read the book.

One thing you can do is track your body temp and heart rate for a few weeks. I wouldn't suggest self-treating with NDT. The temp/heart rate monitoring might give you more insight as to whether or not low thyroid might be your problem. Traditionally, low body temp and low heart rate can indicate underactive thyroid functioning. Years ago, before the cursed TSH test became the 'gold standard', hypo was diagnosed/treated by tracking temp/heart rate and symptoms.

For NDT (natural desiccated thyroid (extract)) to work optimally, iron and adrenals must be within healthy ranges. Any chance your doc might ck these for you? At this point you have no clue what might be causing your problems. You could make things worse instead of better. Our bodies are wondrous things with a delicate, chemical 'dance' going on all the time. Using the wrong thing can throw a monkey wrench into the whole works and create unforeseen imbalances.

[44Maxine]

Hiya thanks for replys... I'm 28 yo, yes ive had my adrenals checked and treated, also had all digestive tests but chronic constipation persists, along with chronic fatigue, brain fog etc...im also taking oestrogen as of the last 3 weeks... My reference ranges are Tsh 1.6 (ref: 0.2-4.2) FT4 15.3 (ref:12-22) FT3 5.1 (ref: 3.1-6.8) the strange thing is last year my fatigue was even worse than now were i couldnt get out of bed for weeks on end and my TSH was at 2.65, but now with my fatigue i can actually get good days but my fatigue leaves me bedbound off any physical activity.... So i figured i would try the thyroid treatment at half grain every other day for a week and if i have any adverse effects would stop and try using the nutri adrenal to see if my adrenals need futher repair b4 introducing any thyroid treatment... Whilst reading through all the info on here and the STTM, i figured although my results look within range my body may still require a little bit of thyroid help to function properly as we all have different thresholds and maybe my TSH may need to be al little lower, and my FT3 may need to be just that little bit higher😊... Xx

[Hidden]

I believe you are suppossed to stop thyroid treatment for a while if you are going to treat adrenals. Read Dr Peatfeilds book it has instructions on how to do it.

I have similar issues to yourself and have recently sent my saliva test of to genova. I am starting to treat adrenals soon but I have over the past few week felt much better since starting ashwangana. It is a herb that balances hormones and is supposed to give you stamina of a horse. Very cheap from amazon. I use swansons brand.