update

[tootired]

Meant to post this earlier but playing catch up at the moment due to daily migraines my house is a riot!

Asked my G.p 2 weeks ago if I could start combination therapy she didn't say yes or no just that she would contact the NHS endo for advice! 3 days later she phoned to say she has a referral in a months time for me with the endo- don't know how she done it because I've been asking for years! not getting too excited though!

I kept my calm with my Gp and handed over papers on the effectiveness of T3 and reiterated I felt worse on the T4 with all my symptoms and new ones as I am gaining lots of weight with the so called migraine prevention pills I've been trying which means my BMI is obscene and my blood pressure is heading up.

So I had my blood test re-done I fasted and didn't take my thyroxine prior to the blood test. These are my results:

Iron 11.6

B12: 499

TSH: 4.42

T4:14.8

Receptionist told this was all normal but Previously my TSH was 1.21 and my T4 was 17.4 - is this quite a jump in numbers?

[shaws Administrator]

By fasting etc you have enabled your TSH to be 'true' and you are definitely due a rise in hormones.

Your TSH is far too high for someone who is on levothyroxine. The aim is for our TSH to be around 1. Not nearly 5 - which means you are very under-dosed with levothyroxine. No wonder you are 'too tired'.

It's a pity that doctors only refer to the TSH for diagnosis and ignore the patient's disabling clinical symptoms.

At least your are now being referred to an Endocrinologist and I sincerely hope he is sympathetic and you have a good consultation. He may also prescribe T3 on a trial basis initially. (I hope so).

Never take the word 'normal' from anyone especially a Receptionist. We have to be our own 'physician' unfortunately for many of us. Always get a print-out with the ranges as they are important because labs differ in their machines and it enables members to comment.

Some of us need a TSH to be suppressed.

B12 could be higher - around 1,000 is recommended. You can supplement with B12 methylcobalamin sublingual which you can buy from Amazon using the affiliate link below which is self-explanatory.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

"I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical guidance from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions"

[tootired in reply to shaws]

Thanks I thought the T4 was high on checking one of my thyroid books ya the receptionist told me I didn't need to fast ! I know now! I will get my T3 checked once I do the Thyroid urine test waiting till next week as I have an op on wed and I want to wait till the anaesthetic has cleared my system before I do my hormone and thyroid test. Hopefully I will have the result for my endo appointment but I feel better informed already just ordered the B12 thanks again

[shaws Administrator in reply to tootired]

I hope your op goes fine and you recover quickly from anaesthetic.

It is a big learning curve I must admit - we would never have expected to learn so much in order to recover our health. When first diagnosed and given levo we don't expect to feel much worse with many more symptoms (I did anyway) than before. Neither do we expect to search the internet. Thankfully we now have this forum for support and info.