I have had my recent bloods back and I am unsure what to make of them - please could you all advise.
I cannot get back to see the endo until December and I am climbing the wall feeling so unwell.
Recently my hair is really falling out, my face and eyes are swollen and my tongue is swollen too and scalloped. I feel increasingly worse on levothyroxine since my dose has been alternated between 75mg one day and 100mg the next. My stomach is swollen, I am terribly constipated and feel sick and no appetite. No libido, poor skin - breathless, exhausted easily, sleeping late in the morning, not springing out of bed and then cannot sleep at night. Don't feel rested. Joints are stiff and muscles and tendons are tight. I feel AWFUL.
Here are the results from 28th October -
Free T4 12.4 pmol/l (9-23)
Free T3 3.9 pmol/l (2.5-5.7)
TSH 2.02mIU/L (0.3-.2) This taken after my morning dose of levo
I am negative for Coeliac - Anti nuclear antibody - rheumatoid factor.
Results from 29th September -
FT4 12.4
FT3 3.9
TT4 124
TSH 3.53
TPO 11.3
Thyroglobulin 293.6
Ferritin 9 (trying to take hemagenics Iron with Vit C in evening but constipated and feeling unwell)
Vit D 90 (not supplementing as makes me feel fluey and unwell at present - looking into vit d dysfunction)
B12 165 (getting jabs every month now)
I don't quite understand what the T4 levels should be or the T3 - how it all works - and where the TT4 should be.
I was overmedicated back in March and my dose was reduced to 75mg and felt better. My thyroglobulin also came down as did my weight and my cholesterol with reducing the dose.
Now having been on 75mg since March I have now swung hypo and feel horrendous. I have alternated my dose the last three weeks as mentioned above - but now feeling worse again and the depression is really bad as is the PMT. My body is all over the place and my hormones are running riot. I feel so out of balance and I am struggling to eat, leave the house, exercise, get out of bed - basically I have no life right now.
I am convinced I am allergic to Levo and if this is the case why won't the NHS pay for armour? That's if it will even work! If I have a legitimate case for it making me more ill?
Again I ask - if I come off levothyroxine - can I balance my thyroid by taking iodine?
They haven't diagnosed Hashimotos - and again my question is - if it is Hashis - why?
My gut instinct is to come off the medication and see how my body reacts - I feel very toxic at the moment. I have high inflammation in my body but no explanation as to what is causing it. Last test for adrenal fatigue ages ago came back alright - but I am wondering if I am now slipping into adrenal fatigue again.
Too many questions and no answers.
Please do help and advise !! I am really struggling here and I know you all understand!!
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V_afp
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V_afp, In future take Levothyroxine after your blood draw as it may skew your results and FT4 may show falsely high.
I think you are undermedicated. The goal of Levothyroxine is to restore the patient to euthyroid status which usually means TSH 1.0 and FT4 in the upper quadrant of range. Your TSH is a little high and your FT4 low so you will benefit from a dose increase.
Thyroglobulin is positive for autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's). UK doctors are peculiarly reluctant to use the term and may refer to it as thyroiditis or chronic thyroiditis. Hashimoto's isn't treated, the resulting low thyroid levels are replaced with Levothyroxine. The inflammation you have may be due to Hashimoto's. Adopting 100% gluten-free diet may help reduce Hashi flares, symptoms and antibodies and may improve your digestion and bloating too.
VitD 90 is in the replete 75-90 range so there's no need to supplement. Ferritin 9 is very low, optimal is >100. Taking each iron tablet with 1,000mg vitamin C may minimise constipation and the Cambodian Fish used when cooking may raise iron levels gently too healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....
Iodine isn't a replacement for Levothyroxine, and supplementing iodine in Hashi patients isn't recommended as it may cause Hashimoto's flare ups. It's not uncommon to feel better when Levothyroxine is stopped for a few days but the *feel good* rarely lasts beyond a week or two as Levothyroxine leaves your system and hypothyroid symptoms return, and it then takes a few weeks getting thyroid levels back up with symptoms lagging by a couple of months when you resume Levothyroxine.
I don't know how you prove to your GP or endo that you are having adverse reactions to Levothyroxine, my endo was deaf to my complaints and insisted Levothyroxine didn't cause the adverse efects I complained of. I proved it to my own satisfaction on 2 occasions when Levothyroxine was stopped for several weeks to clear it, and I experienced adverse effects within hours or resuming it both times. The 2nd time I added Liothyronine (T3) which calmed the adverse effects Levothyroxine caused and improved my low FT3. 6 months after I'd been self medicating Levothyroxine and T3 endo agreed my health was vastly improved and prescribed the combination.
It's unlikely you will be prescribed NDT which isn't licenced for UK use. Most people using NDT buy on the internet and self medicate. It is worth asking your endo for T3 to be added to your Levothyroxine to see whether symptoms improve and if refused, to consider buying online and self medicating.
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.
Hello V_afp,
Sorry to hear that you are feeling so unwell.
A high TGAb level can indicate Graves Disease but as you appear hypothyroid I am assuming you have Hashimotos which will cause inflammation.
TSH is too high and T4 & T3 too low being under half way through range. Many members function best with a TSH of 1.0 or under and T4 & T3 in upper quadrant of range.
As your thyroid is attacked, hormone is dumped into the blood stream making you feel very hyper. Increasing your Levo will suppress these attacks as will raising T3 levels.
If you have a high antibody count, iron and nutrient deficiencies this may inhibit thyroid hormone synthesis. Low thyroid hormones will comprise the body which will put a strain on the adrenals and cause low//high cortisol. This can inhibit thyroid function further.
Test results can look pretty ok but are not measuring the T3 at cellular level so you may not be receiving an adequate amount of active T3 into your cells which would cause hypothyroid symptoms. If your body is not using Levo correctly you can become toxic on unused thyroid hormone which will also cause inflammation.
Low thyroid hormone may encourage low stomach acid, slow bile flow and damage the mucus lining of the stomach. This will lead to malabsorption of thyroid hormones and nutrients, IBS or gut dybolisis and cause high cholesterol.
Disclaimer: 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.
Gosh thank you - I did not realise my t4 and t3 levels were low. I had mentioned to endo that I had taken my medication that morning before spontaneous blood test and he said it didn't make much difference ! Which frustrated me!! I do usually take it post blood tests.
I have been gluten free for five years now but still no improvement.
I think I am def low in stomach acid.
Interesting to read about supplementing with the t3 and t4. Would you advise the synthetic? I imagine that would be cost effective as armour is expensive - however, armour also gives me t3 and t4 is that correct?
Why would my body not be using the levo correctly? is there a way to identify that through testing?
ALL thyroid meds will only work well with optimal nutrient, iron levels and good adrenal function.
If you are menopausal, oestrogen dominance causes the liver to produce high levels of a protein called “thyroid binding globulin”, which binds the thyroid hormone and decreases the amount of thyroid hormone that can be utilised by the cells.
Thyroid test function may be perfect, but if it’s all bound, it can’t get into the cells.
Low stomach acid can be improved by supplementing Betaine HCI with Pepsin. This will improve absorption and general gut health (see link below). I also supplement a biliary support and take digestive enzymes with every meal.
A gluten free diet is excellant but you probably haven't seen any improvement because your thyroid hormones are too low.
I medicated T4 (Levothyroxine) and T3, since June of this year and feel so much better.
I consider Armour to be a little more difficult to medicate as appears to only work with very tight controls on nutrients, iron, cortisol and low thyroid antibodies but does suit many. However I haven't used it.
If I were you I would concentrate on gut health to improve absorption, which will improve nutrition, which should improve thyroid hormone absorption and conversion of T4 - T3. If symptoms hadn't improved in 4-6 months I would look at adding T3 to my T4.
Unfortunately thyroid hormones can not be rushed so everything takes a while to balance.
You would probably benefit from supplementing 200 mcg selenium which not only helps with T4-T3 conversion but also reduces antibodies.
Disclaimer: 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.
When my levothyroxine dose increased and start to build in my body, I thought I'm allergic to it too! I discovered that caffeine is causing it, while on levothyroxine, I need to cut caffeine 100% to feel well. Let me know if you try this what happen!
Ha I haven't taken caffeine for 6 years due to adrenal stress. But interesting to know. Also coffee blocks thyroxine absorption apparently. thank you though
I miss tea and coffee too still not used to this!!
But for you, maybe something else interacting with the medication, for example, another medications or food, you need try and error, first thing to consider is weather consume any sweet drinks or any food with sugar?
I am off all gluten and dairy including eggs due to intolerance. I've also cut out yeast and dramatically lowered sugar intake. I'm vegetarian also which makes it v difficult to get everything in as well as iron and protein. When I feel sick and tired I don't feel hungry so then I don't cook / eat which just makes everything worse. It's really hard
Dear Vafp, throwing the proverbial spanner but you may wish to know this: I had all hypothyroid symptoms, much like you, worsening as my GP increased my dose of Levo. New GP cut dose down to just over half and I am far better.
My theory is that with the high dose of Levo my body 'read' that there was plenty of thyroxine in my blood and reduced its own output, my follow on theory being that my body could not convert synthetic thyroxine from T4 to T3, hence the worsening hypo symptoms on high dose.
Could be rubbish, but might be worth keeping in mind.
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