Huzzah!: My hair's stopped falling out and I'm... - Thyroid UK

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Huzzah!

hose1975 profile image
9 Replies

My hair's stopped falling out and I'm hitting the tiredness wall later and later in the day.

Whisper it, but I think my ferritin and fT3 levels may be reaching optimum.

However, I don't know whether it's the increase in T3 meds or the continued climb of my ferritin levels which are doing this. Maybe both. Or neither.

Anyhow, it makes a nice change.

Now to batter my GP into giving me HRT. (On my first set of bloods, clearly showing premature / early menopause, he started quoting the million women study at me. Like I'm not going to go and look that up: cohort was women aged 50+. Idiot.)

Upwards, comrades!

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hose1975 profile image
hose1975
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9 Replies

hose,

That is great news.

Iron and T3 rely on each other so it sounds as if your iron is raising whilst T3 is being better uptaken on a cellular levels.

Poor gut absorption may result in low digestive acids/enzymes due to hypothyroidism & lower iron uptake, as can being vegetarian ( ?).

Some ferratin is stored in the hair follicle so a deficiency means your body will steal.

Thyroid peroxidase (TPO) is an iron containing enzyme that initiates thyroid hormone synthesis. An iron deficiency will impair conversion of T4-T3 and can make thyroid meds hard to tolerate.

The endocrine system works in synergy and there is a distinct intricate connection between our thyroid and sex hormones.

HRT causes the liver to produce a higher level of a protein called TBG (thyroid binding globulin), which binds the thyroid hormone and decreases the amount available for use. Therefore if you go on HRT you will need thyroid hormone levels monitored for the first 3 months incase you need a thyroid hormone meds dose raise. Make sure your doctor is aware of this.

Flower

Iron & thyroid hormone connection

tiredthyroid.com/cofactors....

HRT causes TBG to bind to thyroid hormone.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/127...

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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.

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hose1975 profile image
hose1975 in reply to

Thanks, Flower. My ferritin level when last tested (mid-Dec 2015) was just under halfway in range. The endo I saw last summer advised that I should probably stay on ferrous fumarate for life. However, my fT3 was still quite low in range (4.1 (3.5-6.5)) so I've increased my dose of T3 as well, by 12.5 mcg (although not all at once, obviously). Will stay on current dosage of 150 mcg T4 and 22.5 mcg T3 for now and see what next bloods, due at the end of this month, say.

shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator

Maybe your doctor hasn't read the latest reports. Excerpt:

It should also be appreciated that, in a surprising turnabout, subsequent publication of the full WHI results showed the apparent increased risk for breast cancer was only found in those who had taken HRT before entering the study. In addition, whereas the authors claimed initially that there was no difference in effects with age, further analyses from both the combined HRT and oestrogen alone WHI studies have shown no increase in heart disease in women starting HRT within 10 years of the menopause. This about turn and retraction of some of the previous findings has received little publicity in the media. Furthermore, a large controlled trial from Denmark reported in 2012 has demonstrated that healthy women taking combined HRT for 10 years immediately after the menopause had a reduced risk of heart disease and of dying from heart disease.

womens-health-concern.org/h...

and another

Health experts in Britain said that many doctors were still confused by the research and were frightened to recommend HRT despite the wide benefits. Many women suffering symptoms are currently prescribed anti-depressants.

Professor John Studd, consultant gynaecologist at the London PMS and Menopause Clinic, said: "The problem is that most GPs are frightened of HRT – they will have learned as medical students that it is linked to health risks, and it sticks in their minds.

"But those studies that were replicated in the textbooks were worthless – they were completely rubbish. They collected the data all wrong.

"HRT has huge benefits in terms of relief of menopausal symptoms – there is less depression and women feel better."

A separate poll released today by HRT makers Mylan revealed that 85 per cent of women who could benefit from the treatment are not taking them, one in four because of health fears.

telegraph.co.uk/news/scienc...

hose1975 profile image
hose1975 in reply to shaws

I think it was more to do with 'do you really need it, dear, if your symptoms aren't too severe?' (which they're not, apart from some very nasty and sudden hot flushes). And the answer is a resounding YES, YOU DIMWIT. NICE guidelines stipulate that women with premature / very early menopause should receive HRT until the age of natural menopause, i.e. until early 50s.

One thing this forum has helped with is bolshiness. I can now bolsh with the best of them. In the last 18 months I have self-diagnosed, been poo-poohed by GPs, and then subsequently turn out to have nasal polyps, low ferritin (FBC all in range), premature menopause and low in range fT3.

4-0 to me, I think.

shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator in reply to hose1975

Definitely 4-0.

We used to be such 'Timouring Beasties' (is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1785, and was included in the Kilmarnock volume) but have turned into roaring lions. :)

Translation of 'Timouring Beasties

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_a_...

in reply to shaws

shaws,

Wee, sleek it, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,

O, what a panic's in thy breastie!

Haha ..I can just hear Billy Connolly reciting this ... NOT. !

Flo

in reply to hose1975

hose,

I'm toying with the idea of HRT as well.

I have actually already been prescribed it for low mood and hot flushes. I am (pre ?)- menopausal but my symptoms have improved as my thyroid hormones have worked better.

I am now thinking of not taking the HRT to allow possible further progression of improvements. I have just done a urine hormone test to see where I am.

I can't bear the thought of thyroid hormones crashing again as feel well for the first time since being diagnosed 5 years ago.

Flower

hose1975 profile image
hose1975 in reply to

I'll let you know what it's like from the other side :)

in reply to hose1975

lol.

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