Still can't stop shivering

[shivering-girl]

Hi, can anyone help me please, I can't stop shivering, after 3 pm I start to shiver and it gets worse when I go to bed, I continue shivering from the core of my body for a very long time, I am hugging my hottie, I am wrapped up in a 13.5 tog quilt and also have a thick blanket on top of that, the bed is nice and warm too. but I continue to shiver I eventually fall asleep but wake up within a few hours but this time I am very hot and I have to throw the blanket off and put the fan on. I can't win.

I went to see a doctor today, he was useless, he said it was not my thyroid that was causing it because my TSH was 3.1 and it should be within 0.3 - 5.5 and that was more likely to be down to the menopause but he arranged a blood test for 20th of this month, after I requested a full thyroid function test.

My results from the last test on 29/09/15 TSH level of 3.1

21/07/15 test results

serum follicle hormone lvl 55.2

serum LH level 33.7

plasma parathyroid hormone lvl 3.93

I hope someone can help me, is it my thyroid or is it the menopause?

[Hidden]

Hello shivering-girl,

If you were optimally medicated you wouldn't be shivering. A TSH of 3.1 is too high when medicating 100mcg Levothyroxine.

Many members function better with a TSH of 1.0 or below.

Ask your doctor to test T4 & T3 and thyroid antibodies TPOAb & TGAb.

Also get Vit B12, Vit D, folate and ferritin levels checked as you have been medicating for many years and people with low thyroid hormone are commonly deficient in these vital nutrients.

Post the results with ranges (numbers in brackets) for members to comment.

It is important to take your pill on an empty stomach with a glass of water, 1 hour before food, 2 hours before supplements and 4 hours before calcium, iron or vit D supplements.

I hope you feel better soon.

Flower

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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 before applying any of these suggestions.

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[shivering-girl in reply to Hidden]

Hi Flower007

I know that I am low on vit D, but getting my doctor to test my isn't easy, but I will ask them.

Thanks for the advice on taking the levo, I will try that to see if that improves things.

Take care

[Hidden in reply to shivering-girl]

shivering-girl,

Taking your pill correctly is vital as are iron levels & optimal nutrients including Vit D.

Are you supplementing and if so what & what dose?

I like your picture but it is sad it is so relevant.

Private testing is available in link below

Flo

Private labs testing

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

[shivering-girl in reply to Hidden]

Vit D is treated with my diet (supposedly) when I was first told that I was lacking in Vitamin D they gave me tablets which were 20,000 units each, I had 8 tablets in all, I had to take 2 straight away and then 1 everyday.

I eat a lot of fortified cereals, fish, cheese and eggs.

Thanks, I will change it if or when I stop shivering. lol

Cheers

Shiver

[Hidden in reply to shivering-girl]

Shiver,

Vit D is massively important in thyroid hormone synthesis and a deficiency could be impairing thyroid function.

See link below.

Post a new question entitled Vit D for more knowledgeable members than me to advise on Vit D supplementation.

Hope you feel warm soon as it is miserable being so cold all the time.

Flo

chriskresser.com/the-role-o...

[shivering-girl]

Ok, I think my cholesterol is 4 and I am not sure what my temperature is but I will check it tomorrow and let you know.

[shaws]

Change your doctor. Pop a copy of the following into the surgery along with a ticked copy of your symptoms. Inform him these are ranges for people who haven't YET been diagnosed and when diagnosed and on levo we feel best with a TSH of 1 or lower.

Maybe that will change his mind. In the meantime if you have levo I'd increase by 25mcg and although it will take a little while to make a difference it's a start.

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

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

Theoretically if we are on an optimum of thyroid hormones, we have NO clinical symptoms and should have normal health.

[shaws]

Ginger root might be helpful and this is an extract:

The root herb ginger is a centuries-old medicinal supplement used to soothe colds, motion sickness and other stomach problems. And according to lore, it also "gets the blood flowing" and softens cold hearts, metaphorically, at least. One study conducted on rats showed that ginger, even as an ingredient in food, has the ability to raise body temperatures. There's a reason we tend to associate gingerbread with the cold of wintertime -- people traditionally believed the herb to stimulate the body and increase blood circulation. Now how much ginger are you going to put in that cookie?

On top of the possibility that ingesting ginger can raise your temperature, evidence suggests other foods can help you warm up too. Hot peppers cause sweating, and brown rice and other complex carbs make you warmer because they're harder to digest.

huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/...

This is a recipe below:-

vegkitchen.com/tips/5-reaso...

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

You would have to have a lot of ginger all of the time regularly, it works the same as cinammon and many other herbs and would have little effect.

[shaws in reply to decembersignup]

Shivering/cold is a clinical symptoms of hypo so the best would be meds at an optimum.

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

Except for the fact that when you take the dose needed to stop the shivering you get other horrible effects from the medication.

[shaws in reply to decembersignup]

Maybe if they added T3 you might find a difference as it doesn't need to be converted and goes directly into your cells.

I remember how unwell I was on levo only. I am sorry for those who have remaining symptoms but I think yours is quite a severe one. Do you take your temp a few times over the day, particularly when you're shivering. If our body gets too cold it leaves us open to other illnesses because our temp is lower than normal.

I hope you manage to persuade your doctor to add some T3. The priority is that you should

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

I switched to natural thyroid which includes t3, which seemed the quickest and simplest option to me, and it still happens. I make sure the temperature around me is always warm enough.

[shaws in reply to decembersignup]

Iron deficiency is another cold-inducing culprit, because iron is critical for thyroid hormone function. Women are especially prone to iron-deficiency, and therefore, feelings of being cold, because of regular blood loss with each monthly period, Dr. Teitelbaum says.

Routine blood tests of iron levels often read “normal” when they are not, compounding the problem.

“So even if the iron blood test is normal… that’s meaningless,” he explains. “Studies are showing that that technical normal range misses about 90 percent of people with severe iron deficiency.”

Alert: What Your Tongue Says About Your Thyroid. See the Photo.

He advises having your ferritin level checked and getting the numbered result rather than accepting a described range. Ferritin is a protein in the body that stores iron.

Read more: Always Cold? These Diseases Could Be the Cause

newsmax.com/Health/Headline...

(also good iron levels are needed to convert T4 into T3)iron

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/235...

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

Cant be anything to do with menstruation when I went through change many years ago.

[shaws in reply to decembersignup]

It's got nothing to do with menstruation - it's about how much iron you have in your body. Maybe get doctor to check iron and ferritin.

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

I take a good dose multi vitamin pill most days which has iron in it, maybe I should take more, but getting a test by the doctor sounds a lot easier than it really is with a lot of phone calls and argy bargying with the surgery and me being housebound.

[shaws in reply to shaws]

An excerpt:

But a strong word of caution is in order.

Ferrous sulfate, a form of iron found in many multivitamins, including children’s multivitamins, is a relatively toxic, inorganic metal that can lead to significant problems.

The biggest danger is acute overdose, which can be lethal. This has been known to happen when a child gets into a bottle of children’s chewable vitamins and munches them down like a tasty snack.

A safe form of supplement is carbonyl iron. To the best of our knowledge, there’s never been a reported overdose of carbonyl iron. However you should still keep iron supplements away from children.

Remember, you should not take iron supplements, including carbonyl iron, if you have:

Hemachromatosis (iron overload)

Hemosiderosisi

Hemolytic anemia (as I described in the beginning)

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

Just wanted to say thank you very much. Have checked the various medications I have had on repeat prescription over the years and found I used to be getting and taking iron, so have put in an email to get it delivered again and it should help.

[shaws in reply to decembersignup]

That's fine but I think you're due a new blood test first to clarify for sure how low it is.

[decembersignup in reply to shaws]

Not due for another blood test for nine months, and would be a time consuming stressful thing to try to get one sooner, so easier to just take some iron. Have taken it before a long time ago.

[shaws]

Have you taken your actual body temperature to make sure you are not hypothermic.

[Angel_of_the_North]

With menopause, it's more likely to be alternate burning hot and shivering cold. I know, I put up with it for nearly 7 years.

[decembersignup]

Had / have very similar problem. And get sick and tired of people trying to rethink what I know and has already been accurately worked out. My medication is supposedly the right amount. I can go for weeks feeling well, then I might get two weeks where I feel very cold constantly, even when I am well wrapped up with lots of clothes and all the heating on. I now sleep in a bed that has eight quilts and an electric blanket, I also cuddle my small dog because even with that I feel cold, I leave the heating on in the bedroom all night, it is rubbish to say it has nothing to do with my thyroid because BEFORE the thyroid problem it never happened at all. It is the same with many other symptoms.