Some advice please

I have been suffering from many of the side effects of an underactive thyroid for a while now which seem to be getting worse, mainly the weight gain, tired all the time, aching limbs, pins & needles etc. I first went to my GP in August 2013 and had blood tests, my T4 was 11.4 and my TSH was 1.96, bloods were taken again in January 14 and were 10.7 and 1.41 and they were last taken 9 months ago when they were 9.4 and 1.95, the range used for all 3 tests were 7.8 - 17 for T4 and 0.34 - 5.6 for TSH.

I realise that all 3 results show I am in the "normal" range according to my GP but especially my T4 seems to be lower as time goes on and I am wondering if I maybe border line.

I have tried to discuss this with my GP but she just tells me that I must be going through the change (I am a 49 year old female) and she just keeps offering me anti depressants.

Is it worth me having bloods taken again? Any suggestions/advice greatly received.

8 Replies

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  • Hi Benson, you are more aware then your doctor. (Often the case here). Your thyroid is not producing as well and there are several possibilities but you definitely you should try to find out. If they could test antibodies to know whether you have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, that would be grand. Because your TSH looks adequate they may refuse. How is your general health.... as you need good ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D to be in healthy ranges. Those tests would be helpful. Most doctors make decisions based on the TSH but that can be manipulated by the adrenal gland. You may have low progesterone due to your age which can have an effect. Try to educate yourself with the many good websites like stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...

    This short video is one of 24 because of all there are various causes.

  • I'd say yes! I was told the same as you! Turned out to be my thyroid!

  • Sorry but your tests ARE NOT NORMAL

    Your free T4 is at bottom of the range

    Your TSH is low which may very well mean CENTRAL not Primary Hypothyroid which is likely all your GP knows about

    Its utterly vital that

    Thyroid Antibodies

    Free T3

    Ferritin

    folate

    b12

    vit d3

    cholesterol

    are also done

    as with all those results the picture comes together and answer will be clear

  • Hi Benson, i had 80% of my thyroid removed and had a rapid decline over 7 years, i was never offered levo and never told i would need thyroid replacement. The last 2-3 years of illness were so severe i was housebound, i had shocking pain, joints and muscles, heavy limbs, burning feet, locked neck joint and ankles, gastric problems, cold, depressed, massive weight gain (mucin unpinchable fat), unable to function properly, could no longer read books, hardly coherent and my dr said throughout the whole time it was just age and menopause!!!

    I started to self medicate and 90% of the symptoms disappeared almost overnight!!! makes me very angry. I had always liked my dr who seemed very caring, i felt very hurt that he either didnt know or didnt care, We had some stand up, toe to toe arguments, i would laugh and say left to him, i wouldnt have the energy to argue! anyway i am on the right road and will continue to get well, iv had a few blips. My dr has now put hypothyroid on my medical records.

    I was 'normal' without having a bloomin thyroid!! how can that be??? he would say nothing wrong with your thyroid.....what thyroid???? so i personally do not believe in the tests, if i have a normal thyroid after it was removed, what hope is there. the remaining 20% is covered in nodules and attached to my vocal chords so it couldnt easily be removed, so they left it in.

    Middle aged, menopausal, over weight, depressed we seem to be invisible to NHS or just seen as a nuscience. They just seem to want to ignore us and happy to leave us seriously ill. I hope you get help or go the self help route, dont wait till you get as ill as i did.

    My dr has now sent me for counselling to deal with my anger about my treatment and i give talks to final year med students, paid by NHS to explain how devastating hypothyroid is and the impact on my life/family/work.

    I still have some pain left in my arm and now have a pain team, occupational health worker who also had ignored thyroid and free gym membership thro counselling to start getting stronger. I kicked screamed, carried on, cried and made an utter nuscience of myself until they did right by me, i couldnt do this when i was ill, so once i started getting better i stuck the boot in :) You must do what is right for you to get well, dont rely on your dr to get it right xxxx

  • You sound very strong and we'll done for doing the talks to students thank you for educating them :)

  • H Binkie, isn't it the most tragic situation when at least part of the solution is so simple? I'm sorry you had to go through so much and you finally found a way out. Some people are fearful to go ahead with self medicating so I hope more people will read your story.

  • So sorry for your suffering. Too bad we can't sue the bastards for not doing thyroid continuing education. My current Gp insists that I see and Endo as he says he is not wualified as an internist to treat hypothyroidism. Smart man.

  • i put a formal complaint in about the endocrinologist, she was not only bored, disinterested, rude and ignorant, she was dangerous, she did SST on me with no consent or adherence to protocol, it made me seriously ill for weeks!

    My resolution meeting is march 7th and if i am not happy with the outcome my advocate will put it to the ombudsman, we can not sue them but we can put them under a microscope xx

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