Hypo100

[Hypo100]

Hi I have developed hypothyroidism. Only symptoms I noticed were mood related and swelling around eyes. Went to GP did blood tests. Phoned on Friday night by GP told TSH was over 100 and FT4 was 3. Had to start thyroxine urgently. Told me she had never seen TSH that high. I had hardly any symptoms that I was aware of before it became so severe. It seems to have started out of the blue. Started on the 50ug thyroxine but been unwell since starting it having tremors and mind and heart racing wit strange thoughts and feeling lips are numb , can't think clearly sometimes forgetting names for things or not recognising tunes on radio that I know so well, freezing cold and thumping headaches.

Hoping things will improve as I'm on last three months of maternity leave.

[Joburton]

Get back to the doctors for some urgent blood tests on account of your symptoms! How long have you been taking 50mcg?

Your results were out of the ordinary to say the least... have you been tested for thyroid antibodies because autoimmune thyroiditis can appear after pregnancy.

[Hypo100 in reply to Joburton]

Hi thanks for replying. This has all happened in last two weeks. So they won't do anymore thyroid function be too soon to check levels. Been to a&e three times felt as though I was having mild seizures but was conscious. Iv been told it's my metabolism starting bak up as levels so abnormal. Body used to hardly any thyroid function. Think I'm lucky really I went to doc cause I had mild symptoms. Never noticed I was tired or my mind was fading. Personally I don't think Iv had this that long, no goitre. It's just frightening how quickly things can creep up on you. Iv to see endocrinologist for ultrasound soon. I think u deco right about auto immune disorder, pregnancy does funny things to our bodies. It's a waiting game til I see specialist. Thanks

[marsaday in reply to Hypo100]

It really is amazing sometimes how we feel when told we have or don't have a thyroid problem. I know someone else who was told he had a thyroid problem, but he felt 100%. You are in the same situation.

Then we have people who are fully in the TSH range with lower range FT4 and they are dead on their feet. So strange.

It would be so interesting to see where your FT3 level is, but they rarely test it. I imagine it is at a good level. The body runs on T3, not T4 but we convert the T4 to the T3. So i imagine of those people with low FT4 numbers and high TSH's must have good levels of T3. Therefore you are still feeling fine.

When you interfere with this process by supplementing T4 it is likely you can feel worse for a good while because the body has now sensed more T4 is around and so it relaxes down and lowers the T4 to T3 conversion. This has the perverse effect of making you feel more ill.

It may take a while for the body to rebalance out. For me it shows how important it is to be taking some T3 along with the T4, but again the NHS doesnt use T3 (unless pushed).

If the symptoms persist you could always look at adding in some T3 yourself.

Also with the pregnancy i would look into having the autoimmune antibodies tested. If these have been set off in your body it is important to understand what is happening and how to improve the situation.