I received my results today, my TSH is down from 5.98 to 3.77, TPO down from 1300 to 291.5, Vit d down from 56 to 47, b12 from 434 to 234. This is over last couple of months.
I started supplements just after these bloods so hoping there's an improvement going on. I've been on 25mcg levo for 8 weeks now. Feeling worse if anything.
Could someone look over my results and give me s bit of advice / run down please? I'm a bit worried my GP won't want to increase my levo as I'm well within TSH range now. My TSH has been fluctuating between 3.5 and 6 since Feb when I was first diagnosed.
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misslissa
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misslissa 25mcg is only a starting dose. Has your GP planned to retest? It's normal for GPs to retest after 6-8 weeks and increase dose, retest again in another 6-8 weeks, adjust meds again, etc. The aim for a treated hypo patient's is for TSH to be around 1 or below, with FT4 and FT3 in the upper quarter of their ranges. You still have a fair way to go, especially with FT4. So you are due an increase in dose to 50mcg levo and then retesting in a couple of months.
Are you addressing your Hashimoto's by being gluten free to try and reduce the antibody attacks? Selenium can also help reduce antibodies as well as aid conversion of T4 to T3.
Your Vit D, B12 and folate certainly need boosting, hopefully your supplements are helping.
misslissa Folate should be at least half way through range, yours is very close to the bottom. Leafy green veggies help folate, as does a good B Complex like Thorne Basic B which contains 400mcg folate. As you are taking B12 you should also be taking B Complex to balance the B Vits.
Have you booked your blood draw appointment for as early as possible in the morning, preferably no later than 9am. This will give you the highest possible TSH (it's always highest in the morning). If you don't have an early appointment I would change it. Also, make sure that you fast (breakfast when you get back home) and water only until after the blood draw.
If your GP is following the guidelines she should be increasing your Levo if your NHS tests show similar results to your BH test.
Please do some research on Hashimoto's and gluten free, many Hashi's patients are helped enormously by excluding gluten. Here's some reading to get you going
There is a Hashimotos Summit running on-line at the moment. There have been several posts detailing the links. Having anti-bodies to the thyroid can increase the risk of Hashimoto sufferers having brain inflammation - so going gluten free helps to reduce the anti-bodies and of course the risks. It was enough to make me go gluten free over 3 years ago when I followed Dr Datis Kharrazian's work. I now suffer with ataxia - either caused by the gluten - the anti-bodies or the low B12 .... it all needs dealing with.
It really is not a huge problem - egg and bacon for breakfast - huge salad for lunch - meat/fish/veg for supper - nuts and fruit for snacks - job done
Not sure of your age - but I will soon be 70 and the problems, if left untreated can cause problems later. They are all accumulative.
Don't forget, don't take your Levo in the 24 hours before blood test. Take it straight after.
Going gluten free after more than twenty years of hell, has personally given me vast improvement. Surprisingly easy too. Eating out not difficult either. Lots of gluten free stuff available now. Plenty of interesting cook books.
The NICE guidelines for thyroid in the uk say that it is reasonable if the patient still has symptoms when their TSH in the top half of the range (over 2.5 usually) then levo can be increased cks.nice.org.uk/hypothyroid....
I used this with my GP and now am taking 75 mg and have a TSH of 1.3 and am feeling more human though not yet entirely better because I'm low in D and other vitamins (now supplementing and hoping!). Good luck it does take time to recover
I've had a recent blood test (Blue Horizon) which has shown TP antibodies. I've posted the results on another forum I've been in for a while and people have said I have hashis. When I showed the results to a GP last Friday, he just pushed them back at me, saying something like 'ah yes people often have antibodies' and didn't seem interested at all. I also have Coeliac Disease, have been diagnosed over 40 years so have been on a gluten free diet for years, so I can't cut much more out of my diet. But just wanted to mention that although there's lots of gluten free stuff in the shops, do be careful of much of the pre made packaged products which are available. Gluten is the protein which binds ingredients together, so if you take it out, most manufacturers use more eggs, fats and sugars to bind ingredients, so commercially produced gluten free products are not a particularly healthy option.
Make sure your GP increases your dose to 50mcg as staying more than a few weeks on a starting dose will make people feel worse. As you get the addition of levo your system will start a different feedback loop and become less responsive , so the dose needs increasing. That's what I found, much worse on 25mcg after 6 weeks. Falling asleep on the loo. I now take 100mcg levo and 10mcg t3 meds...2 year journey to find the right dose for me. Also, with your b vitamins make sure you go for folate or methyl folate when looking at ingredients and AVOID folic acid...it stops folate working. Hope that helps.
The em reason everyone is telling you to increase these vitamins is that they help with the conversation of the inactive Levo-T4 which you are taking and then your body hopefully concerts it into the active T3 which every cell in your body needs. At the moment both your FT4 and FT3 readings are low so yes you need to increase and the GP should realise this as the FT4 reading has been flagged up. After a few more bloods as you improve it will be easier to see what your conversion is like. I improved mine a lot by increasing supplements though it doesn't happen overnight but after several months. Also as your meds increase you should start to feel a little better as thinks move on. But you also may feel you have much more energy, which is good but don't start back at the gym, spring cleaning or running a marathon as at this stage you could deplete it and feel terrible again. Slowly increase your exercise and then your body can more easily cope with it as you go along. Be kind to yourself whilst all these things are happening.
Your D and B12 need to be optimal as well as your Ts or you will find difficulty converting to T3. And you certainly need a dose increase. Considering that you are on such a low dose your reverse T3 is quite high too - don't panic, but just watch it as your dose increases - it could just be a function of your low D and B12.
For some reason I missed your post about craving sugar from a month ago, but it popped up just now. I am a sugar craver, and have been struggling with that for some time. It is, apparently, a pointer to 'adrenal fatigue' and that is common with people who have been hypothyroid for some time as the adrenals try to compensate for low metabolism. When you said your cortisol was OK, was that from a saliva test, or just the test the NHS GPs do?
Sugar (added sugar) does a load of stuff, none of it terribly good, although of course you do need some glucose in your blood. First of all it acts on the same receptors in your brain as alcohol, releasing endorphins, and making you feel good. I suspect that is why I started on the sugar when my mother died (I was 12!). In some people it can become and addictive cycle and is hard to break. But additionally it does give you a short term energy boost - which is why its released into the blood stream via adrenaline when the fight or flight response is activated.
Getting off sugar (I call it my drug of choice since I don't smoke and only drink very occasionally) is very difficult indeed. If you are a serial dieter (and who isn't when their doctor has told them they are just overeating, when its actually hypothyroidism?) then you may well benefit from amino acids and l-glutamine has helped my sugar cravings considerably. Read 'The Diet Cure' by Julia Ross. If you are addicted to the sugar high, then its a rather harder task, but can certainly be done. Read Kathleen Desmaisons 'Potatoes Not Prozac' and other books.
Hi - as extra insurance when you go into the doctor's office, take a list of all your symptoms and say you're not feeling better as the NICE guidelines say that they should treat you if you are symptomatic but under the range. Also you could buy a thermometer and take your temperature every day until your appointment. You'll probably have a low temperature which is another sign of hypothyroidism.
I started off at 50 mcg, then went up to 75 mcg after a month and then up to 100 a month later. Now I am on 50 mcg of levothyroxine and 12 & 1/2 mcg of T3 and feeling much more human. I started off with a TSH level of 6.32.
Thanks for all the replies, my notifications went in my spam folder...
I'm feeling really out of sorts about my health. My joint pain in my knees and ankles is bad, I'm getting light headed, I'm cranky. My throat feels swollen, like tonsillitis and I just feel run down. Although on some days I have energy, so it can't be too bad?
I'm feeling overwhelmed by the things I need to pay attention to. The b12 and folate, the low t3, Vit d, whether my ferritin is ok. That's without the basic hypo results.
I don't feel I have the energy to sit this but at the same time I'm getting through life. I feel lazy, like I need to get a grip.
To top it off I started with a personal trainer which I enjoyed but I'm worried it's too much for my body to cope with. Then I'm trying to wean my 3 year son off breastfeeding. I feel guilty but I don't feel I can continue, I feel drained. I'm only 35, this can't be how I should feel?
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