I have suspected a thyroid issue for years. 7 years ago I was diagnosed with cfs. My tsh then was 3.03 and ft4 was 10.7
The year after I had my baby it was all OK. But now days I've been worse . So I just saw a private gp who done thyroid tests and it's come back with a tsh of 2.58 when 6 months ago it was 1.98 and my ft4 is 12.3 which she wasn't happy with as I have so many symptoms and said I could take thyroxine to get it closer to 20 my thyroid antibodies were fine aparantly. I would rather take natural stuff is there anything for this purpose ?
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veggielove
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Natural dessicated thyroid (NDT) is an alternative to synthetic Levothyroxine but the active T4 and T3 is derived from pig thyroid so not suitable for vegetarians. The other ingredients and which enable the stable dosing and formulation into tablets are laboratory processed.
85% of patients are estimated to do well on Levothyroxine so you might try the Levothyroxine for a few months and find it works well for you once you are optimally dosed.
However I suggest you have a good talk with your private GP about medication.
The reason the NHS GP isn't interested is they deal with many medical conditions/illnesses on test results. Therefore if you aren't out of the ranges they won't treat you for it. Even if you are slightly out of the range lots of GPs will still ignore you unless it is a condition/test they could be sued/threatened with malpractice for.
You are lucky you haven't been told you are crazy, making things up, or depressed then given antidepressants by an NHS GP.
Unless you have a NHS prescription everything will cost. What dose Levothyroxine did your private GP suggest? Levothyroxine can be bought online without prescription.
She didn't give me dose unfortunately I just emailed to tell her the nhs won't help. Do u think I should go ahead n see an endocrinologist they do think I'm mad I have been offered anti depressants in the past lol
I'd stick with the private Gp who is probably considering secondary hypothyroidism which presents with low-normal TSH and low, or below range, FT4. Most endocrinologists won't see you unless TSH or FT4 is abnormal. Offering female patients anti-depressants appears to be a default diagnosis when blood tests are within range
The alternative is to buy your own meds on line and self-medicate. You'll need to order private TSH, FT4 and FT3 tests every 6-8 weeks until you are on a stable dose and thereafter should only need annual tests unless you alter dose.
I think you'll find a private endo a lot more expensive than £60 x 15mins. Email louise.warvill@thyroiduk.org.uk for a list of member recommended endos. You'll need a letter of referral from a GP for most of them.
Just because something is natural it doesn't mean it is better - remember many natural things are poisons.
Also it is advised here to have your vitamin B12, ferritin, folate and vitamin D levels checked as without them being at optimal levels your thyroid hormones won't work efficiently. Optimal levels are at least halfway or more on the reference range.
Get the results and the reference range and start a new post to check - better to be safe than sorry. Most GPs don't have any knowledge in vitamin and mineral deficiencies as they aren't taught about them.
Your vitamin D needs to be 75 to be adequate and around 100 if you have thyroid or other medical issues. What level in IU of vitamin D supplements are you on as most doctors don't advise people to take enough.
Your B12 should be 900 or 1000 again to help your thyroid.
Your folate should be at least 10 but preferably higher again to help your thyroid.
Urea and other liver enzymes can go out of range if your vitamin D or other nutrients are too low.
What is your ferritin level?
Have you had a previous blood test to this with a platelet count? If so what was the level and range?
You need to take 10,000IU D3 for 8 weeks then cut down to 5,000IU and then get retested in October to see what level is.
Take the D3 with vitamin K2 to ensure the D3 is redirected to your bones and take the supplement with lunch or dinner as the fat from the meal helps absorption. Also take some magnesium citrate - you only need around 100mcg. This will help ensure you won't have any pain as your bones remineralise.
You need to get your ferritin level up to 100. You need to take something with about 60mg of elemental iron a day e.g. ferrous fumerate with vitamin C. Take 4 hours away from thyroid hormones and 2 hours away from food and other vitamin/minerals apart from the vitamin C to avoid interactions. Iron will turn your stools black - if you have severe problems with ferrous fumerate come back and post and people will recommend alternatives.
For vitamin B12 take methylcobalmin lozenges something like Solgar or Jarrows. Finish the container.
For folate (B9) take a vitamin B complex. If you can afford it get one with methafolin rather than folic acid.
Like with vitamin D stop taking all the supplements 48 hours before retesting so you aren't testing what you have just taken. The B12 result will be skewed anyway but the folate and ferritin tests will guide you to whether your levels are increasing. You will need to repeat all the tests again so you may as well do them all in October as you need to see see what your urea level is and whether your platelets are still high. If your platelet level is still high you need it recorded on your NHS medical notes, so you either need to make an appointment to see your GP with a copy of your test results, as some people have naturally high or low platelet levels.
All supplements can be found on Amazon. Just make sure the place you buying the iron tablets from is actually a pharmacy.
Alternatively you can get the vitamin D3 from an independent pharmacy. Boots, Holland and Barrett etc don't sell vitamin D3 in high enough doses. (I've brought Solgar from an indie pharmacy near me and another indie pharmacy sells 2,500IU and 5,000IU generic vitamin D3 tablets.) The iron can be brought from the pharmacy counter at Boots, Tesco, Asda etc or an independent pharmacy. You may need to say "I have low iron levels and have been advised to get it" to the pharmacists as they need to check why you want it.
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