Hashimoto and Addisons - question about Hashimoto

[Jbsa70]

Hi, I have has Hashimoto since 1983, when I was 13. In 2015 I became very ill and misdiagnosed by GPs and by hospital, but eventually received correct diagnosis and treatment for Addison's Disease.

My Endocrinologist was very concerned about my thyroid in December 2015, my TSH was 19. He increased my Lebothyroxine and advised me to try taking Levo in the evening - that seems better for me as I take lots of other medication in the morning and struggled to fit levothyroxine in it.

My TSH is slowly going down. In May 2016 my TSH was 5.7 so i was quite happy with it,but Endocrinologist was not and advised mevto further increase my Levothyroxine. So now I have been taking 225 mcg Levothyroxine and I feeL personally this is too high dose, i have synptoms that might be symptoms of too high dose... But with my Addisons it is sometime hard to differentiate which symptoms belong to Addisons and which to other conditions.

In April blood test showed I had extremely low level of vitamin D and Ferritin and borderline low Calcium and I have extremely low hormon DHEA. So since end of April i have bren taking supplements for vitamin D and Ferritin.

For my Addisons I take 30mg Hydrocortisone a day divided in 5 doses and 0.1mg Fludrocortisone twice a day.

I take also twice a day 15mg Lansoprasole.

I think DHEA hormon replacement therapy would really help me but Endocrinologist does not want me start taking DHEA suppletment until my thyroid is better balanced.

But now I am very concerned I am on too high dose of Levothyroxine. I would really appreciate to hear from people with Hashimoto about your experince of trying to balance thyroid levels.

Yes, i am very careful not to take any other medicines, supplements, food close to time I take Levothyroxine.

Jana

[greygoose]

Jana, what symptoms do you have that make you think your dose of levo is too high?

Do you have any blood test results to share with us, to give us a better picture of where you are with this?

[Jbsa70]

On 16th May my endocrinologist emailed me:

Your DHEAS is as expected very low <0.4

Your vitamin D is also low at 27.0nmol/l. Your haemoglobin is low at 103 g/l and your ferritin is low at 6ug/l. Please do see your GP for this

Your TSH is 7.4 mIU/L. You can increase you levothyroxine to 200mcg/day and repeat TSH in 6 weeks.

Pending renin/aldosterone. For now we will not start DHEA until things normalise from thyroid point of view and no further adjustments can be made in HC and FC.

[Jbsa70]

Email from endocrinologist on 1st July

Your renin from may is normal. Your tsh is 5.6. Increase levothyroxine to 225 mcg/day.

[Clutter in reply to Jbsa70]

Jbsa70,

You are under medicated to have TSH 5.6 and should increase dose as your endo recommends. Most people will be euthyroid when TSH is 1.0 or lower.

Many of your symptoms will be due to under medication and due to low ferritin and low vitamin D. Excessive thirst can be due to diabetes.

[Jbsa70 in reply to Clutter]

Thank you. That's very helpful. I increased my Levo on 1st July according to Endicrinologist advice. I am buying Blood Glucose monitor as I am in high risk of developing Diabetes due to my other health conditions

[Jbsa70 in reply to Jbsa70]

I checked my blood glucose tonight with my new monitor and it's ok, at the bottom of normal range.

[Jbsa70]

My symptoms are:

[ ] Excessive thirst

[ ] Perspiring, overheating

[ ] Fatigue

[ ] Craving and eating more carbohydrates

[ ] Achy muscles

[ ] Headaches

[ ] Feeling low, depressed, irritable, overemotional

[ ] Difficulty concentrating, mind is racing

[ ] Diarrhea

[MariLiz]

Have you had your level of B12 tested? If this is low it can have an effect on your symptoms and the way your thyroxine is utilised.

[Jbsa70 in reply to MariLiz]

Yes, i had.my B12 in norm

[MariLiz in reply to Jbsa70]

Sometimes the docs tell us it's normal, but it might still be only just in range. We need it to be high. Do you know the actual level?

[Jbsa70 in reply to MariLiz]

I will need to request exact blood test results from GP practice to find out.

[Jbsa70 in reply to Jbsa70]

But i know very low Ferritin, very low Vitamin D, very low DHEA causes fatigue.. And my Hashimoto too...and my Addison's... There is just so much. But at least I know tonight my blood glucose ok, i bought Blood Glucose Monitor and checked my blood glucose as was worried i was developping diabetes...

[MariLiz in reply to Jbsa70]

Lots of us get print outs of our actual results so we can monitor things ourselves. You are entitled to request a printed list of your blood test results. Sometimes surgeries ask for a small payment towards paper and ink costs.

[Jbsa70]

Thank you. I wasn't aware Lansoprazole might have that impact. I had thorough discussion with pharmacist about when to take my medication and supplements