Help with test results... please

[Josee46]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie so excuse any mistakes etc.

Feeling pretty rubbish at the moment and been getting worse over the last 6 years. Have all symptoms of underactive thyroid - fatigue, brain fog, dry skin, thinning hair, massive weight gain and inability to lose when dieting.

I've had several GP visits over the last few years all with no success the last one I visited with my BH test results told me that I was in denial about being depressed and should not eat meat every day!!!! She did agree to a Vit D test and as I haven't heard anything I'm assuming that they are within 'normal levels'.

Anyways don't want to ramble or bore anyone but for a bit of background I had my mirena coil removed 18 months ago (thought that might have been the problem) with no change in symptoms and tried a real fitness kick with a personal trainer 3 years ago. I only lost 10lbs over 6 months even though I did hard core interval/circuit training, spin, body pump etc for 8 hours a week and sticking to 1200-1500 calories a day. Really hard work and had to sleep every afternoon, it just wasn't sustainable with family/work life. I'm not lazy but an hour 4 times a week is all I can fit in without stressing about time and having a family life. The brain fog is a nightmare when I'm trying to concentrate and sometimes I just want to put my head on my workdesk (I only have to work around 25-30 hours a week) and go to sleep.

Just want to feel healthy and have the energy to be active and start the gym again, I would really appreciate anyone's views on my results.

[greygoose]

Not surprising you're tired. Your Frees are rock bottom, and your B12 and folate are much too low.

However, your doctor is only looking at the TSH, which is fine. I think you should try suggesting to him that you have central hypothyroidism, where the problem is with the pituitary, rather than the thyroid gland. Your pituitary just isn't putting out enough TSH to bring up your T4 and T3.

Ignore the remarks about depression, bloody cheek! I think you doctor would be a bit down in the dumps if he had an FT3 like yours! It makes you feel so bad. You do not need antidepressants, you need thyroid hormone replacement. As for the meat eating... whatever you do, never ever listen to dietary advice from a doctor, they just know nothing about it!

I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have probably been making yourself worse with all that dieting and exercising. I'm amazed that you didn't realise sooner that it wasn't going to work and just give up.

Low calorie diets have a detrimental effect on conversion. You should not be counting calories. You should eat until you are satisfied. Otherwise, you will make yourself more hypo.

Exercise uses up your T3, and as you cannot replace it easily, you are just making yourself more hypo. No gym until your FT3 is optimised!

For that low B12, you should be taking 5000 mcg sublingual methylcobalamin daily for a few months, then drop to 1000 daily. At the same time, you should take a B complex, with methylfolate - not folic acid. However, as your folate is so low, you might need to add a little folate on top.

Did you not have your vit d tested? If your B12 is low, that could be, too.

[Josee46 in reply to greygoose]

Thanks so much for the replies, makes me feel so much better knowing that someone doesn't think I'm bonkers and believes me when I say I don't feel right. Going to get a copy of my last docs blood test for Vit D tomorrow for so will post the results then.

And you're right about the giving up gym/diets etc I have given up now but am sick of being fat as it's just not me. Never been a skinny girl but always a healthy weight, felt comfortable and had the ability to lose a few pounds if I needed to. Nothing I try will shift the weight now and its still going up into stones overweight which is just not healthy now.

Hubby has agreed I should pay and see a private doc re this and I have the list of sympathetic docs. Been considering Bernard Willis, so would appreciate any input on him or recommendation of others. I'm in south wales don't mind traveling anywhere but would prefer not to have to go into London.

[greygoose in reply to Josee46]

Well, the weight has nothing to do with what you eat or how much you exercise, it's to do with your low T3. So, the only way to get rid of it is to optimise your T3. Easier said than, done, I realise. I hope you find a sympathetic private endo. I know nothing about them, so I suggest you post a new thread with that as your title, then people that do know, can comment.

[108Optimist]

Hey im the same as you in some ways. My freet3 and freet4 were just a little lower, normal TSH like you, and I thought I was going mad, or was a lazy freak or some kind of grown-up-spoiled-brat as it seemed like i didnt want to work, or keep up with friends, or put any effort into anything! But i knew i wasnt depressed. In fact the only feelings of depression have come with diagnosis and grieving the 6 years that I have not been thriving!! !

But really my body and mind were EMPTY all the time! Quite frankly, now I know what I know, im amazed I got so much done. And you! That proves we are very determined women! Sometimes I would be driving and be aware that I was driving a car and how to do it, but have absolutely no idea where I was. I felt like I had jumped into a new scene of a movie, as I had no recollection of what i was up to, where I was going. Im pretty good at keepong calm so I always just keep riving and eventually recognise something!!!

Im very early days into treatment and no doc will help me, so I am self medicating with NDT (as a first attempt, but ill keep trying others if no luck).

As i have the normal-low TSH like you, which is a indication of a pituitary issue more than anything else, I am very concerned. I am hoping its just the effect on the pituitary of stress over a lifetime in the form of.......being vegetarian whilst in puberty, being an athlete in my twenties, emotions etc etc. If you didnt know, the hypothalamus and pituitary in the brain give the signals for a lot of hormone release, so if it gets screwed up with stress hormones being demanded, then the whole system of the body suffers with it,

I also have some antibodies below the range like you. The Mayo clinic says anything over a 9 is indicative of autoimmunity. I had a thyroid ultrasound booked to rule in/out hasimotos but the apt got messed up and now I wont be able to access one for months (but you may like to get one? Even with low antibodies, and a normal TSH, it could be hashis in remission eg not flareing).

I get the swollen throat, like its being constricted, and tender to touch, It feels enlarged to me - goiter - but i am not qualified to say. For some hypothyroid people with goiter, they have an iodine deficiency - i tried supplementing with iodine for 3 months but it didnt help, in fact i felt more tired, so i stopped.

I havent eaten gluten for a long time (do you) or cows milk.

I started eating meat again to help with nutrition and it seems to suit me??

My worst symptom was chronic constipation and fatigue. Since I started taking NDT i have pooped every day - MIRACLE . So whatever the cause - hashis or pituitary or something else, the NDT I know is helping somewhat as I can poop! I also am starting to feel a little more determined again. I still get super tired and cant write or read sometimes, as my brain has taken a holiday!!

These are just ideas that I want to investigate for myself.

Your ferretin is a really good level YAY!!

Take care.

[Josee46 in reply to 108Optimist]

Thanks so much for the reply, it reminded me that my throat does indeed feel really restricted sometimes like something is pressing on the front of it and my neck does look bigger but I put that down to the weight gain.

Hopefully I can get somewhere seeing a private doc but if not I am prepared to consider the advice from the good people here about self-medicating.

Oh and the GP I saw was a woman. Definitely wasn't listening to me.