Oh good grief pw1402 you have rampant hypothyroidism! Your results should be within the ranges (numbers in brackets). Your TSH is way, way over range and your FT4 way, way under range. I guess you must be feeling pretty rotten
Your GP should start you on Levothyroxine straight away. Possibly 25mcg, maybe 50mcg. You might feel worse at first but be patient. It takes about 6 weeks to feel the full effect and you should be retested after that length of time, your dose adjusted, retested again after another six weeks, dose adjusted, etc, until your symptoms are alleviated and your test results within range.
The aim of a treated hypo patient is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it needs to be fornFT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective ranges.
You have the same TSH I had when, finally, diagnosed. I sincerely hope you have a good doctor who should start you on 50mcg and another blood test in six weeks with an increase of 25mcg and thereafter 25mcg increase until you are free of symptoms with a TSH of around 1 (some need it a bit lower). 25mcg if you have a heart problem. My GP started me on 25mcg but the Professor of Endocrinology said it should have been 50mcg.
I know how ill you must feel and wish you a good, sensible doctor who doesn't pay too much attention to the TSH but to your symptoms.
Blood tests for thyroid hormones should be fasting and as early as possible and allow approx 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test and take it afterwards. If you take a bedtime dose, miss this and take after a.m. test and take at night as usual.
Hormones should be taken with one glass of water and wait about an hour before eating. Food interferes with the uptake of the hormone as does coffee.
Please please pw1402 heed the insightful words of these wise forum members. Doubtless you are feeling most unwell; the pity of it is that you will take a good while to feel better.
You can get better, though and this forum can help, most especially when you feel you're struggling. Welcome
The doctor needs to give you levothyroxine as a matter of urgency. If he fafths around, leaving you for a further few weeks whilst he decides to have further testing, tell him you need treatment now and that you also need your antibodies testing to find out if the cause of your hypothyroidism is auto immune.
You need meds , not more waiting time.... If your doctor doesnt hive you any tomorrow you need an urgent referral to an endocrinologist and a new doctor.
Good grief, your results are awful, and you must feel absolutely appalling.
When you see or speak to your doctor tomorrow ask him/her to test
iron and ferritin
vitamin B12
vitamin D
folate
When people are hypothyroid they often have low stomach acid as one of the symptoms. As a result they absorb nutrients from food very poorly. Nutrient deficiencies are common in hypothyroidism and need to be supplemented where necessary. With good nutrient levels your thyroid medication will work better and you will feel better.
Five months ago I suffered a Heart Attack and was admitted to hospital after my partner phoned 999. I was initially Thrombolised and then the following day had two Stents fitted.
Over the course of the next five months I changed my entire lifestyle. I quit smoking, changed my diet, became more active and felt better than I had done in years.
Being only 41 this had been a shock not only to me but to my family and my GP.
My GP was excellent after the fact, followed up on me and was always there if I had any queries.
I returned to work seven weeks after my attack and though I took work easier than I had previously I became more active in my personal life; taking part in an excellent Cardio Rehabilitation Programme offered by my local hospital.
About 3 weeks ago I started to become very very tired, I was finding that I was forgetting things and I was waking up after a solid night’s sleep feeling more exhausted than I had before I had gone to bed. I initially thought I was just doing too much at work but I was finding that I didn’t have the energy to exercise outside work as I had been doing and was not able to attend my Cardio Rehab as I was simply just feeling too shattered.
During my second week of feeling like this I took myself to the doctors; I was getting worried that something was wrong with my heart. My GP ordered a set of bloods and an ECG. I booked in with reception to have these done, usually the bloods would have been taken within 24hrs but because I was booked in with the same nurse who was going to do the ECG I had to wait nearly a week.
From this point on I should say that until yesterday morning everything that happened, was said or done or I did is really pieced together from vague memories and what I have been told.
I remember going to have my bloods taken, I remember phoning in on Monday ill for work (I think). I was feeling drunk (and I don’t drink), I couldn’t walk in a straight line. I was becoming delusionary and sleeping all the time.
I remember getting a notification that I could view my results on-line and I remember my partner suggesting that I post them on here to find out what they meant.
I woke up Friday morning in Intensive Care after being taken off life support and incubation.
•Wednesday night when my results were available on-line my GP Surgery was shut.
•During that evening I became more delusionary, started hallucinating and my partner became even more concerned over my wellbeing.
•My partner phoned 999 and I was taken to A&E.
•The initial admitting nurse in A&E told the paramedics to put me in a cubical to “Sleep it off”.
•My partner kicked up a bit of a fuss (I’m probably understating that) and I was seen shortly after by the doctors – taken in to resuscitation, placed on life support and incubated.
•I was given drugs to treat me for anything and everything and received scans and everything else you would expect.
•It was explained to me that I had gone in to a Myxedema coma and that I was exceedingly lucky to be here – never mind sat up in a bed in Intensive Care.
•The on-set was virtually unprecedented. My blood tests from 4, 8 and 12 weeks prior (which had included Thyroid tests) were all within normal ranges. There had been no other clinical signs until the ones I started with 3 weeks prior.
I have just been transferred to a normal ward this morning, I have been placed on 200 micro grams of Levothyroxine per/day and had a Short Synacthen Test this morning that came back normal.
I am still weak but I am feeling “clear headed” and in control. Hopefully I will be discharged on Sunday or possibly Monday.
…….So why am a writing this…. Well the good people in this forum who responded to the query over my results were spot on, it was just unfortunate that I hadn’t had chance to review the responses until today.
The progression was so quick that no doctor or specialist in my hospital (a large teaching hospital) had experienced it before first hand.
If this information helps anyone – even slightly – then it is worth sharing.
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