My Thyroid battle

[Kerryzzz]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here. Just thought I would share my story. I was diagnosed with overactive thyroid when I was 23. My first symptoms were I was feeling extremely tired, my skin was very itchy and I was feeling too hot. I was prescribed Carbimazole by my doctor and I took this for around a year. After that my doctor suggested I go for radioactive iodine treatment as the carbimazole is not good to be taken for a long time and can affect fertility. I met with a thyroid specialist in Edinburgh to under go the treatment and he gave me a book which he wrote himself "Understanding Thyroid Disorders - Dr Anthony Toft" I find this book quite helpful. After my treatment my thyroid became underactive and I am currently on 75mg of levothyroxine. I have found over the years that I've suffered alot of health problems which I feel are related to my thyroid and possibly ruining my life in 2011 I started to suffer alopecia, in 2015 I started to suffer hives, more recently bladder problems and I feel tired alot and suffer mood swings and joint pain. I worry that one day I won't be able to live a normal life. But spend alot of time researching thyroid and thyroid diet in the hope I can improve my life. I speak to alot of people about it too and as a result I have met many other sufferers. I hope this information might be of use to other sufferers.

Kerry

[humanbean]

There are a lot of potential reasons for your symptoms.

1) You might be under-medicated. 75mcg Levo is rather a low dose.

2) Perhaps you can't convert T4 to T3 very well. Free T3 levels determine whether or not people feel well. Too low causes hypothyroid symptoms, too much causes hyperthyroid symptoms, you almost certainly have too low.

3) Thyroid difficulties lead to gut problems which lead to low nutrients. You need optimal levels of nutrients to feel well, not just "anywhere in range" levels. Low nutrients reduce conversion from T4 to T3 as well, which exacerbates the problems.

4) If you've spent a long time under-medicated and/or with low nutrients then your adrenal glands may be struggling. High or low cortisol (produced by the adrenal glands) can cause havoc with metabolising thyroid hormones.

There are other things that might be wrong, but I think the above is a good start.

Welcome to the forum.

[humanbean in reply to humanbean]

You need to go to your surgery and ask for copies of any of your blood tests that have been done in the last 2 or 3 years. Make sure they include the reference ranges.

You are legally entitled to have copies of your results. You can expect to pay a small amount for paper and ink for the results, but ask the price when you ask for your results. If they charge more than a couple of pounds for a few sheets of paper come back to us and ask what to do next. You should expect to have to wait 24 hours for the printing to be done because the receptionists always have to ask the permission of a doctor before providing printouts.

Another possibility is that your surgery may allow you to see blood test results online for free. You would need to take proof of identity and ask for the codes necessary to allow you to register online.

patientservices.helpscoutdo...

Once you have your results you should write a new post and post your results and ask for feedback.

[Kerryzzz in reply to humanbean]

Thank you I will do this