Dizziness and fatigue for last 6 months

[vedanta]

Hello everybody,

This is my first post. For last six months, I am feeling tired (fatigued), with constant nagging dizziness. Went to labs and important results are as under.

Serum iron : 77 (low normal)

TIBC : 369 (normal)

%Transferrin saturation : 21(low normal)

Ferritin : 30 (low normal)

Hemoglobin : 15.8 (normal)

RDW - SD : 46.3 (high)

Vit b12 : 496

Vit D : 30

FT3 : 4.9 pmol/L (2.2-6.45)

FT4 : 1.1 ng/L (0.9-1.8)

TSH : 10.1 (high)

Thyroid antibodies (AMA and ATG) : Nil

I am vegetarian. Before the start of dizziness I was subjected to laxative abuse by my Naturopath for seven months! Even before that for almost four years, I had restricted my diet for no apparent reason.

My new doctor feels that the ferritin is ok for a man of 51 yrs. He wants me to go for hypothyroid medicine. I on the other hand feel that it is the low iron storage due to restricted diet and laxative overuse which is causing high TSH and other symptoms. On top of this, I do not have other classical symptoms of hypothyroid like weight gain and intolerance to colds.

I want to take the route of eating healthy and iron supplementation for minimum three months rather than landing in the trap of synthetic hormones.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[bluebug]

Get your test results and either edit your post/or post them in a new thread with the range.

Unfortunately GPs have little training in nutrition and exercise for healthy people let alone those with specific illnesses, so what they advise is often inadequate and this includes when they actually have guidelines to follow e.g. for iron, vitamin D and vitamin B12.

Edited to say - "normal" to GPs just means in range. It doesn't equal optimal so you can be at the lower part of the range.

[vedanta in reply to bluebug]

I have edited. Is it ok? Thanks.

[greygoose in reply to vedanta]

No, you still haven't put the ranges for the FT4 and FT3. The ranges are the numbers in brackets, after the result.

[bluebug]

You should put the ranges in but:

1. You have hypothyroidism

2. You have vitamin deficiencies.

You NEED to treat both. If you don't treat the hypothyroidism you could end up collapsing and dying.

Go back to your doctor, get the prescription for levo then take it. Once you are on levo come back here and repost for detailed advice in vitamins.

Eating healthy will NOT solve your issues as a lack of thyroid hormones means you cannot absorb nutrients from food. Levo is just giving you the hormone that is missing in your body.

In addition if you are in the Northern Hemisphere you won't be able to get sufficient vitamin D naturally at this time of year.

Likewise older people often naturally have vitamin B12 absorption issues. Again eating the right food won't solve this. The vitamin B12 most people take just show they are taking supplements not the amount inside the cells.

BTW If the naturopath made you take laxatives because you were constipated it shows that you have hypothyroidism, as that is one of the symptoms.

[vedanta in reply to bluebug]

FT4 : 1.1 ng/L (0.9-1.8)

FT3 : 4.9 pmol/L (2.2-6.45)

My Naturopath gave me laxative not for constipation but to clean 'pitta' (an Ayurvefic term indicating acid) from my small intestine. I do not have constipation.

Thanks for your reply.

[bluebug in reply to vedanta]

If you read around this forum you will see that many health professionals presume those with hypothyroidism have high stomach acid when in fact it is the opposite. This is because the symptoms of high and low stomach acid are similar, and so they are prescribed H2 blockers/anti-acids to decrease their stomach acid, which never relieves their symptoms. Some people on here take a daily dose of apple cider vinegar and find it helps them.

[vedanta in reply to bluebug]

Thanks bluebug for your prompt responses. I appreciate that. Let me make myself more clear.

The 7 months regime of laxative was not for hypothyroidism. It was to get rid of excess pitta from small intestine as I was suffering from boils. Hypothyroidism was not in picture at all. My TSH was in normal range in Nov 2015 when the cleaning process began. Even after restricting food for 3-4 previous years, I was in great shape doing lots of excercise and trekking in Himalayas! The big mistake was prolonging the cleaning for too long. As per the experts in Ayurveda, it should not have been done for more than one month. It is a well known fact that laxative abuse first of all depletes iron and also kills our ability to digest nutrients creating overall deficiency.

Since my TSH shot up after cleaning and since I have no antibodies present, (and ft3/ft4 in normal range), I came to the conclusion of vitamin / mineral deficiency. And my symptoms too were more matching with ferritin deficiency rather than hypothyroid. There is no weight gain for example. I am steady at 56/58 Kgs since last many years.

For last fifteen days I have started eating wide spectrum of food including beetroots, carrots and Indian gooseberry juice. Being in India, I am getting exposed to sunshine after 10 am in addition to vit D supplement. One of the noticeable effect is reduction in dizziness and slight increase in the energy. Fatigue is still there, but considering the damage I have inflicted on my body for last many years, it may take a while!

I will for sure look for more details in this forum. I also want to know for example if thyroid energy boost products which contains co-factor minerals like iodine, selenium, copper, b vitamins, zinc etc can help.

I have faith in body healing itself if proper environment is provided. Let me try for one or two months and then take a call.

Again, this forum is wonderful and will always appreciate your comments.

thanks.

[bluebug]

You can read up more on the website of the charity that runs this forum at thyroiduk.org.uk