Referral necessary with hashimotos?

[Kla88]

Should I have been refered to endo when I was diagnosed with hashimotos? Now hypo. My doctor doesn't seem to bothered asked for thyroid scan and was more or less told it wasn't needed. My surgery only tests tsh & t4 no t3

[Anthea55]

That's what most GPs do. They ignore hashi's once it's been diagnosed as they don't think they can do anything about it. Usual tests are TSH and free T4, no T3. I have hashi's and never offered a thyroid scan, even by the endo.

If the levo works for you, as it works for 80 to 90% of people, then you won't need to see the endo. Hope it does.

[Kla88 in reply to Anthea55]

Thank you for replying, nice to get advice

[crimple]

Most medics say there is no treatment for Hashi's. However a lot of people on here, myself included, find that a gluten free diet makes a huge difference. I managed to get rid of my TPO antibodies by going gluten free, took about 6 months, also went lactofree. It is very important that your TSH level is kept low preferably below 1. I use Blue Horizon finger prick blood tests to monitor my levels ad NHS only do TSH and occasionally T4, rarely T3 but it is important to know the levels. Also BH test can include antibody test which I used to monitor my progress in reducing TPO.

[Kla88 in reply to crimple]

Thank u

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Most people on levo need low TSH around 1 to be adequately treated. To monitor progress your blood test need to include FT4 & FT3 (but most NHS labs won't do them)

If they have not been done ......Suggest you ask GP to check levels of vitamin d, b12, folate and ferratin. These all need to at good (not just average) levels for thyroid hormones (our own or replacement ones) to work in our cells

ALWAYS Make sure you get the actual figures from tests (including ranges - figures in brackets). You are entitled to copies of your own results. Some surgeries make nominal charge for printing out. Alternatively you can now ask for online access to your own medical records. Though not all surgeries can do this yet, or may not have blood test results available yet online

If you can not get GP to do these tests, then like many of us, you can get them done privately

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Blue Horizon - Thyroid plus eleven tests all these.

This is a finger prick test you do at home, post back and they email results to you couple of days later. Usual advice on ALL thyroid tests, (home one or on NHS) is to do early in morning, ideally before 9am. No food or drink beforehand (other than water) If you are taking Levo, then don't take it in 24 hours before (take straight after). This way your tests are always consistent, and it will show highest TSH, and as this is mainly all the medics decide dose on, best idea is to keep result as high as possible

You should have levels checked 6-8 weeks after any change in Levo dose

As you have Hashimoto's then you may find adopting 100% gluten free diet can really help reduce symptoms, and lower antibodies slowly over time too.

Selenium supplements can help improve conversion of T4 to T3 and may also lower antibodies

hypothyroidmom.com/92-of-ha...

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

thyroidpharmacist.com

Also thyroxine must be taken on an empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after. (No coffee or tea) Many take on waking, but can be more convenient and recent research, suggests perhaps is more effective taken at bedtime. (Must be at least two hours after eating)

[Kla88]

Thank you so much for your advice it's really appreciated. I found out last year that I was b12 d doc seems to think it's stemming from the antibodies. My problem is my level never stays near 1 it's either 4.2 (tsh) or 5.6 once it went to 24 and then with increase back down. My doctor tests t4 and seems to be in mid range but like you suggested I may get few tests done of my own. The problem with vit d is that I already supplement i know myself it would be low but probably shouldn't have done this until I got the adequate test. Thank you for ur advice