Hi all , so pleased to have found this site as I realise how undereducated I am about my condition , I feel as though I have been suffering in silence for two years but am now at my wits end . All my doctor has ever told me is that I have an under active thyroid and will need to take levythyroxin for the rest of my life . After reading some posts on here I didn't even know you are supposed to fast and not take medication before. Blood test . I have no idea if my antibodies have been tested and if it's hashimotos. I will ask my doctor for a print out of my tests . Have recently had an increase up to 125 mg and I feel terrible . Tired beyond how I've ever felt before and joint pain all over . I have tennis elbow in both elbow,plantular fascitis . Chronic sinusitis . Joint pain is in my feet , knees ., and now my fingers . All these things seem to have come at once and I'm convinced it has something to do with my thyroid . After yet another docs trip as feeling so unwell . Waiting on blood results for various . Liver , kidneys , Celeac , diabetes etc . Really feel at my wits end as up till now I've let a pretty active life . Does anyone else have all these symptoms? Appreciate any advice thank you
Joint pain : Hi all , so pleased to have found... - Thyroid UK
Joint pain
Hi Freda,
My condition went undiagnosed for 40 years, I still have chronic with bouts of acute sinusitis. I was incorrectly diagnosed with FM ten years ago. Many of the symptoms of this vanished once I bought thyroid replacement meds, & I no longer constantly ache all over.
If you post your blood test results, the lovely admins & people on here will help you choose what to do to help you get better. In the meantime, try to make sure you're eating properly & getting enough B, C & D vitamins, & iron, magnesium & zinc. These help your thyroid hormones to convert & get into your cells.
I found this to be a good read: my.chriskresser.com/wp-cont...
Mel
Hi Mel , many thanks for your reply and I will Def take your advice of getting a copy of results . I feel it's time for me to take control , my doctor has never even mentioned diet and lifestyle changes . They have no idea and I have even less but hopefully this site will give me some answers . Thank you
You're welcome!
I went gung ho, & self-medicate. It took a while to work as I scuppered my improvements eating lots of soya & other goitrogens. I've learned from here in the past year that what, when & how I eat things can help a lot. You'll soon get to grips with everything!
Good luck!
This one, too: chriskresser.com/the-thyroi...
I am sorry you feel so bad. I was far worse, once diagnosed - which took forever it seemed - about 7 years before I was given levothyroxine. Many do fine on it once the dose is high enough to produce enough T3 which is the active hormone. Levothyroxine is T4 only and it's job is to convert to T3.
I am glad to say that I am now fit and well but it was a gradual return to good health as I had various combinations of hormones.
So, we have to read and learn and I got my information from Thyroiduk.org.uk before this forum was set up. Now it is so much easier as members are here to answer questions as we've all had different experiences/symptoms/thyroid hormone replacements.
Most Doctors are very poorly trained in dysfunctions of the thyroid gland even, it would seem from some posts, endocrinologists.
Blood tests have to be the earliest possible, fasting (you can drink water) and allow 24 hours between last dose and test. This allows the TSH to be at its highest as it drops throughout the day. If you've not had B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate tested, you have to have these too as we can be deficient.
Some of us are sensitive to the fillers/binders in some hormone replacement so if you take one anti-histamine tablet an hour before your next dose and if you don't have a reaction, it is possible you need to changed levothyroxine to another make (there are several). I don't say brand because as far as I know there is no Brands levo in the UK anymore. There was Eltroxin whether it has been introduced again, I'm not sure. All other levothyroxines are generic brands.
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...
Thank you for reply and advice . Good to know there is some hope and I'm not alone with this as you do start to feel like that . Even friends and family don't understand but I didn't even know about it before so how would they understand . Thank you
Neither did I, nor any of the Specialist who diagnosed with me with umpteen other conditions and treatments (some paid). Even a week before diagnosis and an overnight stay in the cardiac dept and discharged with 'probably viral with a high cholesterol'. I thought I was dying as I was bedridden. Fortunately, a week previously I phoned and demanded a blood test form be ready at my GPs. I was too ill after A&E but managed a week later to get a test. Another GP phoned me about 2 hours after blood test had been taken to say, you have hypothyroidism come and get a prescriiption. Oh - who gave you the blood test form - I said 'I did'. I cried then because I had a 'diagnosis'. I had a TSH of 100
You can also have a private blood test as we have several recommended labs. A full thyroid function test includes TSH, T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies.
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...
Many doctord only test the TSH and T4. T4 is inactive and levothyroxine is T4 and its job is to convert to T3. T3 is the only active hormone required in our receptor cells and it has most in our brain, the heart and everything else needs sufficient to function. 
Sad to say, most Doctors seem to take no interest in vitamin levels. Yet they are critical to us being able to uptake and use Thyroxine
ask GP to check levels of vitamin d, b12, folate and ferritin. These all need to at very good (not just average) levels for thyroid hormones (our own or replacement ones) to work in our cells
Vitamin C with zinc will help support you while you get sorted
Excellent film about how the thyroid works and why there are so many essential vitamins needed along the way
drbradshook.com/understandi...
Plantar fasciitis is very common hypo symptom, probably tied to low vitamin D
If you have Hashimoto's then going gluten free really helps very many of us
chriskresser.com/the-gluten...
hypothyroidmom.com/92-of-ha...
Hi. Thank you for reply , great advice . I feel I have to fight my case every visit to the doctor . I will ask for the vitamin tests next time
Freda,I'm sorry to see you are so unwell but pleased you found TUK, along with all the other advice given I'd like to also suggest you think about and make notes of your own health history from birth - there is always an underlying reason for a Thyroid condition. Potentially causing some of the other conditions throughout life. I have and/or had some similar conditions to yours and have been able to make my own "connections".
We are all very individual, in terms of suggested meds/remedies, please remember that sometimes one man's meat is another man's poison - so think carefully and don't go stuffing yourself up with different meds for different symptoms or conditions because, many of them can counteract each other and upset the effectiveness of Thyroxine . It's always worth checking with the Pharmacist, not just a sales assistant, that additional medication, especially if bought OTC, over the counter, is compatible with the brand of Levo you are on. Any mismatch may interfere with how well your Levo dosage is working and doing its job.
I'm, like ?all the others are not Medically trained but have, through personal research, learnt a lot about my own overall health conditions by doing both and am better able to manage how I'm doing and feel.
I wish you well, and no doubt we'll hear more from you with other questions as time passes. The admins in particular are very good at test result interpretations. When you have your Thyroid blood test, always ask for a printed copy of the results when they are back so you can make a new post here with them,if they confuse you. There is also loads of info on the TUK Website itself well worth a read.
Hi there , thankyou for the info . I've always been very healthy up to now and have only ever had sinusitis all my life so I can't really make any connection. Yes it's difficult to know what advice to take but I have just had all clear from recent blood tests for iron , kidneys , liver etc . I guess the next step is testing vitamin levels . Thank you for advice , much appreciated
Hi I have had terrible joint pains stomach issues weight gain. I feel for you. I have started taking vitamin d magnesium vitamin k and a thyroid supplement with selenium in it. My joint pain has gone. I also asked my dr. to prescribe small amount of t3 to take with my levo. Also bcomplex. If your vitamins are off or your iron is off you'll feel terrible. There are so many nice people on this site with a lot of knowledge. They have helped me tremendously. Where are you from? Welcome to this forum. I'm sure you will find a lot of helpful information on here. It has been a God send to me. I hope you feel better soon.
Hi nanny , thank you for reply . I'm from Edinburgh . Can I ask if the vitamins you take were on advice of Doctor ? I guess I need to find out what my body is lacking first . Good to hear that it worked for you and there is hope . Thank you
Only vitamin D was prescribed by doctor. The rest I did from advice on this site
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