I'm at a bit of a loss. I have asked my GP if I could get all thyroid tests done but she said "no, the NHS doesn't offer them" there is alot of family medical history with thyroid related illnesses but they don't even want to hear it. At the moment I carry a diagnosis of depression and anxiety, with symptoms such as chronic fatigue, shakiness, forgetfulness, mind fog I also have alcohol intolerance (or so we think as it makes me sick for days). My Ft4 is at 12 (range 9-22) and tsh is 1.14 (range 0.35-5) as these sit in the "normal" range they won't look any further completely disregarding symptoms and family history. I know that my thyroid could have a lot to answer for, if ALL tests once assessed show no irregularities then I cam find other ways to deal with my symptoms, but my GPs just won't do it stating that all the other symptoms I exhibit must be due to depression and anxiety. I'm at the point that I'm looking for private thyroid tests and specialist endocrinologists. Can anybody please share their experience and advise on how to get this properly looked at please?
Thanks all in advance xx
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FairyDustSparkle
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As well as full Thyroid tests you also really need to check vitamin D, B12, Folate & ferritin. These four are often low if you have thyroid issues.
Both Medichecks and Blue Horizon offer these as a whole bundle. £99
Medichecks is the Thyroid check Ultra Vit
Blue Horizon is Thyroud plus eleven
You can either do a DIY fingerprick test or pay a bit extra for blood draw at a local-to-you-venue
Usual advice on ALL thyroid tests, is to do early in morning, ideally before 9am. No food or drink beforehand (other than water) 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
Thank you. I thought I'd have to get the yest done privately, thank you for the recommendations. Do you know where I have to go after I have taken these tests and got the results back for them?
I'm so tired all the time that even the tiniest of tasks seem like a massive chore.
Private blood testing by Blue Horizon and Medichecks doesn't involve doctors. In the case of BH they send results directly to you via email. In the case of Medichecks I'm not sure how results are delivered because I've never used them.
Once you have your test results you can post them on here in a new post and ask for feedback. And, if you choose to do so, you can show them to your GP. Some people do, some don't.
Medichecks send an email HB, it tells you that your results have been uploaded to your online file, so you log in to your account to view them and print off.
With both Blue Horizon and Medichecks you can get a GP to review them. However as the GP doesn't know your medical history and probably works for the NHS as well s/he won't be better than any other NHS GP.
So once you get your results the best thing to do is to start a new thread putting in results in the form:
name result (range)
e.g.
TSH 1.3 (0.4-4.5)
FT4 12 (9 - 22)
It is very likely you are also vitamin deficient and depending how deficient is whether you will be advised to:
1. Self treat due to how useless the NHS is, OR
2. Get advice from another healthunlocked group, OR,
3. Go back to your GP and point out politely they are useless.
FairyDustSparkle Ask them to consider the possibility of central (secondary) hypothyroidism, which is where TSH is low as well as free Ts. This is when the problem lies with the pituitary or hypothalamus rather than the thyroid.
Hi I was like this for years and they did nothing apart from throw anti depressants at me. Also a family history of thyroid disorders. I'd been back and forth with repeated water infections, problems with horrible periods and extreme tiredness, weight gain. Was also low in iron at one point but they still said all was normal. Your ft4 is low mine was bottom of the range. So I am betting your ft3 is also. I went for a private test and my levels got a lot lower but then they refused a repeat thyroid test so I had to self medicate. It's not uncommon at all to get many hypo symptoms and feel terrible before actually becoming what doctors deem as clinically hypo. Worth getting your antibodies checked out also. Hope it works out for you.
Thank you, I'm just getting so frustrated and it's starting to really upset me and effect all areas of my life. Of course if you cry about it your depressed if frustrated it's anxiety, any health issue I bring to my doctors they deem it to be part of my mental health... Im waiting to see when I can afford to get the tests done and see an endocrinologist with the results xx
Good for you. They still pull the oh you have a history of depression card out on me now but I just calmly smile and explain its gone since getting my thyroid levels sorted. What they really mean is you are mental and it's in your head which is insulting. You know if something is wrong, nobody else and yes it's really frustrating when you feel hypo but your bloods are not saying it yet. They most likely will eventually.
katiekatie if I had a penny for everything they blame on my 'history' (ie over ten years ago) of depression. I had a dermatologist tell me my biopsy site was still sore due to it!! Didn't look at the scar of course, which looks sore and was stitched badly.
I can believe it. It's not acceptable at all. Especially when you have something physical happening and they make you feel neurotic. My mum was getting terrible pains in her stomach and asked to see someone at the hospital. She also has hypothyroidism and IBS but said she knew it was something else. The specialists wrote a letter to her Gp saying she was a hypochondriac with a history of depression and it was in her head. A week later they did emergency surgery on her for gallstones which were so bad her gall bladder had split. She woke to them at the end of her bed apologising! They don't seem to learn though it happens too much.
The reliance on blood tests instead of knowing all the clinical symptoms is reason for all the mistakes which arise. Poor training and misunderstanding of how thyroid hormones function is the root cause.
It's really awful. I feel that they just think I'm making it up, I've been told that I think somethings wrong with me because of my anxiety! It's really a shame that so many people have to be their own doctors. It's nice to know there are people in the same boat but it infuriates me too because it's sheer incompetence that makes so many people suffer. I will post my results on here before seeing anyone and most probably go down the route of self medicating. I have already started reducing my gluten (saw the Ben and Jerry sandwich add, there's no way I can give it up completely) I've started using coconut oil into my smoothies. I have started with supplements yet as j need to look at which ones get absorbed but have also heard that they don't do a whole lot of good
They do not know even one clinical symptoms and if patient keeps appearing in surgery will prescribe an anti-d instead of a thorough blood test. Tick off your symptoms.
You can self-diagnose by getting proper blood tests, more than GP would do. Ask GP to test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate as deficiencies can cause symptoms too.
You sound exactly like I was in the years (age 15-33) before I had a goitre and a total thyroidectomy,(which has brought its own problems)what I have learnt is not to give up or fobbed off by drs ,they are GPS just general practitioners,fantastically brilliant a a huge range of illnesses but most are poorly educated in thyroid issues or associated illnesses and complications which are only delt with when they become acute.
Arm yourself with the evidence you belive is going on in your body,with blood tests and diary of symptoms to prove your point and win your fight.
Anxiety is really unpleasant to battle with and all I can say is little steps,keep up the fight you'll get there eventually.
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