I'm hoping you can help me? I've been feeling totally overwhelmed since my G.P diagnosed me with Hypothyroidism 6 Weeks ago, although I'm very grateful I joined the group and I'm learning from everyone's experience which I have been reading over in the past month. I thought best to include my first Thyroid Function Test from my G.P 6 weeks ago (TSH 12.56 range 0.35 - 5.00).
(Free T4 8.8 range 9.0 - 21.0). My Glucose was 6.3 range 3.5 - 6.0. My Serum Vit B12 852 range 200-900. I hope this makes sense I'm still getting used to the terminology.
Today I received my results from Blue Horizon I'm going to try include these as an attachment. I hope you can help me in understanding these please.
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LittleBetter
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LittleBetter Has your GP started you on Levothyroxine, if so what dose? I'm guessing he has because your TSH has lowered and your FT4 has come into range.
The aim of a treated hypo patient is generally for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges.
Your GP should be re-testing your levels 6-8 weeks after starting you on Levo, increasing your dose by 25mcg, re-testing again after another 6-8 weeks, another increase, re-test, etc, until your symptoms abate and you feel well.
When having thyroid tests, always book the very first appointment of the morning, fast overnight (you can have water) and leave off Levo for 24 hours. This gives the highest possible TSH which is what is needed when looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction.
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When taking your Levo, always take it on an empty stomach, one hour before or two hours after food, take with water only, not tea, coffee, or milk. Keep it away from other meds and supplements by two hours.
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Your Blue Horizon test shows that you have high Thyroglobulin antibodies which means that you are positive for autoimmune thyroid disease aka Hashimoto's. This is where the antibodies attack the thyroid and gradually destroy it. There is no treatment for Hashi's, it's the resulting Hypothyroidism that is treated and that is Levothyroxine. The antibodies will fluctuate from time to time, bringing fluctuations in symptoms and test results.
You can help reduce the antibodies, and therefore hopefully the antibody attacks, by adopting a strict gluten free diet which has helped many members enormously. Gluten contains gliadin which is a protein thought to trigger antibody attacks.
Vitamins and minerals all need to be at optimal levels for us Hypos. You have some deficencies and supplements are needed:
Ferritin at 37.6 is too low. It needs to be 70 for thyroid hormone to work properly, better is half way through it's range, and for females 100-130 is best. You can buy some Ferrous Fumarate from Amazon and take one tablet twice daily. Take each tablet with 1000mg Vit C to aid absorption and help prevent constipation. When you've finished the packet (84 tablets) re-test. Once your level is up you can maintain it by eating liver once every 7-10 days or take a maintenance dose of iron.
Always take iron four hours away from thyroid meds as it will affect absorption.
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Vit D at 18 is deficient. You could discuss this with your GP. If you Google for the Vit D Deficiency treatment in your area you will find out what the treatment should be (it can differ around the country) and ensure he adheres to it. However, you may do better by buying your own supplements. My level was 15 and this is what I did following suggestions from here.
Buy some D3 softgels 5000iu bodykind.com/product/2463-b... and take 40,000iu daily for two weeks as a loading dose then reduce to 5000iu daily for 8 weeks. That amount doesn't suit everyone, so you could start with 10,000iu daily for 8 weeks. Then retest.
The recommended level is 100-150nmol/L so when you reach that level reduce to 5000iu alternate days as a maintenance dose. Re-testing once or twice a year is recommended in order to stay within the recommended range.
D3 aids the absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs it to bones and teeth where it is needed rather than arteries and soft tissues where it can cause problems. This is a good K2-MK7 amazon.co.uk/Jarrow-MK-7-90...
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check here to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening four hours away from thyroid meds naturalnews.com/046401_magn...
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B12 is fine.
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Folate could do with a nudge up to at least half way through it's range (35+ with that range). A B Complex is a good supplement for us Hypos and a decent one containing methylfolate will help raise your folate level.
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Unfortunately, most of us have found that our doctors don't know much about how to treat Hypothyroidism and tend to ignore how we feel in favour of getting the TSH into range. It's important that we learn as much as we can in order to help ourselves and I've given some links which you should read to help get you started on understanding your Hashimoto's.
Thank you for your time and great knowledge it has taken me a few days to get back to you because I've been so exhausted and trying to take things on board with this brain fog is hellish. Wow this is really the beginning of my journey. I am going to plan and do all your suggestion which I'm very grateful for. I went to my GP today as he did my bloods last week too he is uping my levo dose to 50 but you know how my antibodies came back high from my private bloods I asked him if I had hashimoto's he totally disregarded this and said 'no not at all'. I had a note from the doctor from Blue Horizon advising of hashimoto's but the Gp just dismissed this. I'm feeling so low and angry and irrelevant from seeing my GP. Sorry for the rant this just feels so crazy that a GP is so ignorant or not informed in how to treat me?
LittleBetter Instead of feeling angry, console yourself with the fact that you probably now know more about hypothyroidism (and definitely Hashi's) than your GP . We all have foggy brain days, even those of us with years of hypo experience. After 43 years, I'm still learning things, and new information takes time to sink in. I have to read, and read again, and maybe again, then I have the light bulb moment! So take your time, there's lots to learn, but this is the only way you will get better, you have to help yourself for sure as eggs is eggs your GP wont, because he just doesn't have the knowledge and he's hardly likely to admit it. Most Endos are diabetes specialists and don't know much about thyroid either. They may play around with adding T3 to Levo, but honestly, read some of the posts on here and it's quite plain they don't know what they're doing.
Oh, and there are many, many members on here who know a whole lot more than I do
So, take it slowly, read an learn, come and ask questions, have a rant about your useless GP.
If he's the sort of GP that is happy when your TSH just drops into range, make sure you tell him that you have taken advice from NHS Choices recommended source of information for thyroid disorders (which is ThyroidUK) and you know that the aim of a treated hypo patient generally is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges, if that is where you feel best. This is borne out by an article in Pulse Magazine, written by Dr Antony Toft who is past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, and he said:
"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.
But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
If you email louise.roberts@thyroiduk.org.uk she will let you have a copy of the article which you can print out and show your GP.
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. We all have foggy brain days, even those of us with years of hypo experience. After 43 years, I'm still learning things, and new information takes time to sink in. I have to read, and read again, and maybe again, then I have the light bulb moment! So take your time, there's lots to learn, but this is the only way you will get better, you have to help yourself for sure as eggs is eggs your GP wont, because he just doesn't have the knowledge and he's hardly likely to admit it. Most Endos are diabetes specialists and don't know much about thyroid either. They may play around with adding T3 to Levo, but honestly, read some of the posts on here and it's quite plain they don't know what they're doing.
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