Hi new here and need some advice if possible I went through break up in 2007 by 2008 I had dropped from a size 16 to an 8 I was diagnosed then with irritable bowel depression/anxiety due to me feeling freezing all the time like I'm just about to go down with flu or something - I cannot gain weight I have just undergone total hysto including ovaries at 36 due to pcos (heavy irregular bleeding constant infections etc..) I am having night sweats also for the last nearly 8 years there has been no change to this after hysto and I'm on hrt 75mcg with no change at all I have spells of chest pain dizzy ness breathlessness and headaches more recently I have been having severe memory problems I'm a mum to 3 and it's causing problems - i had a stillbirth 29 weeks 3 yrs ago tsh was not quite right but in normal limits.
Every blood test I have had with thyroid function the last 18 months has been not quite right as the dr (different ones each time) has put it (in uk same surgery) I had a private thyroid function test done 6 months ago showing tsh at 0.17 will try to upload comments here.
This week my dr has called the latest round of blood tests has shown something not telling me what til I go with my thyroid.
The thing is I seem to get so close to them figuring this out then they send me home with the same generalised anxiety disorder they relabelled me with after my daughters still birth - yes I was anxious being pregnant again afterwards and yes I keep feeling panicky but I'm happily married not depressed and run a successful business whilst being mum - what do I do when I see the dr any advice
After my op my temp sat at 35 they couldn't raise it bought me blankets
My blood pressure has been low since all this started also
Thanks in advance for reading I may have missed some symptoms as my brain is slow these days thanks x
Image is of private test 6 months ago same week NHS dr test came back fine
You are definitely not an anxious nutter. You are feeling the way you are as I think you are another person undiagnosed with hypothyroidism. First, because of PCOS, second - hysterectomy - third stillbirth. It all points to a dysfunction and I am not medically qualified and have hypothyroidism.
For instance this is copied (I don't have a link) and it is self-explanatory:
Multiple Ovarian Cysts as
a Major Symptom of Hypothyroidism
The case I describe below is of importance to women with polycystic ovaries. If they have evidence, such as a high TSH, that conventional clinicians accept as evidence
of hypothyroidism, they may fair well. But the TSH is not a valid gauge of a woman's tissue thyroid status. Because of this, she may fair best by adopting self-directed care. At any rate, for women with ovarian cysts, this case is one of extreme importance.
In 2008, doctors at the gynecology department in Gunma, Japan reported the case of a 21-year-old women with primary hypothyroidism. Her doctor referred her to the gynecology department because she had abdominal pain and her abdomen was distended up to the level of her navel.
At the gynecology clinic she underwent an abdominal ultrasound and CT scan. These
imaging procedures showed multiple cysts on both her right and her left ovary.
The woman's cholesterol level and liver function were increased. She also had a
high level of the muscle enzyme (creatine phosphokinase) that's often high in hypothyroidism.
Blood testing also showed that the woman had primary hypothyroidism from autoimmune thyroiditis.
It is noteworthy that the young woman's ovarian cysts completely disappeared soon
after she began thyroid hormone therapy. Other researchers have reported girls with
primary hypothyroidism whose main health problems were ovarian cysts or precocious
puberty. But this appears to be the first case in which a young adult female had
ovarian cysts that resulted from autoimmune-induced hypothyroidism.
The researchers cautioned clinicians: "To avoid inadvertent surgery to remove an
ovarian tumor, it is essential that a patient with multiple ovarian cysts and hypothyroidism be properly managed, as the simple replacement of a thyroid hormone could resolve the ovarian cysts."[1]
Reference:
1. Kubota, K., Itho, M., Kishi, H., et al.: Primary hypothyroidism presenting as
multiple ovarian cysts in an adult woman: a case report. Gynecol. Endocrinol.,
24(10):586-589, 2008.
Thyroiduk.org.uk has a list of private doctors which you may like to consult. email louise.roberts@thyroiduk.org.uk who has a list.
First thing you need is a Full Thyroid Function Test and we have recommended labs which can do the necessary ones and they can be done at home.
All tests for thyroid hormones have to be done at the earliest possible because the TSH (which many doctors diagnose upon (they're wrong) reduces throughout the day.
You need TSH, T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies.
Ask GP to check B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.
Always get a print-out of your results with the ranges (labs differ) for your own records and you can post if you have a query.
No, some people do gain weight - I didn't and what you've gone through I shouldn't wonder you're thin. Anyway, a Full Thyroid Function Test should reveal all. This link will help I think:
Under every post there is a little square with a v in it. If you click on that on one of your own posts you will be given a few options - Edit, Delete, Report.
Results were subclinically hyperthyroid as TSH is below range although FT4 and FT3 are within normal range. It is a good idea to retest every 6 months in case FT4 and FT3 rise above range when you would need treatment for hyperthyroidism.
I deleted your second post which had personal details in the image.
Thanks that test was 6 months ago gp tested last week and they want to see me re thyroid x thank you
I'm on fluoxetine
The hrt and ovarys being taken hasn't made any difference to my symptoms I'm typing this at 6.30 am after my third night sweat/clothing change of the night
Gyne has adjusted hrt no change sweats started was before op
This test was 6 months ago my dr did one (he doesn't know about this test I had done yet) he's done one and called me in re thyroid I feel terrible have for a long time just want to know what it is
I had a year off it for pregnancy with or without symptoms same went back on it after dr said symptoms were anxiety again
I suspect you may not be. Inverting the inactive T4 tothe active T3. Please get your D3 B12 folate and cerritin checked and post your results on a new thread. They are often in range but low do you will probably need advice as your doctor will say you are fine. Supplementing these should help conversion and general health but it doesn't change quickly
Free T4 19.16 (12 - 22) 71.6% of the way through the reference range
Free T3 4.88 (3.1 - 6.8)48% of the way through the reference range.
At the moment you are neither hypothyroid (underactive) nor hyperthyroid (overactive). Your results aren't exactly ideal though. Your Free T4 is quite high in range and your Free T3 is quite low. If anything is causing symptoms it is probably the below mid-range Free T3. And your Free T4 may be high in range because you aren't creating enough T3 for you, so to raise the Free T3 your body is pushing out lots of Free T4 in the hope that your body can create enough Free T3. There is a possibility that you have high Reverse T3, but it is probably too early to worry about that.
Whether your Free T3 will continue to drop or your Free T4 continue to rise is anyone's guess. But at the moment I wouldn't suggest you treating your thyroid for anything. And don't let your doctor try and treat you for sub-clinical hyperthyroidism either. Your TSH is low, but it isn't suppressed, and such treatment would just reduce your Free T3 even further.
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Based on your symptoms I would suggest that you get tested for nutrient levels - iron/ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D, folate.
If you had low iron a year ago, then it was treated and now you don't treat it, the chances are your iron has dropped again. Some people do have to take a maintenance dose of iron to keep their levels healthy. But you must test to be sure because iron is poisonous in overdose. Low iron can cause breathlessness and chest pain. Something I found was that low iron reduced my body temperature and kept me feeling cold.
Since you've had recent surgery, another possibility is that you have lost a lot of your vitamin B12. If your anaesthetic contained nitrous oxide (and many anaesthetics do), then it could have destroyed some of your B12 and you should be topping it up. But don't supplement until you know for sure because supplementing B12 makes blood testing very unreliable. Low B12 can cause breathlessness and all sorts of memory problems.
In order for your body to make use of B12 you need good levels of folate. So if that is low, it needs to be supplemented.
And if your vitamin D is low it could cause all sorts of muscle and joint pain.
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Based on your symptoms of anxiety I would suggest that your cortisol level may not be right. Cortisol production has a circadian rhythm. See this picture :
Doctors test cortisol with a blood test. The result they get depends on the time of day they do the test, and although doing the test when cortisol is highest is supposed to be common practice it doesn't always happen. Therefore any decisions taken about cortisol mauy be made on poor information.
The other problem is that cortisol can only be used by the body when it is unattached to any other substance. But the body attaches cortisol to proteins for transport around the body. Cortisol in blood measures the sum of free cortisol plus cortisol attached to transport proteins. Since you can only use free cortisol getting the total cortisol isn't informative.
What you need to know is how much free cortisol you have. You also need to know something about your circadian rhythm in producing cortisol. The best way to do this is to use a saliva test. Saliva only contains free cortisol. It can also be tested several times a day.
The saliva test can only be done privately, the NHS insists on using single blood tests most of the time.
Read the whole page to find out how to order, how to get your results etc.
If your cortisol is too low or too high or your circadian rhythm is not good it can have all sorts of effects on physical and mental health. It can be altered. Unfortunately for us, the medical profession only deals with cortisol when it is practically non-existent (Addison's Disease) or so high it is in the stratosphere (Cushing's Syndrome or Cushing's Disease). Anything between those two states is classified as normal, so you are on your own in dealing with it.
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There are lot of things that can affect the thyroid and many of them are listed in this post from another forum :
I don't know enough to say which of them affects you, if any. Any of them which refer to poor conversion may relate to you. For example, if your cortisol turned out to be high, then no 13 on the list could affect you.
You could ignore anything which refers to an autoimmune problem - you don't currently have autoimmune thyroid disease. Incorrect levels of sex hormones could be an issue (you've had PCOS, so I think that may suggest you have high testosterone).
You'd have to go through each thing on the list in turn to decide whether it may be relevant to you.
Thank you so much for your detailed response, definitely had very high testosterone when diagnosed with pcos now have no ovaries so not sure what happens to my system at that point - will an endocrinologist be able to look at more than thyroid e.g: cortisol? I know testosterone can effect the bodies take up/resistance to insulin not sure how this can effect everything else or whether my levels were ever "normal" as I've never had normal anything lol just normal for me - I remember all of these symptoms starting around the same time they were triggered by massive amounts of stress whilst trying to keep my children going through a difficult time and losing my home it's been 7 years I'm happy but these physical symptoms persist
If an endocrinologist agreed to test your cortisol (which may be very unlikely), the most they would do is a single blood test which doesn't tell anyone very much as I explained above.
As for your sex hormones, including testosterone, I'm not sure under what circumstances they would ever get tested after hysterectomy. My sex hormones have never been tested since hysterectomy and that was about 20 years ago. I've never managed to tolerate HRT.
If lots of symptoms started at the same time I would definitely suggest the saliva cortisol test. You'll learn a lot more than you would from a single blood test.
Hi my dr just called they have a prescription for folate for me to pick up I have to take it for 3 months - no idea what that is or what it does will look online now x
I forgot to mention - poor cortisol results can lead to night sweats. I suffered with night sweats for decades, both before and after hysterectomy. Since getting my nutrients and thyroid optimal, and working on reducing my high cortisol it is rare for me to get night sweats.
Thank you the night sweats have been relentless and the hysto and the hrt hasn't made a difference at all - I've just been reading up on pcos and thyroid low tsh can contribute to increased insulin resistance funnily enough they tested me for diabetes after a screwy glucose result last year - I think the endoc may be able to shed some light and look at what all my hormones are doing across the board I will ask when I go x
Lol now been referred for a brain scan as failed gps memory test and she suspects thyroid so seeing endoc too
My drs called today must have re checked my bloods after I left yesterday I have a folate deficiency I think as they have prescribed me 3 months worth but haven't said why receptionist just phoned to say was ready at chemist and to start it today
Thank you this is all so frustrating and confusing when I went yesterday they asked me why I was there?! They called me in... then after saying I was just anxious again ring first thing with urgent script and no proper explanation x
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thanks x
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