Hypothyroidism? Energy?

[Lydia1960]

Having a blood test next week for certain symptoms I have been experiencing, especially exhaustion, drowsiness, head swimming and foggy, being the main ones. And lack of energy.

Just wondering, if it is shown that I am lacking in things like Vitamin D or ferritin etc or suffering from hypothyroidism, does taking medicines for these increase energy and alertness? Feel like I am falling off to sleep all the time...

[Saggyuk]

Yes, but there's not much people here can advise without blood test results. You will need to get a print out of your results and post them with the ranges (numbers in brackets after the result) for suggestions once you have them done

[Lydia1960 in reply to Saggyuk]

Okay. Thanks for that. Will do. Just another question. If your body is reacting wildly to mild temperatures, sometimes getting really over heated in warmish weather, especially in places where there is no fresh air in the buildings, or feeling quite cold, when indoors with the heater on during winter, does that indicate for sure that you have hypothyroidism or hashimoto, or some other related serious disease or could it simply be a lack of vitamin D or folate etc...?

[Saggyuk in reply to Lydia1960]

There are so many issues that would cause issues with temperature control that it would be hard to say which is causing your problems.

There are so many health problems which cause fatigue etc that without more specific symptoms, it of often hard to work out what. If you're really stuck finding out what's wrong and nothing coming back in test results, my best advice would be to go back to the basics, take an in depth look at your dietry intake using something like cronometer which will flag up any likely deficiencies including the many ones not normally tested for. Dont take a GPs answer of normal as they are often wrong - check if optimal yourself on the internet. Check your blood count for any indications and go back through any previous blood tests. check you are eating/drinking enough or not too much, check your blood glucose levels/blood pressure at local pharmacy and find ways to resolve if not right. If you have any stomach/digestive issues, you need to get to the bottom of it by figuring out what is causing it. Gluten is most likely (most likely to cause heavy fatigue too) but you can try an elimination diet to check for other food intolerances and try and get your stomach working properly again. If you have high amounts of stress, you need to find a way to decrease it and so on.

It might not solve all your health problems but sometime dealing with the basics, one by one can help even if by only removing some of your issues and leaving you with a more obvious set of symptoms

[Lydia1960 in reply to Saggyuk]

I'm having a blood test next week from Medichecks so, with the consultant's report on this, I should get a clearer picture to report back to the GP with. Then I'll know whether using supplements might be helpful. I will check out gluten free diets as, as you suggested, this could be causing my tiredness...

[silverfox7]

Again some readings would be helpful as that is specific to you but to explain briefly the overall picture of thyroid results were low then medication or increasing medication if you were already on some then the general advice would be to increase them. But Thyroid results could suggest when on medication that the body isn't converting the inactive T4 to the active T3 do then the advice would be to test Vit 12, folate, ferritin and Vit D as there help conversion. It could be that you are low in those and getting levels optimal, not just in range, could help you thyroid to improve and it would help your general health as well.

Another point to take on board that many doctors aren't thyroid knowledgeable so many say you are ok or normal when what they really mean is that your results are in range but it's where in the range that is important.

So if you have any results it's advisable to post them with the ranges as the ranges differ from lab to lab so that others and comment and hopefully advise where to go next. It's not one cause for all and it's not quite as simple as one little pill will solve it either as we are all different and react differently.

If you look on the Thyroid Uk site there is lots of useful information and a list of symptoms. It's a huge list and you may find you have several on them so useful to tick them and show to your doctor. He may even be treating you for some of them thinking it's something else causing it!

So please post results and ranges for any tests you have done and then we can comment.

[Lydia1960]

Thanks for that suggestion. Of posting the blood tests result from my visit to my GP. Here they are:-

Serum free T4 level 15.7pmol/L 12-22pmol/L

Serum TSH level 1.42miu/L 0.27-4.2miu/L

Serum ferritin 27ug/L 13-150ug/L

Serum folate 9.1ug/L 3.9-26.8ug/L

Serum vitamin B12 494ng/L 197-771ng/L

Serum lipids:-

Serum cholesterol 3.9mmol/L 3-5mmol/L

Serum cholesterol /HDL ratio 2.3

Se non HDL cholesterol level 2.2mmol/L

Serum HDL cholesterol level 1.7mmol/L 1.2-3.5mmol/L

My screen's frozen, so have to see to that and then post the rest of the results....

[Clutter in reply to Lydia1960]

Lydia1960,

TSH 1.42 and FT4 15.7 are euthyroid (normal). As you are getting a MediChecks blood test include thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies to confirm or rule out autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's).

Ferritin is optimal halfway through range. You can supplement iron to raise ferritin. Take each iron tablet with 1,000mg vitamin C to aid absorption and minimise constipation.

Folate and B12 levels look okay.

[Lydia1960]

Okay. The iPad's working now:-

Do I need to post my liver function test and my Urea and electrolytes one? Full blood count too?

Blood pressure reading 133/89mmHg

Weight 73kg

All these tests were done on 18th May and next week I will have my blood taken for a Medichecks thyroid ultra vit test . I will post them in this thread then along with any comments the specialist makes..

[Clutter in reply to Lydia1960]

Lydia1960,

Use the green Reply button when responding and the member you are replying to will be notified by email and onsite alert that you have responded.

You don't need to post Liver or U&E results or FBC unless any are out of range.

When you get your MediChecks thyroid Ultra vit results post them in new thread as updates are often missed.

[Lydia1960 in reply to Clutter]

Thanks, Clutter for that information. That helps me a lot and, yes, i will post my Medichecks result on a nrew thread when i get them...

Think also that your post came onto screen while I was typing my next one. Hence not using your reply button.

How often will I need to get tested if the results prove positive? Costly if the NHS don't provide them all? Is there anyway round that?

[Clutter in reply to Lydia1960]

Lydia1960,

If the results show you have thyroid dysfunction you can get NHS to test most. TSH and FT4 should be checked 6-8 weeks after starting Levothyroxine and 6-8 weeks after any dose adjustment.

If antibodies have been tested and are positive there's no need to retest unless you want to see whether antibodies are increasing or decreasing.

FT3 isn't often tested in primary care so you might occasionally wish to check that but it isn't worth doing until you are optimally dosed on Levothyroxine with low TSH.

[Lydia1960 in reply to Clutter]

That is informative. I'll bear that all in mind for future reference... Thanks..