Bloods Advice & GP advice

[littlepotofjelly]

Hi all,

This is a slight deviation from thyroid advice, but when my TSH came back at 3.1 (range up to 4.2), I started to look into what might be causing the thyroid to be suppressed and it was suggested on here that sex hormones might be playing a part in this. This made sense to me as I have recently had much heavier periods than usual - last year I went to see my GP about this and was sent for a pelvic ultrasound and told 'all normal'. Last month I went to see my (new) GP for the same issue and he told me that the scan had in fact not been normal - my endometrium was thicker than it should have been and that should have been followed up at the time (!!).

Anyway - a long story short, I was sent for another scan and also a day 5 hormone test and I wondered if anyone might be able to help with the results? (Or direct me to another group where this post might be more appropriate - sorry if here is not the best place).

- -

Endometrial thickness - 6mm (scan done during menstruation, Dr said it should have been around 2-4mm but he wasn't concerned but would refer to GYN incase they wanted to follow up and try to thin the womb lining)

Oestradiol 173 (range 110-181 - follicular phase)

Serum testosterone 1.2 (range up to 2.4)

SHGB 91 (range 20 - 110)

FSH and LH both good in range at 6.4 and 6.7 (up to 15 normal)

- -

Does any of this mean anything to anyone? Wondering if I should push for a day 21 test as well as these ones don't include progesterone... Is there anything else missing?

Help appreciated as always if anyone knows anything about this stuff...

Thank you.

[humanbean]

I replied to a post on sex hormones yesterday and included lots of links :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I should make it clear that my knowledge on the subject of sex hormones would fit on the back of a stamp with room to spare.

[littlepotofjelly in reply to humanbean]

Thanks so much for directing me to all these links - that's brilliant, thank you

[startagaingirl]

Hi - I can't back this up, but I would suspect your issue might actually be the other way round. Being hypothyroid can stress the adrenals which play a major part in the production of all the sex hormones. Don't shoot me if I'm not quite right please, but I believe that they divert the pre-cursor hormones that should have been used to make the sex hormones and keep them balanced, into making the extra cortisol required to compensate for low thyroid. Hence why menstrual issues can go hand in hand with thyroid issues.

Have you ever had your anti-bodies re-checked to see if they have gone positive? One negative test isn't conclusive as anti-bodies can fluctuate and Hashis causes 90% of all hypothyroid cases.

Gillian

[littlepotofjelly in reply to startagaingirl]

Thanks Gillian, I hadn't considered that it might be the other way around, that's interesting and I have seen bits of information about how the need to produce excess cortisol lowers progesterone etc.

... but if it was at a place where my low thyroid was causing my sex hormones to go out of balance, wouldn't my TSH be much higher?

I've only had antibodies checked once, about a month ago and they were very low. Thyroglobulin was 10.060 (0.00 - 115.00) and Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies was 10.14 (0.00 - 34.00). Could they really show as normal like that and then fluctuate out of range in another test? I do know antibodies can be affected by a gluten free diet and i've been strictly gluten free for around 4 years now (suspected celiac but definitely gluten intolerant) - would that have an impact?

It's so complicated trying to work it all out and the GP hasn't been much help sadly. Thanks for your input, it's appreciated.

[startagaingirl in reply to littlepotofjelly]

Hi - I'm not sure on your query re level that TSH would be with disrupted hormones and I don't think it would be easy to find an answer to that one. Whilst your anti-bodies are negative currently, yes there is a possibility that they are being suppressed by the gluten free.

I have looked through some of your previous posts and see that some of your nutrients have been low recently and these will be hindering the effectiveness of your thyroid - did you ever get your vit d test result? Are you addressing the rest of these - ferritin for instance?

Did you also speak to your GP about TSH relative to trying to conceive? This should (though in practice you will probably struggle unfortunately) add an extra element to help you push for treatment. If you do see gynae then would be worth telling them your thyroid issues as they can recommend that your GP treats in light of this.

What is clear is that your thyroid is struggling and will need to be addressed before all your issues will be sorted. Have you tried to see a different gp? At the end of the day you may have to self-treat but worth pushing a bit more first.

Good luck

Gillian

[littlepotofjelly in reply to startagaingirl]

Sorry startagaingirl I only just saw your reply. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't realise there was a chance that if antibodies were negative once they might then be positive the next time.

I did get my Vit D result - it was good, 144 nmol, so right at the top of where it needed to be. I've stopped supplementing for now and i'll start again at the beginning of October with the 5000iu vitamin D again over winter (does that seem like a reasonable plan? don't want it to get to toxic levels!).

I'm taking vitamin B12 again, 1000 a day. I have iron tablets (65mg ferrous fumerate) but i'm struggling to work out how often to take it to raise my levels to at least half way through range without it tipping over into too high?

I haven't spoken to GP about TTC yet. From everything i've read on here GPs don't seem all that concerned about it until you can't get pregnant or have repeated miscarriages unless you are already diagnosed as hypo. But next time I have an appt I will mention it to him and see what he says..

Thank you for all your advice, appreciated a lot.