Advice & Support Please Newly Diagnosed & Feel Like Im On A Rollercoaster.

[carolinepetrie]

Hi Everyone I was diagnosed as Hypothyroid in march this year & feel like I'm on a roller coaster at diagnosis my TSH was 62.4 and Free T4 6, I felt terrible. I was put on Levo a 100mcg straight away, it took about 6 weeks to begin noticing a difference. In May at next test my TSH was 0.35 and T4 16, however I definitely do not feel completely well and cannot lead the life I was living, some days good other days crashing and extremely fatigued with low mood (my main symptoms). My GP did not want to increase my dose last time as worried I would go hypo but another blood test due in 2 weeks I would like to push for an increase in doseage as perhaps my body is happy sitting at upper end of range. I was on holiday for 2 weeks in the sun not doing very much and felt wonderful the longest time I've felt well in a long time, but resuming normal life takes its toll. Im not long into this and already feel myself losing hope I can feel well again, would love some positive hopeful input.

[humanbean]

Having become so hypothyroid your nutrient levels may well be very low, and low nutrients make people feel awful. A very common effect of hypothyroidism is to reduce stomach acid. When stomach acid is low gut health becomes poor and absorption of nutrients is seriously reduced.

Do you take any meds for indigestion or heartburn? How is your gut health?

When you get your next blood tests done ask your doctor for the following tests as well :

Vitamin B12

Folate

Vitamin D

Also, if possible, an iron panel and a full blood count. But you would be lucky to get all those. If your doctor won't do all of them then ask for ferritin, iron and haemoglobin. You might end up with just getting ferritin though.

[carolinepetrie in reply to humanbean]

Hi human bean thanks so much for your response. I can confirm I don't take any meds for either indigestion or heartburn and am seeing a nutritionist, about to do a gut health test GI Map with Zonulin. When original bloods were taken in March my B12 was 567,Serum Folate 12.5, no Vit D was done and nutritionist has put me on emulsified Vit D. Ferritin was 53 and all blood counts within the normal range aswell.

[humanbean in reply to carolinepetrie]

Do you have the reference ranges for your results? With most common reference ranges in the UK your ferritin result was too low for people with hypothyroidism.

If vitamin D was not tested it isn't a good idea to supplement. It can become toxic.

You can test your vitamin D privately without involving a doctor with a finger-prick test :

vitamindtest.org.uk/index.html

[carolinepetrie in reply to humanbean]

Many thanks again, this is very helpful, I'll organise a finger prick test and speak to my nutritionist and I was wondering whether my Ferritin was too low, as well as increasing iron rich food in my diet is there a good supplement you could suggest?

[humanbean in reply to carolinepetrie]

I wrote some posts about iron supplementing and optimal results on this thread earlier today. A lot of it should apply to you. But don't supplement iron without thorough testing. :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...