Overactive Thyroid to Underactive Thyroid

[Barann]

I was given some Radium-your tabs about 12 years ago as my Thyroid was so overactive that I was "a walking heartache" to quote the doc. I cannot recall how long I took these for but I do recall having various bloods done to check my white blood cell count as well as my Thyroid. After a few months I stopped taking these tablets totally on my own accord .Why? I dont know but domething inside me just made me stop. This past 4 months I have gone from 95mcg to 175mcg. From someone who was 68Kgs I have blossomed to 83kgs. Whilst part of it is my fault I know from all the symptoms that I actually couldn't have cared because all I wanted to do was sleep , was apathetic,lethargic and plain no-go in the engine I have been, the past 4 months, exercising (riding 5 to 10 miles every second day) and consuming between 1200 and 1500 calories per day. Not a single gram has been lost! I decided to take a Thyroid supplement which I have been on for a week so watch this space. After reading numerous articles etc I have decided to order T3. Small dosage of 25 but I'm hoping it will help with whatever is making me feel so blah😕 My reason for writing this is that 2 weeks ago one of the docs said to me " we always overtreat an overactive thyroid" My reply..."So that you can give someone a cr@ppy life for the rest of their days?" I walked out of there so angry before I could say anymore. Question? Is that really what is done? Is it common practice? I stopped those meds on my own accord and thinking about it, if I had continued with them I could very well have ended up with a really bad thyroid problem years ago. I apologise.I'm just letting off steam because I need to. Nobody seems to understand what one goes through especially when they haven't had to deal with it themselves. My husband seems to just shrug it off as another complaint. I do need to mention that I am on painkillers and muscle relaxant due to a chronic back pain condition. Thanks for "listening"

[shaws Administrator]

I am so very sorry having had to struggle without a thyroid gland. When the kill off the gland I think the very least they should prescribe is a combination of T4/T3. At one time you would have been prescribed NDT (natural dessicated thyroid hormones) which contains all of the hormones a healthy gland would produce and increased till you were symptom-free. Nowadays it's all about the whereabouts of the TSH.

Unexplained weight gain is a clinical symptom of hypothyroidism and also due to not being given a sufficient dose to raise metabolism high enough.

I doubt you ever had your Free T4 and Free T3 checked as 'they' believe TSH and T4 are sufficient. Excerpt from TUK:

FT3 = FREE T3

T4 converts to T3 and is the only thyroid hormone actually used by the body's cells.

The approx. reference range for Free T3 is 4 to 8.3

We at Thyroid UK believe that you need to know your Free T3 level too because this will often show low if you are not converting, and high if you have blocked receptor cells. Even if you are converting, the body needs the extra T3 that a normal thyroid produces. There has been some research to show that people feel better on a mixture of Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3). Effects of Thyroxine as Compared with Thyroxine plus Triiodothyronine in patients with hypothyroidism – The New England Journal of Medicine Feb.11, 99 Vol. 340. (Click here for this article).

I suggest you get a new blood test for your thyroid hormones and we have private labs if you want a Full Thyroid Blood Test and I'll give you a link just in case.

Your 'small dose of T3' 25mcg is actually around 100mcg of levothyroxine in its 'effect'. So be careful.

If you can get a Full Thyroid Function Test from one of our private labs and draw blood as early as possible, fasting (you can drink water) then members will respond and suggest the next step. Allow a gap of 24 hours between any thyroid hormones and the test and take afterwards.

If you are hypothyroid you need sufficient thyroid hormones to raise your metabolism. Exercising reduces thyroid hormones so I'd wait till you have a blood test.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Ask GP for B12, Vit D, iron, feritinand folate.