? Autoimmune disease please help

[AliceMay1]

Hi,

So many years ago....about seven years ago I had a swelling in the front of my throats and a feeling of pressure. Gp said this was a nodule and I was referred for a biopsy and scans and all were clear and I was just discharged. The feeling of pressure came and went so it didn' bother me all the time and I was thinking maybe it was psychological!

Since then I just ignored the feeling as I was told it was nothing. This year I went back because the pressure was bothering me. I had another scan which showed my thyroid gland to be enlarged and mottled and the doctor thought it looked like a gland which was affected by some sort of thyroid disease. I was advised to go back to GP and ask for a repeat of my bloods. Bloods showed high TSH but normal T3 and T4. The GP referred me to an endocrinologist you did more bloods and this time tested for antibodies which were present. I was pretty asymptomatic at the time and so he said that if I started to have symptoms then to go back to gp and have bloods re checked. I went back because I was becoming really really tired and my blood results again showed high TSH. Higher than before. So they started me on 50 mg lenvothyroxine. Two months later I've gone back for a blood test at the GP and my TSH is now normal but they didn't test for antibodies! Even though I suggested it! The tiredness has gone but the fluctuating pressure in my throats is now bothering me again! I'm not sure where to take it from here and would a further increase in medication help the swelling of the thyroid? Or do injust have to accept that this horrible pressure feeling in my thyroid comes and goes? I'm back at the Gp tomrorow.

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Always get actual results and ranges from GP

You should have had tested TSH, FT4 and FT3, but very unlikely to test FT3

Aim is to dose high enough that TSH is around one (not just in range) Very common for GP to under dose

High antibodies is autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto's

Hashimoto's very often affects the gut, leading to low stomach acid, low vitamin levels and leaky gut.

Ask for vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 to be tested.

Hashimoto's is that very likely hidden food intolerances can be causing issues, most common by far is gluten.

Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms. Very, very many of us here find it really helps

High antibodies are never retested on NHS, though it is helpful to do so after going strictly gluten free to see if antibodies fall

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

amymyersmd.com/2017/02/3-im...

chriskresser.com/why-changi...

scdlifestyle.com/2014/08/th...

All thyroid tests should be done as early as possible in morning and fasting and don't take Levo in the 24 hours prior to test, delay and take straight after. This gives highest TSH

[AliceMay1 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks so much for your reply. I appreciate it so much! So do I need to ask for increase in the levothyroxine then? Will that help?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to AliceMay1]

Get your results from GP and put results including ranges on a new post on here.

Members can advise