I was wondering if anyone else has or is suffering the same as me .
I have been on levothyronixe 100mg for last 20 years after having thyroid removed due to goitres my weight has always remained the same approx 9 stone ,however the last 1tgd I have gradually increased eight up to 10st 12 ,I have been back and forth to the doctors as feeling very tired and emotional and have asked them to check my thyroid levels ,every time they check them ,they say they are fine and within levels ,
However in march of this year I was diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency with a level of 5 my doctor said he had never seen a level so low ,I had bloods done again 2 weeks ago as they wanted to check my folate ,that came back as under 3 with a red exclamation mark on hoglobin saying to retest ,I have just had results back and my folate is 3.8 borderline and have been told to have rechecked in 3 months .
I am sure that the low levels are affecting my thyroid function ,and wondering if anyone else had same problems and what did your doctor do to treat it .
I am also type 1 diabetic suffer with gastritis have ischemic heart disease so I am on a lot of medication
First thing is do you have any actual blood test results? If not you need to get hold of them. You are entitled under data protection laws.
You may be able to view test results online - ring and ask about this. If you can then apply for online access to your account. All GP practices are supposed to offer this, in reality very few have blood test results available online.
If not then ask for print out of recent tests. Pick up in a day or two. They may make a nominal charge for paper.
You need to know results for TSH, FT4 and FT3.
Do you also have high thyroid antibodies? You need to know. Did GP or Endo ever test these? If not ask that they are tested.
As you have already discovered, it's very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12. Always get actual results and ranges on all tests
How much vitamin D to you take and has level been retested since. Presumably you did have loading dose to start (very high dose daily for month or two)
About 90% of all hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto's
If your antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known as autoimmune thyroid disease).
Hashimoto's affects the gut, causing low stomach acid, malabsorption and then low vitamins
As you already are type one diabetic which is autoimmune, it's most likely you have Hashimoto's
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
But don't be surprised that GP or endo never mention gut, gluten or low vitamins. Hashimoto's is very poorly understood
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms.
The symptoms of thyroid, B12 deficiency, folate deficiency, iron deficiency, vitamin deficiency and the complications of diabetes all overlap considerably - which means it is going to be difficult for anyone to really interpret test results to see what is going on.
The gastritis makes vitamin and mineral deficiencies quite a likely cause of your symptoms.
As you have had your thyroid removed so you are using oral supplements to replace thyroid hormones would seem to me to make it unlikely that what you are feeling is down to thyroid hormones, though possible that the gastritis might also be affecting your ability to absorb the thyroid hormones. However, you say that the results are coming back normal so really doesn't suggest thyroid is the problem.
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