Hello

[DianaWard]

I'm new, and I'm hoping to communicate with others who are struggling with or have found solutions to the health problems I have--hypothyroidism treated with natural dessicated thyroid, breast and ovarian cysts, and iron overload.

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum and how long have you been diagnosed. I assume you are on levothyroxine.

First thing to do is ask for a new blood test - ask for all of these but probably wont get them all but ask anyway. We have recommended labs for those that aren't done.

Blood tests should always be at the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test and take afterwards.

Ask GP for TSH, T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3 and thyriod antibodies. Vit B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

Get a print-out of the results with the ranges and put them on a new post for comments.

[DianaWard in reply to shaws]

Thank you for the welcome. I was on levothyroxine for four years with a free T3 down at 0.8 before I could find an affordable doctor who was willing to put me on Naturethroid. I'm convinced that saved my life, and I did very well on this medicine for a year and a half. I have also followed an adapted autoimmune protocol diet.

Sadly, the same doctor who was so helpful with the thyroid meds told me to double my iron supplement because of my low ferritin (5 at the time), despite the fact that my other iron readings were not low. I never got another iron test until now, almost two years later, after five months of increasing anxiety, dizziness, increased heart rate, palpitations, pressure headache and brain fog. I don't currently have a knowledgeable doctor, so I'm ordering my own blood work as I can afford it.

My free T3 and T4 are lower than they have been recently because I have lowered the Naturethroid dosage slightly. The reason for this is that my symptoms seem worse after I take the medicine and better when I don't take it at all, at least temporarily. From this latest test, I can see that it's not my thyroid that is hyper as I had expected, but it must be my iron that is causing these symptoms.

To add another variable, I recently stopped using progesterone cream because I felt it wasn't helping my symptoms.

Here are some of the latest blood test results.

Free T3: 2.8 (2.1-4.0)

Free T4: 0.9 (0.8-1.7)

TSH: very low, I've stopped measuring

Folate: 12.7 (5.4-24)

B12: 453 (211-911)

Ferritin 45 (18-323)

Transferrin saturation 56% (15-50)

I'm working to set up an appointment to donate blood to get the iron saturation down, which is difficult as I cannot donate in the United States, where I live, as a regular donor because I lived in Europe for many years during mad-cow-disease times. The mystery is also how to lower my iron saturation without sending my ferritin back down into the cellar.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate any input.

[shaws Administrator in reply to DianaWard]

Don't worry too much about blood tests as they were invented along with levothyroxine. When we take NDT the

blood results cannot correlate as levo is T4 only. It is all on how the patient 'feels' which is the best way to judge if your dose is optimum. Your FT3 is too low which may be the reason you don't feel as good as you want to be.

I shall give you a link which may be helpful :

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

I will add SeasideSusie who will comment on your results.

These are also informative:

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

Chapter 3 below

nebula.wsimg.com/b822d36efe...

below Chapter 7

web.archive.org/web/2010112...

[DianaWard in reply to shaws]

Thank you. I will look into these resources. I'm familiar with some of them. I'm aware that my FT3 is lower than it should be (and than it has been). I am sure that is due to the fact that I have recently been taking less NDT than I should because my symptoms get worse on the higher dose. Now I'm trying to balance out the other things in the hopes that it will allow me to be able to up my medicine. The high iron saturation is what I'm thinking might be causing the problems (shakiness, heart racing, palpitations, insomnia, sweating).

[shaws Administrator in reply to DianaWard]

Yes your'e right to look into your vitamins/minerals as all have to be optimum.

If on NDT the blood test results wont be the same or similar to being on levo. Levo is T4 only. NDT having T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin so it's more about how the patient feels on NDT

web.archive.org/web/2010103....

[Carlosdoug in reply to DianaWard]

Hi, Diana Ward,

Have just seen your post. Your B12 should be up at the 800-1000 reading.

I live in Europe and that is the recommended figure.stops palpitations at the higher end. I had the same symptoms now relieved.

[Linthyro]

Hello, I've had hypothyroidism for over 20 years, I have a few side effects from taking levothyroxine and have found natural progesterone cream very helpful. It helps with mood and assists the thyroid. After using this cream for a few months my levothyroxine was reduced from 125mcgms to 87.5mcgms, which really has helped. The cream goes directly into the bloodstream, much like a patch, but I find it very helpful and would not be without it now. Its also suitable for vegetarians. I would recommend this cream to all women between 18 and 90!!

[DianaWard in reply to Linthyro]

Thank you Linthyro,

I have also used progesterone cream for more than a year, and it was very helpful initially. However, I have stopped using it now because my symptoms reappeared. I must have gotten too much because my monthly symptoms seem to have balanced out since stopping. It turns out high-progesterone symptoms can mimic low-progesterone ones! Also, before starting progesterone cream, I would always try the herb Vitex to see if it can boost progesterone on its own.