So a brief summary. I had a blood test last year which showed a slightly underactive thyroid. I was prescribed 25mcg levo for 2 months.
Had another blood test 5 months ago and tests came back normal however symptoms haven’t improved. I spoke to the GP and he suggested it’s depression and that I take a urine test. The urine test came back normal.
Now I’m expecting a call from him tomorrow.
In my previous post I was told to ask for:
TSH
FT4
FT3
TPO antibodies
Tg antibodies
vit D
vit B12
folate
ferritin
In my blood test. Is there anything else I should ask ?
Written by
moomo
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Very unlikely GP will do all these tests....but you can ask (rarely do NHS test FT3 or TG antibodies)
Not surprised 25mcgs didn't help, it usually doesn't, because it's too small a dose.
Make sure you get actual results and ranges from previous tests and future ones too obviously
moomo time and time again on here we see patients being told they're depressed. Did you know that the Dept of Health 'incentivises' GPs by paying them/surgery QoF points equating to £1,650 for every new diagnosis of depression. And then of course there's more money to be 'earned' at depression reviews.
You're not going to get anywhere with this GP, follow the good advice you've been given.
Idiot GP. If you are underactive and given a really low dose of levo designed for the frail, elderly and those with heart disease, it is not surprising that you don't feel better. Normal starting dose in 50mcg. The NHS don't even prescribe until you re overtly hypo, so I wouldn't believe this "slightly underactive" description. It is far more likely that you are undermedicated than depressed, but depression is worth more funding points to the GP. You need to post your test results, with ranges or we are just guessing. There are no blood tests for depression, so the GP is just guessing, too. As far as I know, there is no urine tst for depression either.
With a titchy dose of 25mcg your doctor was setting you up to fail. It would have done nothing or could have made you feel worse. Then the doctor can tell the patient "See! I told you so!" and stopped prescribing the Levo.
50mcg is a starting dose for patients. 25mcg is incremental dose every six weeks until we have no clinical symptoms and feel much better. With a TSH of 1 or lower and Free T4 and Free T3 in the upper part of the range. (these latter two are rarely tested).
Ask for all the tests which are recommended. Everything has to be optimal. Unfortunately GPs are not very well trained. All vitamins/minerals have to be optimal.
Never accept the words 'normal' 'o.k.' or 'fine' with regard to blood test results we don't want 'normal' we want optimal which is a TSH of 1 or lower with FT4 and FT3 and all vitamins/minerals in the upper part of the ranges.
Too low a dose can backfire and we can feel worse.
I cant remember now since he mentioned it 5 months ago. The original blood test was because I thought i had diabetes but the results showed a slightly underactive thyroid. So might have something to do with that. I’ll ask him tomorrow anyway.
So I had the call. I forgot the names but they said something was within 10-19 so it’s normal and (FT4 i think but could be something else) was 2.23 which was normal too. They said they won’t give me any more Levo as it could be dangerous etc etc. Not really sure what to do now as they are ignoring my symptoms.
I had a quote from a private clinic for a blood test:
‘Below is a quotation for the blood tests you were interested in:-
TSH £ 68.00
FT4 £ 65.00
FT3 £ 66.00
TPO £ 79.50
TTG £ 87.00
Vitamin D £151.00
Vitamin B12 £ 68.25
Folate £ 86.75
Ferritin £ 82.50
Phlebotomy £ 27.00’
Any advice on how to proceed? I can’t afford a private test.
I'm curious which private clinic you asked for a quote, just so that I make sure I avoid it.
You don't need to use a private clinic to get individual tests done, you can order test bundles from a few companies that deal with patients directly, no doctors required. All you have to do is order the tests you want, get a test kit through the post, prick your fingers, then send the kit back through the post. Then get results back via email or via your account on the private company's website.
There are plenty of other options besides the thyroid check plus 11 from BH and the thyroid check ultravit from medichecks, some cheaper , and some more expensive.
The test bundles I've linked above are £99.15 for 11 tests from BH, and £99 for 11 tests from Medichecks.
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