My partner had a total thyroidectemy 2008. Since this he has had serious depression and anxiety to mention but a few.
We have NOW only noticed this T3........... what is it why have we not been informed of it...... We mentioned it to the nurse in our local practice which looked Blankly at us with the comment...."Never heard of it!"
This is seriously bugging Us (Saying this Politley) .
His moods are like s rollercoaster at times.
The Thyroxin of which he is taking is 200mg per day slowly increased from the first day. Yet still the old comment..... "Are you taking yout Thyroxin?"
because the results come back abnormal.
"YES" is the answer to that and ...............nothing gets done.
anyone else having these type of problems.......?
He is always feeling depressed anxious etc........ what help is out there....is there any?
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Post the test results, with reference ranges, for members to comment. The aim of a treated hypo patient generally is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it needs to be for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges when on Levo. Low FT3 can be the cause of many symptoms.
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If you are in the UK you are legally entitled to a copy of your test results under the Data Protection Act so your partner should go along to reception and ask for a print out. Some surgeries ask for a small payment for paper and ink, it shouldn't be much, maybe £1, my surgery doesn't charge.
Thyroid hormone should be taken on a empty stomach, one hour before or two hours after food. Some people prefer bedtime dosing, others on waking. It doesn't matter, do whatever suits but remember it must be on an empty stomach with a glass of water only, no tea, coffee, etc as absorption will be affected.
If your partner has felt better on one particular brand then ask the pharmacy to always dispense that brand. They all have the same active ingredient - levothyroxine - but the fillers can differ and cause problems. Don't be fobbed off with them saying they're all the same. If he prefers one brand and the local pharmacy can't supply it, ask for your prescription back and ring round to see if another pharmacy can. Check the bag before leaving the pharmacy as they wont take them back if you've gone home and then gone back. My pharmacy has a note to always dispense Actavis for me, and it's on the label on the bag when I pick my tablets up.
There is a lot of information on Thyroid UK's main website (this is their forum) so you can have a look on there. Go to the purple menu on the left hand side, start at "About The Thyroid" and work down the menu thyroiduk.org/
And come back here with any questions, members always happy to help where they can.
I'm sorry your partner had a thyroidectomy and has felt unwell since. Some of us don't do well afterwards but there are things you can do to aid recovery. T3 is one of a number of recover tools. T3 is the active thyroid hormone. Your thyroid emits a small percentage and the rest is created as needed from T4 in peripheral tissues through an action called deiodinase.
The first thing to do is get a copy of latest blood test results from doctor along with any vitamins tests and thyroid antibodies. Make sure the results include lab ranges then post them on this forum so people can help.
May I ask why he needed a thyroidectomy? The reasons may help to inform the best approach to recovery and people here can give good suggestions.
200mcg is a reasonable dose of Levothyroxine but people's need varies. Does the pharmacy always supply the same brand of levo? Some people find they are not interchangeable. The fillers can affect response to absorption for example.
Has he been taking Levothyroxine on an empty stomach with full glass of water an hour before eating or drinking anything except water and leaving 4 hours until taking other medication?
He had overactive thyroids and the carbimazole was killing off his white blood cels and bone marrow... so the only step was for him to have them removed.
As it was too late to start on radio iodene.
But no one has given any info on how the medication should be taken. We were left to our own devices........ Thus he has been taking them with juice or water and at various times as we have never been informed by the GP or hospital doctors of how and when to take them.
As for the levothyroxin.....quite a few different brands have been issued. "The same thing only a different label" as we have been informed.
The more I write about this the more I feel that there is a lot of incompetence surrounding the issue.
If your GP will not do all the important tests then you can have them done privately through Thyroid UK - in the comfort of your home and results by e-mail. Used by 100's on this Forum. Link below ...
Thankyou for all your info and help.... Now we can go to the GP Armed with information. Will let you all know how things turn out. But We are always open for more help and info.
An overactive thyroid can deplete the body of needed nutrients due to food passing through the stomach too fast and undigested. Also, drugs like carbimazole although needed have an impact. Do as SlowDragon says and get vital nutrients tested as she has listed.
As your partner had an overactive thyroid he will still have TSI antibodies. Taking some selenium may help to calm or prevent further antibodies activity and restore any deficit. Your GP is unlikely to test selenium but you could have a test done through the labs mentioned here which are listed on Thyroid UK's website. Supplement no more than 200mcg selenium for a few months to see if it helps.
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.
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, lowest FT4 and most consistent results
Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, states in Pulse Magazine,
"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l.
Most patients will feel well in that circumstance. But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
You can obtain a copy of the articles from Thyroid UK email print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor please email Dionne: tukadmin@thyroiduk.org
Professor Toft recent article saying, T3 may be necessary for many
Sorry to hear this. I have Graves and I’m emotionally very up and down I don’t know if it’s due to a new diagnosis or depression. Did your husband have any symptoms of depression prior the his operation?
actually I forgot to say My Partner also has Grave's disease..........due to the overactive thyroids.....We have empathy for your situation.............
And YES he has been up and down with depression and the Damn doctors will not put 2 and 2 together and say it IS related to the thyroids being removed.
Before the thyroids were removed he was perfect infact the diagnosis came from a great HIV doctor in London many years ago and it was not even his doctor........ Thanks to him I have my Partner today even if he does have his mental health probs.
How did the HIV doctor know he had thyroid issues? Just clever?Well I’m so up and down at the minute so doctors don’t know if it’s depression which I’ve had for years or if the thyroid is making me worse. Chicken and egg situation. I’d love to think I’ve had thyroid issues. I would think if he has no thyroid he’d need meds for life. I’ve never been so emotional I know that for sure
I have had a thyroidectomy, and can completely empathize with your partner's position. Being so strongly hypothyroid puts you on an emotional roller-coaster, but particularly gives you low self-esteem, bad time management so you feel like responsibilities, deadlines, etc are just rushing at you.
Yes, the treatment of hypothyroid is completely dire, doctors know very little, they won't do anything without being nagged and cajoled. You need to educate yourself so you can double check everything they tell you, and make sure he's getting the tests and treatment he needs.
First step: Get all the blood tests you need. This is a complete thyroid panel of TSH, freeT3, and freeT4. And the relevant vitamins: folate, ferritin, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
Second Step: If you can't get your GP to do all these, which is very likely, go to Medichecks or BlueHorizon and get a mailorder, pinprick blood test. All of this including vitamins is about £80 I think.
Third Step: Create a new thread and post all these results. As he's been left undermedicated for ages his vitamins are probably trashed, and they all cause symptoms. I expect his dose is just too low, as doctors often leave people low, or he may need T3
Fourth Step: With all this info you're now ready to get his dose tuned, and start getting the treatment right!
Thanks for the info..... I will try to get him to do what you have suggested......will let you all know as soon as i can.... But one weird thing is that his doctor will not give him T3........ They really don't like us doing our own research......... They say that his low moods and low self esteem etc., are 'NOT CONNECTED' to the removal of the thyroids. Seems they are the ones in Denial.
Only just seen this! Not sure if it's a reply to me or not.
Yes, there I'd a huge drive to get T3 outof the NHS at the moment. It's a huge nasty situation, a combination of a pharmaceutical company cashing in and raising the price, and knowledge about thyroid treatment being very low
If he needs T3 you may have to self treat (buy your own from abroad), as many of us do, or at least shop around for doctors and find one that knows what they're talking about. If you're lucky he won't need it, and it will turn out his dose is too low - this is very common.
Doctors can be so cruel, but also know nothing about thyroids! This all sounds connected to me. Especially if the depression tends towards low self esteem. That is classic hypothyroid! Does he have any of the other most common symptoms? Fatigue, weight gain, constipation, feeling cold, dry skin, low sex drive? The list goes on and on, you can look on the ThyroidUK website for a huge list where you can tick things off to show to a doctor.
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