Dealing with 2 problems and hard getting help

[cassie51]

Hi, just wondered if anyone else has Hypothyroidism and Diabetes type 2. I am so tired and just fed up with feeling unwell every day. I had bloods done about 6 months ago and when I rang for results they just said the Doctor had just said they were satisfactory. I have been on 50 levo for about 2 years. I am 66 but have always been quite active. I hate feeling like this every day and just wondered if this is just how it will always be. Thanks for reading x

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

when I rang for results they just said the Doctor had just said they were satisfactory

Don't accept this. Ask for a print out of your results. Pop along to the surgery and ask for them and ensure the reference ranges are included as well as the results. If you are in the UK you are legally entitled to them under the Data Protection Act and you don't have to give a reason why you want them.

50mcg Levo is a very low dose, a starter dose, so you could very well be undermedicated. Post your results, with ranges, when you get them and members will comment.

[cassie51 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thankyou, I was not aware I was entitled to see them. Will try and then post

[humanbean in reply to cassie51]

I agree with SeasideSusie . Most hypothyroid people would need more than a dose of 50mcg Levo to be have a hope of feeling well, and you could well be under-medicated.

Another common problem for people who are hypothyroid is low nutrient levels. Don't just ask for your thyroid results when you speak to the receptionists, ask them for copies of all blood tests you've had in the last 3 years or so. (Take some form of identity with you.) If they give you any grief, let us know what they say. All sorts of things can be helpful in relation to the thyroid - thyroid hormone levels, thyroid antibodies, nutrient levels, iron panel (if you've had one), full blood count - they can tell us a lot.

One of the major effects of hypothyroidism is to damage the gut by reducing stomach acid. It is the main reason why hypothyroid people often end up seriously deficient in several vitamins and minerals. This can add significantly to fatigue, muscle pain, and other problems that people with thyroid problems develop. If you were to find out which nutrients you were deficient in you could take specific supplements to help, and they help a lot. Multivitamins aren't a good investment.

If you get hold of your blood test results, you could then ask us which ones we need to see. You would need to create a new post.

[humanbean]

What kind of diet do you eat for your diabetes? Do you follow NHS recommendations or do you follow a low carb, high fat diet?

[cassie51 in reply to humanbean]

Thankyou, I try to follow nhs recommendations

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to cassie51]

Hi,

I’m in remission from Graves.

I became T2 after being given three months worth of steroids for inflammatory arthritis. In an attempt to cut mt thyroid antibodies (I did!) I decided to go totally gluten free when I was diagnosed with the arthritis, it was yet another autoimmune condition to add to the list.

I was taking part in a pre diabetes study and had just had my first annual check up which was how the T2 was discovered very quickly. I was very lucky indeed.

I started off following my surgery’s diabetes nurse’s NHS advice. Then I bought an amazing book by Dr David Cavan about how to reverse your T2D.

Then I realised it wasn’t going to be possible without knowing what my blood sugar was doing so I bought myself a blood sugar meter and started testing as advised by Dr Cavan.

That was when I discovered that half the nice healthy NHS recommended food I was eating sent my blood sugar through the roof and the NHS ‘carbs with every meal’ advice was definitely not the diet for me.

In fact if I hadn’t bought my blood sugar meter and tested my own blood sugar, followed Dr Cavan advice and eaten my way out of T2 I imagine I would be on the Diabetes Register now..

My gluten free oatmeal breakfast muffins - nope! A nice healthy jacket potato - nope! On and on it went. Basically anything grain based did it so I totally rethought my diet. I also signed up for DietDoctor.com who run a free online course on Low Carb, High Fat eating which was pretty much what I was doing.

Bottom line. I read and did everything I was told to do in Dr Cavan’s book, followed the Diet Doctor online course, totally altered my diet, stepped up my exercise - 10000 steps a day as often as I could plus I do Pilates and try to get to the gym twice a week. I no longer eat junk food, sweets, cakes and biscuits although I do have a couple of squares of 80% dark chocolate. I drink decaf drinks and water - I haven’t had a fizzy drink for about three years now and don’t miss them.

I got my energy back, lost loads of weight and now I look and feel like a different (healthy) person.

Make sure you always get and keep the results of every blood test you have done with their lab ranges.

Don’t accept ‘fine’ or ‘all right’ or ‘in range’, that means nothing if you still don’t feel well. The results may be fine etc for the doctor, his receptionist or his dog but they are probably not fine for you.

I should add that I’m 70 this year so I was older than you when all this happened.

This site is great too diabetes.co.uk/news/2018/fe...

[cassie51 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thankyou for your reply which I read with interest. I will look into all the information you have given.

[humanbean in reply to cassie51]

You should find this website very helpful :

diabetes.co.uk/

There is a forum to go with it, which has 265,000 members :

diabetes.co.uk/forum/

And there is also a low carb diet forum suitable for diabetics (and anyone else who wants to eat healthily), which has over 100,000 people who have joined up (I don't have a more precise number) :

lowcarbprogram.com/

I hope you find the information on the sites useful.

[Treepie]

I developed Type 2 a year after being diagnosed hypo.But no longer by following a low carb high fat diet.

[cassie51 in reply to Treepie]

I will try this and see what happens x Thankyou

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Absolutely essential to get copies of your thyroid blood tests

You need to know if you have high thyroid antibodies p, this is to diagnose if cause is autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto's

Do NOT believe GP if they say this is irrelevant......it isn't

Essential to also get vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 tested.

So for full evaluation you ideally need TSH, FT4, FT3, TT4, TPO and TG antibodies, plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 tested

See if you can get full thyroid and vitamin testing from GP. Unlikely to get FT3

Private tests are available

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

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

As SeasideSusie says, 50mcg is only a starter dose.

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after starting and dose increased in 25mcg steps until TSH is around one and FT4 towards top of range and FT3 at least half way in range

Nice guidelines saying how to initiate and increase. Note it says most patients need somewhere between 100mcg and 200mcg

cks.nice.org.uk/hypothyroid...

Link about antibodies

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...

List of hypothyroid symptoms

thyroiduk.org/tuk/about_the...

Low carb diet link

diabetes.co.uk/diet/low-car...

[cassie51 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thankyou so much for this information. I used to be such a get up and go person and now I actually dread the day as feel so unwell. i do believe I just need to be put on the right meds.

[cassie51 in reply to cassie51]

Its awful really, reading a lot on here it appears so many people being let down by their GP's. Is this because they lack the knowledge in this area and people suffer needlessly because of this I wonder