Newbie, after ANY advice ;)

[Ladysurfing]

My jouney so far....

I'm 37, mum to an 8 dd. Have been suffering with numerous symptoms for many years, (hot sweats, anxious, palpitations, aches, insomnia, fatigue, digestive issues....the list goes on) and always knew "something" wasnt right. Being a working mum with daily stresses and strains, among other stressful personal life events fobbed most symptoms off as down to "life"!

Just before Christmas '17, I went to see my doc for a check up and came away with her referring me for an urgent US, and bloods for numerous tests as she was concerned my neck was swollen (personally, I thought my neck looked perfectly normal!).

So, fast forward Feb'18. Turns out my neck was far from "normal", US showed it was enlarged with many nodules. Bloods came back 'normal'. Doctor wasn't happy so req's more bloods this time for antibodies. These came back showing high positive for TPO, and a sweeping statement was made about an autoimmune disease.....which one, I have no idea and a comment about an over active thyroid/thyroid disease.

It's all been a bit of a shock and a whirlwind so I am at a loss as to what's actually going on, and what's to come.

Now I have had more bloods for 'free t3' and 'free t4', plus other "bodily samples".

..........if anyone can shed any light on similar experience it would be much appreciated.

[bantam12]

Advice on what ?

[Ladysurfing in reply to bantam12]

Ah....sorry it obviously didn't paste.

My jouney so far....

I'm 37, mum to an 8 dd. Have been suffering with numerous symptoms for many years, (hot sweats, anxious, palpitations, aches, insomnia, fatigue, digestive issues....the list goes on) and always knew "something" wasnt right. Being a working mum with daily stresses and strains, among other stressful personal life events fobbed most symptoms off as down to "life"!

Just before Christmas '17, I went to see my doc for a check up and came away with her referring me for an urgent US, and bloods for numerous tests as she was concerned my neck was swollen (personally, I thought my neck looked perfectly normal!).

So, fast forward Feb'18. Turns out my neck was far from "normal", US showed it was enlarged with many nodules. Bloods came back 'normal'. Doctor wasn't happy so req's more bloods this time for antibodies. These came back showing high positive for TPO, and a sweeping statement was made about an autoimmune disease.....which one, I have no idea and a comment about an over active thyroid/thyroid disease.

It's all been a bit of a shock and a whirlwind so I am at a loss as to what's actually going on, and what's to come.

Now I have had more bloods for 'free t3' and 'free t4', plus other "bodily samples".

So I am none the wiser as to what's going on?

[Rmichelle in reply to Ladysurfing]

I think you are saying you have hashimotos disease, i also have this and many others do here and graves-they are auto immune diseases-it would help the forum if you had your blood test results so they can advice you, your story sounds very much ike mine!! Your gp is checking for thyroid disease.😊

[Rmichelle]

You need to ask for copies of your results on bloods with the ranges.

[Ladysurfing in reply to Rmichelle]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I'll be getting the next lot of results Mon/Tues so I'll be asking more about the ranges then.

I'm assuming I've just embarked on what is going to be a very long jouney!

[Rmichelle in reply to Ladysurfing]

Yes nothing with the thyroid happens quickly it is a very very long journey-6 months of work for me and only just started to have good days now, you will get there eventually and read lots about your disease as you will need to be very knowledgeable as gps tend to know very little about the thyroid and Endos well they are a different story-this sitevis fantastic and worth its weight in gold, good luck on your journey.xxx🌟🌟

[shaws]

I am sorry you have hypothyroidism, in actual fact an Autoimmune Thyroid Disease commonly called Hashimoto's. I shall give you a link which will explain it better:-

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

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

When you have blood tests they always have to be at the very earliest, fasting, (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of levothyroxine and the test and take afterwards. This give us the best result and may prevent doctor reducing dose unnecessarily.

Always get a print-out of your results, with the ranges. Ranges are important as they enable members to respond.

Your doctor has to test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate at your next test (so ask him) as everything has to be optimum in order for our thyroid hormones to work.

The reason for the earliest appointment is that the doctors only look at the TSH which is highest early a.m. and drops throughout the day, meaning that you may not get the increase you need, or it is reduced if TSH is too low.

Having been diagnosed hypo, and if in the UK, you will not pay for any more prescriptions for any other problems you may develop. It is a very serious condition if undiagnosed/untreated.

[Ladysurfing in reply to shaws]

Thank you so much for this.

Now this is where I'm very confused as the doc hasn't mentioned anything to do with a possible 'hypo' diagnosis but has made a sweeing comment about 'hyper'.

To be fair my symptoms flitter between the two and are very contradictory.

I will definitely be requesting my blood ranges and I'm hoping these most recent set of bloods taken Friday May shed a little more light on the situation.

Fingers crossed: )

[Ladysurfing]

So I have an update......

After another apt with my doc, who made me feel awful after she basically fobbed me off with 'anti-depressant's' (btw I am most certainly NOT depressed), I requested to see another doc.

This doc, went through all my blood results and said they were "normal", but basically concluded that I would at some point suffer with hypothyroidism so will need regular blood tests to monitor things. If my thyroid also grew in size I would need further scan, but otherwise I was to carry on as normal!!

So, ignoring my symptoms, US and TPO they are basically saying everything is fine?!

Results as follows - (I have no idea what they mean or what 'ranges' to look for). I have been advised that I have had very thorough blood work done, this is not the full list.

I also noted that bloods were generally taken mid-morning or later and I was never told not to eat anything. If anything I had to eat as I have low blood pressure and would otherwise pass out.

B12 - 309

Ferritin - 109

Folate - 4.8

Thyroid peroxidise antibody - 163

There's also a couple of '!'s' over my Full Blood Count - Resulting in a 'satisfactory' reading. !'s relate to Haemoglobin estimation - 151 & Haematocrit - 0.456

Free T3 - 4.9

Free T4 - 14.2

Serum TSH Level - 1.97

Just some other info based on my body size, in case this has any effects.

I'm 61kg, 167cm with BMI 23.03.

....'Dummies-guide' to educating me on the above very welcome.