Hi all
I posted earlier this year looking for some support and a confidence boost after years of symptoms that were having a massive impact on my life, despite repeatedly being told everything was ‘normal’.
I really appreciated your responses, they really helped a lot. Unfortunately shortly after I posted I became really unwell, and the last few months have been a bit over whelming so I haven't updated since.
Around Christmas I had started with a pain in my upper right abdomen. The area felt bruised and sore to the touch. This had happened before but was never explained despite a scan. It continued to get worse this time and I’ve had scans which have shown I have an enlarged liver, which they have said is mildly fatty. They aren’t sure this explains my pain though so am being referred to a specialist.
Around the same time I started having chronic heart palpitations and dizzy spells, and for a period of around 10 days had a resting heart rate of 110-120bpm. They agreed this wasn’t normal but weren’t able to explain it and it has now calmed down again. Again, the periods of palpitations have happened before. This time was particularly scary though, I must admit.
The support on the forum has given me the boost I needed to start advocating for myself again, so when I went in for my scan results this week I directly asked about my thyroid, and was told my ‘T4 was fine’. I think I finally hit breaking point, and requested copies of my last 4 years worth of tests to see what had actually been done.
They have shown that despite complaining of feeling awful, and having god knows how many appointments and bloods done in that time, they’ve checked my TSH 4 times. They’ve never checked my T3.
In early 2014 my TSH was 2.65 (0.6-4.2) which was interesting as that’s around the time I was starting to feel quite unwell), with T4 16.4(12.5-20.5). At the end of 2014 it looks like they redid TSH on its own and it was 3.03(0.6-4.2).
There were no tests in 2015 as that was the period where I seemed to have a complete reversal of my symptoms and I suddenly felt well. They didn’t test my TSH again until December 17, where it was 6.41(0.27-4.2), but apparently only did TSH on its own at that point.
The next results I have are from febuary this year, where TSH was 4.38(0.27-4.2), and T4 was 17(12-22). In febuary they also tested Ferritin which was 33(13-150).
I’m at a complete loss as to why they have never tested my T3. I’m frustrated that I didn’t feel able to challenge them on it sooner, but I just couldn’t. Repeatedly being told it was in my head really ate away at me.
I know I need to request a T3 year now, and I’m guessing antibodies and vitamins etc. Does anyone have any experiences of Ferritin? From the brief reading I’ve done I’m thinking this level looks lower than it could be, though I fully expect to be told that it’s ‘nothing to worry about’.
My mum is going to my next appointment with nevfor moral support. Time to get this sorted I think!