Not underactive thyroid symptoms!: Endo said not... - Thyroid UK

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Not underactive thyroid symptoms!

Frin9e profile image
31 Replies

Endo said not thyroid symptoms!

vertigo,nausea,dizziness,joint pain and breathlessness when exercising are not underactive thyroid symptoms!

Told to take statins because my cholesterol as be abnormal since 2009 I was never told.

I've had alot of these symptoms for years including mental health problems, Im on levothyroxine 50mgs, waiting for bloods to come back endo said probably have to go up to 75mgs.

I don't want to take statins unless I really have to, Endo is pressuring me to take them!

im not overweight, feel ill more days then well, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, for taking the time to read.

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Frin9e profile image
Frin9e
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31 Replies
SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

Frin9e

Post your new results when you have them then members can comment. Ideally

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Also your symptoms suggest there might be low nutrient levels so you need

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

Statins not a good idea, high cholesterol is a symptom of hypo, get that optimally medicated and cholesterol may lower. Don't take the statins if you don't want to, they can't force you to.

Come back with all those results, include the reference ranges, and we can help.

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toSeasideSusie

thank you, i will ask for print out of results, hopefully he tested all of them, I've started taking a multi vitamin, hope its good enough. 😊

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply toFrin9e

Frin9e

Multivitamins are generally a waste of time. They usually contain too little of anything to help, use the cheapest, least absorbent and wrong form of ingredients, some of the vitamins shouldn't be taken at the same time as others. If it contains iron then that affects the absorption of anything else and iron should be taken 2 hours away from other supplements because it affects their absorption. If it contains calcium that will affect the absorption of the iron. If it contains Iodine then that's not a good idea at all, Iodine should be tested and only supplemented if found to be deficient, same with calcium. Wait until you have those vitamins and minerals tested then supplement where necessary at the appropriate dose.

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toSeasideSusie

ok thanks Susie, don't think NHS will test vitamins and mineral will they ?

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply toFrin9e

Frin9e

Quite a few members do get them tested, maybe not all, sometimes not Vit D as doctors say that is expensive. It's worth asking. If not then the cheapest way is with a thyroid bundle with Medichecks Thyroid Ultravit or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus Eleven.

Mary-intussuception profile image
Mary-intussuception in reply toFrin9e

Ask your GP to test :

Vitamin D, Calcium, B12 & Folate; & Ferritin.

After reading about it on here I asked my GP to test and was found to have Vitamin D insufficiency and Folate deficiency.

Just say something like as you've not had these tested before . . .

Please don't take Multivitamins or Multiminerals.

So your Endo says not Hypo symptoms but is increasing your dose ! Your blood results must justify the increase ?

I refused statins. However my Cholesterol came down lower than ever after I started to eat porridge, with added fine oat bran, every morning.

Annkapp profile image
Annkapp in reply toFrin9e

Try cutting out all added sugar (including hidden sugar in foods) in addition to any flour products and dairy (especially low and no fat dairy) as these are all high in sugars or simple carbohydrates. It is best to cut out all processed foods (they tend to have simple sugars especially processed gluten free foods). Sugars and simple carbs which are metabolized quickly into sugar are the main cause of high cholesterol according to the source below. Cholesterol is actually trying to repair the damage sugar causes. If you do follow a good diet restricting sugars and processed foods you could still have elevated cholesterol if you are prediabetic. If you are prediabetic you probably don’t know it. The test is HA1C to check.

The video, Sugar the bitter truth, explains in excruciating detail how sugar causes high cholesterol.

bing.com/videos/search?q=su...

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

High cholesterol is symptom of hypothyroid

nhs.uk/conditions/statins/c...

Essential to test vitamins, ask GP or get private testing if they are unhelpful

LAHs profile image
LAHs

If your doctor balks at doing all of the (essential) tests listed above he will probably have no problem giving you TSH and T4 tests. The level of your TSH will determine if you are hypothyridic. That will be your starting point, the next thing will be to measure your antibodies TPO and TG antibodies. the level of those will give you some idea of the intensity of the condition. These two things are a starting point which you can establish very quickly and easily with no arguing nor begging your doc. Post them here for advice on the next step.

LAHs profile image
LAHs

Oh and I forgot to say, resist statins as long as you possibly can. Statins interact with thyroid meds. If you take the two together you will create a problem which no doctor will be able to solve - because you can never know which medicine is getting the lion's share of your thyroid binding globulins, not to mention your doc has probably never heard of the latter. It could be thyroid meds one hour then statins the next or one will completely shut out the other - a real mess.

But first establish the state of your thyroid - and let us know.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

You need to know if you have high TPO and/or high TG thyroid antibodies. This is to diagnose if your hypothyroidism is due to autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto's

Low vitamin levels are extremely common with Hashimoto's

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e

it all started with, overactive thyroid 18mths ago, told it was thyroiditis no antibodies, though I have heat, cold intolerance, numbness in fingers and toes, they also change colour blue-black, im hoping when thyroid levels come up, i will feel better, so many symptoms.

thank you all for replying. ☺

Highland49 profile image
Highland49 in reply toFrin9e

Hi,

You mention numbness, this is a neurological symptom of b12 deficiency. The dizziness could also be b12 related and/or thyroid. Before checking your b12, you need to be off supplements or even energy drinks containing b12 for 4 months, otherwise it will give a false high reading. I assume that the multi vitamin you've started contains b12? There are other tests for b12.

There's lots more information on the PAS forum. A possible good start would be to check your symptoms on the b12d charity symptom checker.

I hope you're feeling better soon. So many symptoms overlap with other disorders so it's so hard to know sometimes what is causing what.

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toHighland49

aww right, Il go and have a look, some much to consider, it overwhelming. Thanks

Highland49 profile image
Highland49 in reply toFrin9e

It's so good that we have this site, it's been a brilliant help to me. But I totally know what you mean, I was sorting out my b12 problem and then the lovely Marz on here pointed out that my thyroid was struggling so then loads more things to consider.

You'll get there though 😀

McPammy profile image
McPammy

Hi. Have you had your cortisol bloods checked. Sometimes thyroid and cortisol issues happen simultaneously. Low cortisol can have the symptoms you are describing.

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toMcPammy

No, only having the tests endo is doing, looking into private blood tests. Thanks for replying.

McPammy profile image
McPammy

GP or Endo can do loads of tests on NHS. I know what you mean about trying private though for a quicker response.

Annkapp profile image
Annkapp

No to statins! They cause more problems! Cholesterol is not the bad guy.

Cholesterol is the body’s way of protecting itself, not the root cause of heart problems. You can read about it in the 2 links below. There are plenty more articles about.

healthiertalk.com/statins-c...

drrosedale.com/resources/pd...

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toAnnkapp

I did try and tell endo that, he just replied with, you risking a heart attack or stroke! I haven't taken them, if I've had a problem for 9yrs, why do i need them now, makes no sense.

thanks for advise + links 😀

klr31 profile image
klr31

Sack your endo! He/she sounds incompetent, I'm afraid.

Karen

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toklr31

that's a great idea, can I do that ? 😀

klr31 profile image
klr31 in reply toFrin9e

😀

klr31 profile image
klr31

Get your results and ensure that your TSH is low and T4 in the upper part of the range. Your symptoms scream out that you are under-medicated.

Karen

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e

thank you, that's what I thought! endo was having none of it, id read alot on this site, so I was confident when I seen him, it was a joke! thinking of seeing gp tomorrow, to see if he will help me.😀

klr31 profile image
klr31 in reply toFrin9e

Tread carefully and be tactful but firm. Good luck.

Karen

Eddie83 profile image
Eddie83

Statins are a solution in search of a problem. I've run into too many friends with statin side-effects. Are you aware statins scavenge CoQ10? Are you aware that T3, if low, can fix a cholesterol problem? I already know from personal experience that breathlessness and dizziness ARE signs of hypothyroid. Your idiot endo needs to stop wasting time, and do a full panel TSH/FT3/FT4/rT3/TPOAb/TGAb on you. He has no way of knowing whether exercise is causing those symptoms, until he has verified that your FT3 is at least mid-range and you don't have excessive rT3. Also you can have multiple nutrient deficiencies that could contribute to those symptoms, such as low blood protein. But given that you are only on 50mcg of levo, chances are good that you are not getting enough levo(T4), and/or that you need to add some T3 to your T4.

Frin9e profile image
Frin9e in reply toEddie83

why is he telling me, its not thyroid related! Just telling me to take statins, just do the full thyroid test, 😤 fingers crossed hes done them.

thank you 😀

Eddie83 profile image
Eddie83 in reply toFrin9e

There are likely only a few endos who have an appreciation for the many patient-centered articles published on the 300+ hypothyroid symptoms, such as hypothyroidmom's. Most of them are too busy with diabetes patients to understand anything thyroid. Besides, as Kent Holtorf has said repeatedly, most docs practice 17 years behind the state of the art, and most reject new information that conflicts with what they were taught in med school.

janveron1 profile image
janveron1

Forget Statins can have bad side effects. Doctors get paid for each new statin taker!!! The brain needs 30 per cent of your cholesterol !!! ?? Dementia???

I suffered bad side effects years ago,so am very biased

janveron1

penny profile image
penny

Most cholesterol is made in the body; it needs it to function, particularly your brain. Do read Dr. Kendrick’s blog and books. The side effects of statins can be devastating and painful. As far as I can ascertain from reading about statins, they do not help women at all and only men after a CVD and it is thought by Dr. Kendrick that this is an anti-inflammatory effect. I am not medically qualified and I’m not giving advice.

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