I'm still struggling. Just had my results from a Medichecks, before I return to endo on 26th. He wanted Reverse T3 checked this time. Just added my tale of woe to my profile, with previous results. On 75mcg levo.
September results -
TSH 0.252 (0.27-4.20)
FT4 22.50 (12-22)
FT3 5.01 (3.10-6.80)
Reverse T3 - 21 (10-24)
Reverse T3 ratio - 15.53 (15.01-75.00)
I have gone from a very active 50 year to one who can only manage a few hours work each week. I can't do much housework without becoming lightheaded and it affecting my breathing more than usual. I have a constant feeling of suffocation, even at rest. I now know that I have a stiff heart muscle, so am waiting on another test regarding this.
My breathing rate is 6 breaths per minute, my pulse is 60-65 bpm and my waking basal temperature this week was 35 degrees. Blood pressure is usually low @90/60.
You lovely people advised last time that my T3 was too low but I was reading similar posts on here last night with similar readings and the advice was that the reverse T3 was at a good level. But I am far from feeling well.
Are my symptoms definitely still related to Hashimoto's and slow metabolism as a result or, with consideration to my latest blood results, should I be pursuing the heart function problems with a cardiologist? Or alternatively, should I be resting more, if it is post viral fatigue that has had an affect on my heart?
All advice is greatly appreciated, as always. Thank you.
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Highland49
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Surprisingly, your rT3 isn't over-range - high, yes, but not over-range, even though your FT4 is right at the top of its range. Your FT3, on the other hand, is only just over mid-range, which would be too low for a lot of people. Is it low enough to cause breathing problems? Maybe, but there are other things to look at.
Have your nutrients been tested - vit D, vit B12, folate, ferritin? Low nutrients can cause breathing problems.
I think it would be a good idea to get checked out by a cardiologist - just to rule out heart problems, if nothing else. Presumably, a cardiologist would know about post-viral fatigue affecting hearts, as well.
However, you don't convert T4 to T3 very well. And a reduction of your levo with the addition of some T3, could be the answer to at least some of your problems.
That's a relief greygoose that it could be my lowish FT3 causing my problems. I'm really hoping that the consultant's duty of care will kick in once the heart is mentioned and that he will prescribe T3.
I was lucky in a way that I had been improving all my nutrients before the worst symptoms started. My vitamin D was 107 (50-200) in May, folate 24.6 (3.9-26.8) in March and ferritin 71.6 (13-150) in March. Since then I've been supplementing, eating liver once a week and enjoying the sunshine, so levels should be higher.
Once I've finished with the chest clinic (they thought I'd receive another appointment by the end of the month), I can refer to a cardiologist.
Yes, an endo. He didn't seem against the idea back in July but was aware of the problems in sourcing T3. I mentioned that if I had a prescription, I could hopefully obtain the medication from a German pharmacy.
While getting checked out also look at the calcium level in your diet. If female and becoming menopausal, insufficient dietary calcium may cause heart symptoms, breathlessness and other symptoms too. At menopause women can excrete and lose a lot of calcium due to fluctuating or falling eostrogen levels. Your GP should be ruling this out. Ensure you eat calcium rich foods at every meal and increase your dietary calcium intake. You need good fats to utilise calcium efficiently too. Older men also benefit from a good calcium intake.
The last time my calcium was checked, it was February this year. The result was 2.39 mmol/L (2.2-2.6), so would be good to know what my level is now.
Cheese is one of my favourites but due to the Hashi's, I've had to try dairy alternatives. Hopefully, eating lots of greens makes up for not having dairy.
If you are not dairy intolerant and it doesn't upset your stomach it might be worth adding it back in. It can be difficult to get enough calcium without dairy products during menopausal stage in life. You can check out your intake with the calcium calculator here
As far as calcium absorption goes, just keep them at least 2 hours apart, I mean calcium and foods high in oxalic acid. You don't need to cut them out of your diet for reasons of calcium. It isn't as easy to absorb calcium from greens as it is from dairy so you may not be getting as much calcium from greens as tables on the internet indicate.
I’m not medically qualified and you should see a cardiologist for an informed opinion. But that said, my best guess is that you are undertreated thyroid-wise and a rise in dose might resolve your symptoms.
Few weeks ago I was suffering the same suffocation feeling... it got so bad that I really thought I was gonna die... and at the point I called the ambulance.
Now, if yours isn't that bad & you CAN wait to be referred by your GP to eliminate any lung or heart issues then you may pursue that.
But if it gets worse then just call an ambulance. Then once you are admitted into emergency, they have to do the preliminary tests, X-rays, ECG etc in such a condition to eliminate heart & lung issues. So, that is a faster route... depends how bad your episodes get.
The funny thing is that I was telling all the paramedics & doctors who came to see me that I know it isn't heart or lunch related... it is Thyroid related.. Ofcourse they just shrugged such suggestions.. thinking I'm some loony...
But I actually was carrying the Living Well With Hypothyroidism book in my hand and the doc who discharged me asked me about it. So, I told him my prognosis hehe... (I'm sure it must have sounded so funny coming out of the mouth of a non-med person) but I didn't care. I knew that at that point in time I knew more about this disease than that doctor present.
He eventually made a note for my GP to check for Thyroid conditions.
In short, I'm not on any Thyroid medication yet because I refuse to give up without a fight. But I have & still experience all the symptoms that you've mentioned. Even all your test readings are pretty similar to mine except TSH reading. Mine is 1.67.
Some changes that I've employed in the last 6 weeks that seem to be helping (as vit d, b 12, ferretin levels rose up as well as my energy levels).
I took (and still take) high dosage 10,000 iu vit d. Iron supplement (from plant source), B12 5000mg, B-complex supplement.
Plus I've completely overhauled my diet. I'm on Keto diet & try to stay in Ketosis most days. But basically high fat diet has given me my energy back. It's not like it used to be but still way better when I couldn't even get up in the morning after 12 hours of sleep.
Downside is that I have to cook everything from scratch. I can't use any store bought sauces as all have sugar or additives.
But I can feel the difference from totally removing all breads, pasta , rice, sugar & processed food from my diet.
But I won't lie, it isn't easy. Bloody hard work. But for me, it was about putting myself first before kids & family... for the first time in my life to get my health back on track before it is too late.
I wish you all the best and hope that you are able to identify the root causes of your symptoms so you may treat them better rather than just treating an overall condition.
It's good to hear from someone else in a similar position. I did call 111 when HRT made the breathing and lethargy worse, I thought that I was at risk of popping my clogs that night. As my oxygen level was good, the out of hours doctor did nothing. Prior to that, most evening were a struggle, sitting forward, trying to get a full breath. Totally wiped me out. So had to focus on something in the room to stop me from panicking. Over the 6 months that I've had it for, it's improved a bit.
Going gluten free is the only thing that's seemed to have helped. I'm virtually dairy free and now find that if I have a small amount of either, my breathing is back to very uncomfortable. I've always eaten well, cooking from scratch most nights, so it's annoying that I am having all these problems.
Post viral fatigue appears to be a factor but have been treated recently with anti-virals. My cofactors are good after I started self injecting B12 nearly a year ago, taking lots of supplements and further improving my diet. I don't like the idea of Keto diet yet as think my body needs to heal with my improved diet plus I feel at the moment that I need to eat some carbs, albeit not too many and always gluten free.
All that my GP has done is refer me to a chest clinic, where they did a heart and lung scan and found the stiff heart muscle problem. So at least I have some explanation as to why I'm constantly feeling like this. They said to increase my cardio exercise but if I do exercise, such as cycling, I'm wiped out the next day.
I wish you continued success in getting your health back on track. Not easy when we have to juggle so many things.
"They said to increase my cardio exercise but if I do exercise, such as cycling, I'm wiped out the next day. " ---> I was the same with exercises.. still struggling but it is an indication of failing adrenals. I had my adrenals test done and still more testing to do. So, I'd suggest to have yours tested.
Good news is adrenal functions can be improved naturally through diet, interval exercise (way better than cardio). I have just started taking supplements for it too because I got desperate (but it's too soon to say if they are helpful or not).
I found these 2 to be great sources for exercise routine which isn't mad like beachbody workouts but can actually increase Growth Hormones and improve adrenals.
I'm taking vit d, k2, omega 3, b12, b-complex, iron, and need to add selenium & zinc too (which I haven't yet). But only found out I was low in those after testing... made sense as am losing hair like no ones business.
That's one symptom I haven't really experienced but have always had fine hair so would be interesting to know when my thyroid started struggling.
It's so good that we can pay for these private tests, I wouldn't even have know about all that a year ago. But it's frustrating that we have to resort to being our own health advocate and awful to know there's people out there that can't afford private blood tests.
Good that you're getting some answers and can plan a way forward.
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