Thinning hair

[misschris]

Hi,

I haven’t been on here for a long while and just basically getting on with life. Just to remind anyone who may remember me. I have no thyroid as I had it removed 2009.

In May this year my GP advised to decrease my levothyroxine from 125mg to 100mg due to being borderline hyperthyroid, I did not decrease to what they asked but went to 112.5mg.

I did notice some symptoms after decreasing, no motivation, putting on weight, feeling bloated, tired, muscle aches and the list goes on, all these symptoms did not rise at the same time, some came later, my hair over the last 6weeks is awful, it’s thinned out and it’s like candy floss and no shampoo or conditioner makes a difference.

I went back to my GP who done another blood test and results came back fine (so he said) i told him I was going back up to 125mg daily regardless to what the blood tests say, he has agreed to this, question am really asking is ? Will I go back to how I was feeling on 125mg and loose a bit of weight, get my motivation back etc because I really feel like crap at the minute. Any advise will be helpful.

Chris

[Frances0008]

Hello Chris

You need to get your actual results from the doctor, including the ‘normal’ ranges they come with. Ask for print outs. Hopefully the tests include FT4 and FT3 as well as tsh. Often doctors say everything is ‘normal’ when you are actually very low in range and under treated. They often go off tsh instead of t4 and t3, which is what really matters.

If you share your full results on here people with a lot of experience in the condition will let you know where you stand and advise you on whether you need to ask to change your medication.

[misschris in reply to Frances0008]

Hi Frances,

I rang my gp Monday and requested a print out and will ring them this morning to check that they have done that and will pick them up this morning after work and post them on here. My gp did say they all came back fine asked him if I was optimal on blood tests he just said yes....so let’s see if they have printed them off as this will be the first time that they have as they have always said they couldn’t and that there would be a charge of £10.

[Frances0008 in reply to misschris]

GPs generally just go off ‘normal ranges’ and aren’t really very knowledgeable about treating thyroid conditions unfortunately. Let’s see what the results say! Well done for standing up to them about reducing your dose!

[Ellie-Louise in reply to misschris]

Hi, at your surgery would you be able to access your records online? You would have to fill in a form to apply but it would certainly save you £10 every time you want your test results because you could print them out yourself.

[misschris in reply to Ellie-Louise]

Hi, I will be quite about that, I did once pay to see my records which cost £10 but that was yrs ago and I had to go the surgery to access them with the practice manager in the room with me at all times.

[Ellie-Louise in reply to misschris]

Records are digitalised these days. I think there are different companies, but my surgery in West Sussex uses System Online.

[misschris in reply to Ellie-Louise]

My surgery has only just started to give printed record without a cost. It’s been so frustrating as it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on within your body as they wouldn’t even give you a print out at one time.

[Ellie-Louise in reply to misschris]

Ask them because online is so much easier. I make my appointments, order medication, see my results and so much more, without having to set foot in the door.

[misschris in reply to Ellie-Louise]

That is fab I will enquire about it, so much easier that way and you can keep a record on how you are doing which is what I want.

[Hidden in reply to Ellie-Louise]

By law these are now free of charge.

[Ellie-Louise in reply to Hidden]

Yes I know. I was talking to misschris about her possibly getting an online account.

[misschris in reply to Frances0008]

I have uploaded results before but it’s not allowing me to do this unless am just not used to it anymore so I will type them. All tests done on the 12/9/18.

Description. Value. Units. Range

Serum zinc level (NT) normal 13.8. umol/L. 12.00-20.00umol/L

Serum vit B12 (NT) normal. 406. ng/L. 181.00-910ng/L

Urea & electrolytes (NT) normal

Serum sodium. 141. mmol/L. 133.00-

146.00mmol/L

Serum potassium. 4.5. mmol/L. 3.50-5.30 mmol/L

Serum urea level. 4. mmol/L. 2.80-7.80mmol/L

AKI warning stage

NA

Serum magnesium level (NT) normal 0.77. mmol/L. 0.70-1.00mmol/L

Serum folate (NT) normal. 10.7. ug/L. > 5.40ug/L

Serum TSH LEVEL (NT) normal. 0.72. miu/L. 0.30-5.00miu/L

This is the results of my bloods, no other thyroid test where carried out which I thought they were going to do as I was not feeling too well and went in with symptoms (took me ages typing that out 👩‍💻🤦‍♀️)

[Frances0008 in reply to misschris]

You really need to know your free t4 and free t3 to be able to tell if you are undermedicated. Tsh is not helpful. You could ask them to test for these and see what they say or you could get it done privately with medichecks which costs about 40£.

On the vitamin levels, I’m not an expert, but I recon if you start a new post with a photo of your results someone else will be able to advise you. Normally people here advise that ferrate, follate, b12 and vit d are the important ones.

[Hidden in reply to misschris]

Sorry I missed your results your zinc level is quite low so is your B12 result.

[misschris in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for your advice Bunnyjean. I think I will buy the multi-bionta multi-vits and minerals and get my b12 from amazon, I think I will start taking D3 with K2, got both of them at home....I’ve been severely low in D3 a couple of times, don’t know why they did not check that as well....plus winter is approaching and the darker nights are here....oh the joys of trying to get one feeling good.

[Hidden in reply to misschris]

When I had my thyroid removed in Oct 2015 I was never on any medication and knew nothing about T3, however after raising my levels I am now free of my lifetime of sinus problems. I have never had any trouble with thinning hair. Good luck to sort it out.

[Hidden]

Have you had your zinc levels checked, low levels together with too low a dose of thyroid medication can cause hair loss.

[jgelliss]

Lab results don't tell you the full story . Symptoms are much more telling . It's Cellular results that are more telling . What does one have if lab results show ranges are in sync and patient is left with many symptoms unresolved ?

[misschris in reply to jgelliss]

Your right about the lab results and why would a gp only test tsh and not any other thyroid test? Give as little as possible...so tsh came back fine but that does not mean that everything else is working fine, well mine won’t be because I produce nothing......only on T4 meds so really they should be checking that I am converting sufficiently, I’d have to be on my knees for them to full thyroid blood tests.