My name is Margaret
I am 57 and have an under active thyroid,diabetes(2) arthritis, fibromyalgia.
I am tired all the time! I know I sound like I feel Sorry for myself, I really do.
I am just getting more tired as time goes bye
I work all the hours I can, as I have no choice.
I have two of the most amazing children,
The support that they have given me is tremendous.
Hi Hotlips57
Welcome to the thyroid forum.
I notice you have mentioned you are still feeling tired and have an underactive Thyroid.
Unfortunately, there is no information if you are on Levothyroxine?.
It could be your not on the correct dosage, have you any thyroid blood test results you can post.
Best Wishes
Peanut31
How much Levothyroxine are you currently taking?
Can you add your most recent blood test results and ranges
Fibromyalgia can be under treated hypothyroidism
Arthritis often improves on gluten free diet
arthritis.org/living-with-a...
It's extremely common to be on too low a dose or for vitamin levels to be too low preventing thyroud hormones working well
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised
All thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. Do not take Levothyroxine dose in the 24 hours prior to test, delay and take immediately after blood draw. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Ask GP to test thyroid antibodies and vitamins if not been done, plus coeliac blood test too
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or vitamins
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
If antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known by medics here in UK more commonly as autoimmune thyroid disease).
About 90% of all hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto's.
Low vitamins are especially common with Hashimoto's. Food intolerances are very common too, especially gluten. So it's important to get TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once .
Link about thyroid blood tests
thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...
Link about antibodies and Hashimoto's
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...
List of hypothyroid symptoms
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...
You are legally entitled to printed copies of your blood test results and ranges.
UK GP practices are supposed to offer online access for blood test results. Ring and ask if this is available and apply to do so if possible, if it is you may need "enhanced access" to see blood results.
In reality many GP surgeries do not have blood test results online yet
Alternatively ring receptionist and request printed copies of results. Allow couple of days and then go and pick up. They can no longer charge for printing out, rules changed after May 25th 2018
Hi Hotlips57. This sounds so familiar, I sounded like a broken record the amount of times Id said the exact same thing to my GP over the years. Then I 'acccidentally' increased my thyroxine, the change was wonderful. On my next visit my GP noticed the difference in my demeanour as soon as I walked into the surgery. After a blood test we agreed that I'd continue on a higher dosage. In addition to the increase in energy levels and my mental agility and lack of aches and pains, for the first time ever I feel positive enough to consider no longer taking anti depressants. I realise I was taking a risk self medicating but it was absolutely worth it. It's my life, I should decide what sort of life I have. Literally I'd recommend to anyone take your life into your own hands.
According to Dr. John C Lowe, in his seminal work on the metabolic treatment of fibromyalgia, the way you are feeling is directly related to your thyroid not producing enough energy to power your cells.
Low thyroid hormone -> cellular hypometabolism
Cellular hypometabolism -> fibromyalgia
He treated fibromyalgia patients successfully with T3.
You sound exactly like my sister-in-law who has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia - and told there is no treatment other than magnesium infusion’s. Oh yes, they also prescribed tranquilizers, adevant, opioids, etc.
she too is an extremely hard worker with many interests and dreams and kids. She too feels like all she does is cry about how she feels all the time. Because the treatment that she is receiving is not working.
We live in the Midwest in the United States. The most common recommended solution for thyroid problems is thyroidectomy. If it tells you anything about the doctors here. Of course they don’t recognize fibromyalgia as a thyroid problem oh no. And unfortunately while she made an attempt at taking over the counter health food type supplements of T3 she hasn’t found any relief. My suspicion is that she doesn’t take them consistently / the dosage is not high enough. But her main problem is that she is still a great believer in mainstream medicine and the ineffective thyroid treatment that they dribble around. Of course she’s also addicted to opioids now.
My greatest wish for all fibromyalgia suffers is to find a functional Dr who will prescribe real measures (nutritional, T-3, anti-inflammatory supplements) that heal and work. Underactive Thyroid, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, are all autoimmune disorders that can be and are healed by the same single (many times) course of treatment - and T-3 brings the most immediate relief. Here in the US we must get T-3 with a prescription to obtain the most effective doses. And yes it is most advisable to have a Drs care when finding the ideal dose. Perhaps even the highly effective T-3 / T-4 (NDT) thyroid replacement.
With that the energy returns and from there will most find the strength to remove gluten and dairy from daily intake; To add digestive enzymes, vitamin D3 and methylated B vitamins . It takes energy, strength and mental clarity to educate oneself and then embark on the journey of what works each one of us; To find the functional doctor that will assist in all these things.
On my path to finding a functional doctor I’ve visited more than one chiropractor more than one doctor of osteopathy, and finally found and appreciated the functional doctor. They are MD’s that are quite comfortable prescribing alternative nutritional healing methods to actually heal disease / replacement hormones.
Often the best way to find these is to just ask around, anyway, here in the United States and in the Midwest, that’s my experience. Sometimes they are covered by insurance and sometimes not.
It cannot be overstressed enough how important it is to find the right treatment if you’re going to be healed of these autoimmune diseases. Find a functional doctor - and I know your energy levels are low. Read all you can here, and on other sites, like Dr. Lowe ( Who is now deceased but still has reams and reams of important information on how to heal) Dr. Izabella Wentz, and others. Know and understand that the root cause of all your illnesses is most likely one and the same. Inflammation: caused by our modern day poor diet, antibiotic (over-use), etc., chemicals, pesticides, etc. INFLAMATION.
Try new roads: for example: 10 days of vegetables only (not promoting vegetarian diet but just an anti-inflammatory experiment) - fruits too, cooked or raw; turmeric - the most highly anti-inflammatory natural supplement; digestive enzymes; lemon water “tea” (organic lemon juice and hot water first thing in the morning), all of these things are cleansing methods to help your body eliminate inflammation. And yes it does require effort and precious energy that are in small reserves for folks like us. And you will hear yourself say “does it really work?”. And when you discover how much energy comes back to you.... 😅
Well, you’ll pass it on just like I’m doing ....just like many others on this site.
Do share what works for you. Do keep in touch. These inflammatory induced diseases can and are healed / greatly reduced by thousands of sufferers (with and without Drs) every day.
Tired of being tired. Tired of being given new medication to manage the symptoms.
Tired of being tired- my hypothyroidism story
NDT 3 weeks now, feeling back to being tired again
Day 3 of little sleep but not being tired...
tired
