A little advice for my mum please (FAO everyone especially those who know the Irish health system)

[Eimear78]

Hi all

My mum is visiting from Ireland and as we both have hypothyroidism we were having a chat about it.

She was diagnosed 22 years ago when she lived in the UK and was 50 years old. Her doctor put her on 125mcg of levo and she has never had her dose changed or looked at since then. Judging by what she said she was probably having syptoms since my sister was born 16 years prior.

Anyway on top of the standard syptoms she is always quite poorly with certain ailments. She's had two operations on an infected sinus which won't heal and now has to have a further one where they'll remove bone. She always has aches that they can never diagnose. She's had heart palpations despite her heart being in good condition. She has acid reflux which she has precribed medication for and she has been on blood pressure medication for as long as I remember.

2 years ago the GP sent her for a scan on her thyroid thinking she may have a tumour. The sonographer told her she practically had no thyroid and the GP wrote it off as her having hypothyroidism for so many years. This set alarm bells ringing for me as i thought well why hasn't he checked she's on the right medication and what about hashis? She had never heard of Hashimotos until last night and never had her antibodies checked. When he checks her thyroid he says she's normal and they've bushed her off when I've told her to get her blood tests and ranges.

In 2 years I've had my medication adjusted so many times and that's largely through the support and education from this board and i want her to get the same because i believe these ailments are thyroid based. She's going to go for private allergy testing in a few weeks before this next sinus op and i think gluten and dairy will feature but i think she needs her GP to do his job. As she's a pensioner and not on insurance i don't think he will bother unless she presents facts.

Can anyone recommend a blood test in Ireland? Medichecks and UK based tests will be tricky because couriers may not take blood.

Are there any other things I could advise her to ask her GP or to do too?

Any thoughts or pearls of wisdom for my 72 year old mum would be appreciated.

Thank you

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Why not do Medichecks test while she is in UK ?

They just email the results anywhere

Likely to have low vitamin levels and high antibodies by sound of it

[Eimear78 in reply to SlowDragon]

That's what i thought. I can't believe in 22 years she's never had a review of her levo.

[Marz]

As she is visiting you in the UK - could you not do the Private Testing with Medichecks - it is such a speedy process

[Eimear78]

She's only here until tomorrow and I never thought. If we'd have had the conversation before I'd d have had a kit waiting.

[Marz in reply to Eimear78]

Such a shame. Can she do them when home ?

[Eimear78 in reply to Marz]

I am struggling to find a Medichecks equivalent over there.

[44670 in reply to Eimear78]

Try ‘let’s get checked.com’ based in Dublin

[Eimear78 in reply to 44670]

Thank you. They're pricy if she wants a vitamin check but it may be the better option.

[MaisieGray]

My experience of using Thriva is my sample being collected from the postbox at 4.00 pm and my test results being emailed to me the following lunchtime, so your Mum could get her results very promptly whilst in the UK. However, Ireland will be governed by the EU rules pertaining to the mailing of diagnostic samples, and sending blood samples is therefore permitted subject to basic required safeguards. Here's the guidance from the Dept of Ag that a quick search has found, to give you a flavour of what's required/permissible - I expect it doesn't differ materially if at all, from guidelines for general mailing of (human) diagnostic samples, which you could search for to clarify. agriculture.gov.ie/animalhe...

I would make the point that you having your meds adjusted many times in 2 yrs is not necessarily a good thing, or necessary, or even advisable, and even if it was for you, won't necessarily be so, for someone else - for myself I'd be concerned if it was happening to me. So conversely, your Mum not having hers adjusted is not necessarily a bad thing either - it may have been wrong, or right, in your Mum's case, but is not per se, indicative of poor care - my meds didn't change for the first 30 yrs after the initial titrating up from diagnosis, and I've never felt as good as I did then, in the subsequent 10 yrs. what is important now, is to have a comprehensive set of tests carried out, and then to have them properly interpreted in order to make an informed decision about what meds, or what level of meds, your Mum might need. Anything else is guesswork and assumptions.

[Eimear78 in reply to MaisieGray]

So get the blood tests pronto. Thanks for the advice..fair point about the guesswork!

[posthinking01]

Hi there - couriers should take blood - I have blood samples sent into Europe for testing by Fedex or DHL and they are OK with that.

[Eimear78 in reply to posthinking01]

I will contact Medichecks and see what they recommend.