Endocrinologist visit

[Harthill42]

Dear all,

Comments are very welcome, direction guidance also. I had my 2nd endo visit, the first one I noted on the forum as was observed as a crappy letter which it was. I was ready to take forward the advice I received last time from #fightfor your thyroid# 🤸‍♀️

I didn’t take my normal medication of 75 mcg Levo & 12.5 liothroxine 12 hours before the blood test.

The consultation was initially with the registrar but after 15 minutes of getting nowhere with my questions which arose from the previous crappy letter( love the title it was given on tuk ) The consultant came in & listened to me

The out come was that if I stopped taking the 12.5 of T3 they would test again & if I needed it he would prescribe. He wants further blood tests after this time to see if I really have a T3 conversion disorder

I told him the difference I have felt since taking it & he said that I was never given enough T4 for my size. I am a size 14, 5ft 6, 75 K so that is why I wasn’t functioning fully. I told him I am 95% much improved now.

The blood test results are TSH 0.18

Free T4 11.3

Free T3 3.9

Total cholesterol 7 , HDL 1.9 , non HDL 5.1 ratio for HbA1c 36mmol/mol

Outcome

Advised that the lipids are off target I need a Q risk2 score and to consider statins

Many thanks in anticipation

[humanbean]

Advised that the lipids are off target I need a Q risk2 score and to consider statins

No, you don't need either of these things. The QRisk2 score is supposed to identify what your risk is of cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years. It over-estimates risk massively, and is utterly pointless.

Statins provide no benefit to women at all, and have immense numbers of side-effects which doctors tell patients are not due to the statins, they are due to ageing. Be aware that doctors get paid extra for prescribing statins.

If your cholesterol is above range (and the ranges are ridiculously low anyway) this is most likely because you aren't adequately treated for your hypothyroidism. A few decades ago high cholesterol was a diagnostic marker for hypothyroidism, but many doctors have forgotten this, and deny the connection between cholesterol and hypothyroidism.

Some links to read :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/...

Note from the above link that overall mortality (risk of death) is lowest in women with the highest cholesterol.

spacedoc.com/articles/50-fa...

Read the whole page in the above link, but note number 17 in particular :

Even taking the best possible figures, from selected trials, and painting them in the best possible light…if you took a statin for thirty years, you could expect five to six months of increased life and that is only for men with pre-existing heart disease. For women it is pointless and cannot extend your life by even one day.

[Harthill42 in reply to humanbean]

Fabulous, thank you 🙏

[m7-cola in reply to humanbean]

Terrific post. Crystal clear. Thank you for posting.

[greygoose]

We really need the ranges for those results, but they do look as if they could be low. In which case, you were under-medicated. But if your doctor was only looking at the TSH, then that's not surprising. The TSH is a very bad indicator of thyroid status. And, dosing has nothing to do with your size. You need what you need no matter what your size.

I'm just wondering how your endo is proposing to evaluate your ability to convert. From past reading it appears that not all endos know how to do that, and say to people who are obviously poor converters that they convert perfectly well. So, beware of that. The way to do it is to compare the FT4 with the FT3, they should be more or less equal percentages through the range.

[Harthill42 in reply to greygoose]

Thank you, your response is very much appreciated.

I shall ask for the ranges for both the FT4 & FT3 to calculate.

Maybe he has a crystal ball 🔮

[greygoose in reply to Harthill42]

I expect he always uses the same lab so knows their ranges by heart. And he either forgets, or doesn't care, that other people don't know them. Doctors would mostly prefer you didn't know your results, anyway.

[MissGrace]

Hi Harthill42,

I’m not sure how he’ll test your conversion either, but if your T4 seems way out of kilter with your T3 on T4 only that might prove something. Both look low in your test result though.

At least you got past the registrar (trainee) and the consultant listened to you - which has to be some progress. You need to continue to be insistent that you have only ever felt better on combination therapy and that is the route you are determined to pursue. Emphasise that your symptoms are still bad on T4. Some people on here have won the battle for T3 or found endos who will monitor and advise them if they source their own T3. I’m concerned they are asking you to stop the T3 though without offering you anything to replace it.

Good luck with your continued fight. It might be worth doing a search and looking through the posts of people on here who have managed to get T3 on the NHS - there have been a few positive posts recently. They might include information worth quoting at your next visit. 🤸🏿‍♀️🥛#fightforyourthyroid

[Harthill42 in reply to MissGrace]

Thank you once again MissGrace.

Yes it felt like an audience with the pope!! The registrar couldn’t fend off my questions and headed out to get the consultant!!

This forum has given me confidence to challenge and with more knowledge as they say is power.

More questions for me to ask

[m7-cola in reply to Harthill42]

Good for you! Keep in mind that you are the expert when it comes to your body. You are the pope and he is the cardinal.

[Harthill42 in reply to m7-cola]

💕 it xx