The wife

[paul1979]

Hi all advice please

Wife has been very tired for years

So we looked at her symptoms and she has 14 of the list of hypo

She is also on sertraline antidepressants 150 per day taken at night

I have a medicheck kit

Best time of day to do the blood test?

[fibrolinda]

Early morning, 8-9 am. Fasting before, nothing but water. Drink plenty of water the day before. If she takes anything with biotin in, b vits or multi vits or just biotin, stop taking them 5 days before. Do test no later than Wednesday so it doesn't get caught up in the postal system over the weekend. Send guaranteed next day delivery if you can.

Before doing test make sure she is warm plus few simple exercises to get the heart pumping.

Good luck

[humanbean]

She could have anaemia which shares quite a lot of symptoms with hypothyroidism. Anaemia can be caused by low iron, low vitamin B12, and low folate, and probably a few other things I know nothing about. If anaemia is the problem it is (usually) much easier to treat than hypothyroidism, although if your wife turned out to have Pernicious Anaemia (inability to absorb B12 from the diet) it could throw a spanner into the works.

[vocalEK in reply to humanbean]

A spanner.... ah yes. What we Yanks call a "monkey wrench". I have no idea why. Spanner makes more sense -- especially the type you can adjust the span on.

[Catseyes235]

Hope your wife is tested ASAP. I dare say it was some of the same symptoms that were responsible for her being on anti-depressants? (My doc was happy to think I was mentally ill although I knew it was something else). You don’t mention her symptoms but 14 seem more than enough, the basics being extreme tiredness, feeling cold, hair loss, build up of fluid for starters. Good luck and it’s good she has you to hopefully attend appointments with her and back her up as not easy to stand up for yourself when hypothyroid.

[Shebw53]

So nice to hear that someone’s partner recognises and believes that his wife is ill and it might be hypothyroidism, shows he cares enough to try and find help for her

[Marz]

Which Test bundle are you going for ? - does it include vits and minerals ?

[paul1979 in reply to Marz]

Hi. Yes all the vitamins

[HLAB35]

Hypothyroidism is, as you probably suspect, a can of worms and opens up the possibility of other deficiencies, hormone imbalances and autoimmune illness as well as heart issues, mental health, cognitive function and pain and fatigue management. It's complex and there is not a one-size-fits-all solution... but through trial and error with diet, supplements and the correct dosing of medication many begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Stress and illness worsen hormone imbalances (adrenals and thyroid) and vitamins/minerals (b vitamins and vitamin d, iron, magnesium and zinc). Doesn't always occur to GP's to check for those.