What do I do next?

[StrangeKoala]

I really stuck as to what to do to next with my health. I hope someone can help. Apologies for the length of the post!

For Context: I am a 29 year old woman and I have been suffering low level, 'vague' but frustrating symptoms for a number of years. I have not been diagnosed with anything but the symptoms are 'hypothyroid-like' with fatigue, weight gain, skin problems, poor healing and struggling to fight off everyday illnesses like colds. These are obviously very generic symptoms and so could be a number of things although I have ruled out autoimmune and allergies through extensive testing.

I was getting desperate so last year requested a copy of my full medical records and realised that my thyroid had never been fully tested and neither had cortisol levels (both can relate to the symptoms I have.) My GP at the time refused the full thyroid testing and only gave me one cortisol blood test in the morning (it came back normal but testing at night is quite important.) So I ordered tests online with Blue Horizon.

I shared the thyroid results here before.

All fine except - TSH: 2.62 [0.27-4.2], Free Thyroxine: 13.3 [12.0-22.0]. In range but one of you pointed out that my thyroid seems to be struggling a bit, however, nothing the doctors will look at.

My saliva cortisol levels were:

Waking - 22.2 [6.0-21.0 nmol/L], Noon - 7.15 [1.5-7.6], FourPM - 7.54[0-5.5],

Before Bed - 2.87[0-2.0]

Out of range but not super high. This was enough to get a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test which came back normal. My new GP sent me to an endo to be safe.

I saw the endo today, he essentially shrugged and said that my symptoms weren't anything to do with endocrine problems and said it was CFS and/or depression (even though I'm not depressed - just frustrated at being ill) but ordered some final tests to be sure. I am expecting these will be in range but probably not optimal.

If this is the case where do I go from here? Do I give up the endocrine route? Carry on pursuing it (knowing things like mild cushing's are very difficult to diagnose)? Or do I just test every six months or so to see if there is a change? It really interferes with my life and I'm at my wits end - what else can I do?

Thank you!

[Hennerton]

Hello and welcome. You do not mention vitamins and minerals which are often low when a thyroid is struggling. Have you tested iron, ferritin, B12, folate and Vit D? If any of these are low, they will have a knock on effect on your general health and can cause innumerable symptoms. As for poor healing and not being able to shrug off illnesses, I found zinc made a big difference to this and I take 15mcg per day. I read it should not be taken permanently as it can cause an imbalance with copper. I just eat plenty of copper rich foods and take zinc all the time. Obviously this is my choice and you may not wish to supplement but it has made such an improvement to annoying things like accidental cuts on a finger not healing easily that I am not going to stop it. Obviously for some odd reason I need more zinc than I get from my diet. Speaking of diet, how is yours generally? Do you eat mostly proper home cooked organic foods? Lots of fruit/veg and avoid supermarkets ready made meals full of additives? Sorry to sound like a preacher but our bodies need proper food to keep us well. I hope someone else comes with some ideas to help.

[StrangeKoala in reply to Hennerton]

Hi, thanks for replying.

I didn't mention the vitamins and minerals because whenever I've had them done over the years they have been well into the normal range (I've had a lot of tests and didn't want to bore you) although I haven't had a couple of them done for a while. I sometimes have a tendency towards low vit D levels and take supplements regularly. That is good advice on the zinc though, so I might give it a try.

My diet is generally very good, I almost always cook from scratch and we have an allotment so a lot of fresh fruit and veg (and eggs) from there. I also don't drink or smoke and I have a physically active job. So yeah, I do everything I can to look after myself, which is what makes it so frustrating! Thanks for your help

[Hennerton in reply to StrangeKoala]

An allotment? Lucky you. Loads of lovely fruit and veg then. You sound as though you take great care of yourself and these health issues are so frustrating. I hope you get other replies. Just a last thought on iron. I always struggle with this, as I do not eat much red meat. Is yours good?

[StrangeKoala in reply to Hennerton]

Yes I do eat some red meat, although I don't really like it. My iron levels have always been good though.

Thanks for your help!

[5678sar]

Hi, have you ever had you thyroid antibodies tested? A full thyroid panel should include that really. I had symptoms and ‘normal’ TSH/T4 tests for over 10 years before at 32 years old, when I was tested again and my TSH had rocketed to over 100 and my Free T4 was 6. I found out since that 10 years earlier I had a positive TPO antibodies test which means that my thyroid was being attacked for all that time and hadn’t shown up on blood tests.

[StrangeKoala in reply to 5678sar]

Thanks for replying.

Yes, sorry. Again, didn't include them because they were normal. I don't have the figure to hand but it was none to low on all of them.

[Hennerton in reply to StrangeKoala]

The antibodies should all be very low or nonexistent. What were yours like?

[StrangeKoala in reply to Hennerton]

None to low on all.

[Hennerton in reply to StrangeKoala]

It is a mystery! Sorry I cannot help any more.

[StrangeKoala in reply to Hennerton]

I know! I'm a woman of mystery. Thanks for your help anyway!

[Hennerton in reply to StrangeKoala]

I expect it will turn out to be thyroid. Did you ever have a free T3 test?

[StrangeKoala in reply to Hennerton]

The last Free T3 test had me at 4.9 pmol/L (range 3.1-6.8). So fairly middling?

[Hennerton in reply to StrangeKoala]

Yes. Not particularly low. I am mystified....

[loisbrucie]

Have you thought about heavy metal toxicity. I did a hair test, and sent the results to the Andy Cutler Chelation face book site, and got admin reply.

[StrangeKoala in reply to loisbrucie]

That might be a good idea, at least to rule it out for me. Thank you.