Skin, hair and nails

[SherbertSusie]

Hi, this is my first posting on this site so I'm hoping someone can help. Years ago, I was diagnosed with a under active thyroid. So I was put on 100 mcgm dose of Levothyroxine. Now I am finding that I am losing quite a lot of hair, my nails are absolute rubbish, they keep breaking, ridges and never seem to grow. Also patches of my skin have become scaly and dry. I spoke to a doctor and he raised the level from 100 to 125 mcgm but after six weeks I had another blood test and I was told to go back down to 100 mcgm as the levels were too high. I do take a supplement for skin hair and nails but has done nothing. Holland and Barratt suggested I take Selenium.

Anyone have any information or suggestions please.

Thanking you.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

SherbertSusie

There may be a couple of reasons for your levels changing and your GP changing your dose.

Firstly, to ensure that we can compare results accurately, when booking thyroid tests, we advise:

* Book the first appointment of the morning. This is because TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. If we are looking for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, or looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction then we need TSH to be as high as possible.

* Fast overnight - have your evening meal/supper as normal the night before but delay breakfast on the day of the test and drink water only until after the blood draw. Eating may lower TSH, caffeine containing drinks affect TSH.

* If taking thyroid hormone replacement, leave off Levo for 24 hours before blood draw, if taking NDT or T3 then leave that off for 8-12 hours. Take your thyroid meds after the blood draw. Taking your dose too close to the blood draw will give false high results, leaving any longer gap will give false low results.

* If you take Biotin or a B Complex containing Biotin (B7), leave this off for 7 days before any blood test. This is because if Biotin is used in the testing procedure it will give false results (Medichecks definitely use Biotin, they have confirmed this and the amount of time to leave the supplement off).

These are patient to patient tips which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists.

Secondly, if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) then this causes fluctuations in results (and symptoms).

Ideally, to get a full picture, you need the following tests:

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

Can you post any results that you have, along with their reference ranges, and we should be able to help you. Also mention any supplements and other medication that you take.

Just a little aside - Holland and Barret are not medical professionals and probably don't have hypothyroidism, they don't necessarily give good advice. Also, their own brand supplements leave a lot to be desired. There is a wealth of good information here on the forum from members who have hypothyroidism who have been in your shoes. Selenium can be helpful, some people like to test their level first.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

First thing is, Very helpful to see any actual blood test results?

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.

Very important to see exactly what has been tested and equally important what hasn't been tested

Far too often the only test done is TSH or TSH and FT4, which is completely inadequate

Following SeasideSusie advice to get FULL Thyroid and vitamin testing is first step in making progress

Low vitamin levels are extremely common especially with autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto's

About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is due to Hashimoto's

[BadHare]

Maybe spend a few hours on the forum reading posts & replies, &

familiarising yourself with what we need to make our hormones work

better. Also, which things we need to avoid that can block our production & absorption of thyroid hormones, & throw a spanner in the works.

I thought my nutrient & micronutrient levels were good when I started taking thyroid hormones. It took a few years of adding & tweaking supplements to help. My skin healed & nails grew better within the first year once I stopped eating unfermented soy, followed by my lower eyelashes returning a year later (& growing amusingly long eyebrow hairs), then head hair growth last year.