Postpartum thyroiditis or overdose?

[Tiredhorses]

I am new here. 3 years ago due to undergoing fertility treatment I was prescribed Levothyroxine as TSH was 4.95. 3 months ago I had a baby, breastfeeding. My GP refused to continue Levothyroxine as she doesn't believe that I am hypothyroid, and I had a baby, so she stopped my Levothyroxine. I repeated TSH is below 0.1, she said I am overdosed , need to stop Levo as nothing wrong with my thyroid. Before started Levo I was very symptomatic not knowing why? I berely could function, no energy, cold intolerance, hair falling out and etc...I don't want to go back being symptomatic. What can I do to convince GP?

I think I am having postpartum thyroiditis, as my TSH was always well controlled. Now very low, the dose is not mega only 100mcg to be overdosed.

I need some advise how to achieve hypothyroid diagnosis and get the treatment as GP refused to continue Levo.

Thanks

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

TSH alone doesn't give the full picture. You can't dose by TSH but doctors rarely accept that. You need a full thyroid panel

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

If GP wont do them we have recommended labs who do home fingerprick or venous blood draw tests. If you'd like details, please ask

[Tiredhorses in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks. I am going to do tests privately. GP said that is everything is clear to her from TSH alone, she is not going to do any more tests, as not needed. She is stoping my Levo.

I will do full panel privately.

Any recommendations on private endocrinologist?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Tiredhorses]

Tiredhorses

GP said that is everything is clear to her from TSH alone, she is not going to do any more tests, as not needed. She is stoping my Levo.

Your GP is as ignorant as many we hear about on the forum. They really don't have a clue.

You can email Dionne at ThyroidUK for the list of thyroid friendly endos then ask on the forum for feedback by private message on any that you can travel to (we can't discuss individual doctors on the forum without their permission)

[e-mail]

Medichecks and Blue Horizon are two popular testing companies that hundreds of us here use. Cheaper to get all tests done before seeing a private endo.

It's always worth getting vitamins tested as well as the thyroid panel, and it's cheaper to do them all in one test bundle than to do them separately if you decide you want vitamins tested later on.

The most popular here, and both can be done as a fingerprick test or venous blood draw at extra cost:

Medichecks Thyroid Check ULTRAVIT medichecks.com/thyroid-func... You can use code THYROIDUK for a 10% discount on any test not on special offer

or

Blue Horizon Thyroid Check PLUS ELEVEN bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/t...

Both tests include the full thyroid and vitamin panel. They are basically the same test but with the following small differences:

For the fingerprick test, Blue Horizon requires 1 x microtainer of blood (0.8ml), Medichecks requires 2 x microtainers (total 1.6ml)

Blue Horizon includes Total T4 (can be useful but not essential). Medichecks doesn't include this test.

B12 - Blue Horizon does Serum B12. Medichecks does Active B12.

Serum B12 shows the total B12 in the blood. Active B12 shows what's available to be taken up by the cells. You can have a reasonable level of Serum B12 but a poor level of Active B12. (Personally, I would go for the Active B12 test.)

When doing thyroid tests, we advise:

* Book the first appointment of the morning, or with private tests at home no later than 9am. 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, last dose of Levo should be 24 hours before blood draw, if taking NDT or T3 then last dose should be 8-12 hours before blood draw. Adjust timing the day before if necessary. This avoids measuring hormone levels at their peak after ingestion of hormone replacement. 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.