Hashimotos?

[imdelightful]

When I asked my doctor if I could be blood tested for Hashimotos she said no. Hashimotos cannot be tested as a lone disease only the other stuff such as vitamins levels, blood clotting, TSH, T4, T3 etcetera, all of these factors come under Hashimotos. Is this right?

[london81]

as i understand it, nhs GPs know little about hashimotos, and don’t see the need to test for it because whether it is hashimotos or a standard underactive thyroid their treatment is levothyroxine. My gp tested my antibodies then told me they didn’t matter, and to come back when my thyroid was destroyed to go onto thyroxine. I ignored her and went away and educated myself, addressed my antibodies, vitamin levels and started self medicating. i still got my blood levels tested by GP but i went by how i felt not the limited nhs tests. 4 years later i went to a consultant endocrinologist at st. george’s who said i was in good health and discharged me. the moral of my story is to self educate, don’t listen to uneducated people if they aren’t specialist in hashimotos and listen to your body.

you could get one of the finger prick blood tests for the antibodies ? thriva or media checks do them i think and thyroid uk have a discount code on their page.

the most important thing i remember being told is hashimotos is an autoimmune disease but the nhs label it a thyroid issue- it’s not the thyroid that’s the cause the immune system is out of whack which impacts the thyroid

[london81 in reply to london81]

google the thyroid uk private testing page ( i can’t seem to paste the link here)

[Marz in reply to london81]

thyroiduk.co.uk

Click onto About Testing in the Main Menu on the left ....

[imdelightful in reply to london81]

I'm so pleased you didn't listen to your doctor. For her to tell you to go back when your thyroid is destroyed is negligence/unethical to say the least. That's terrible.

I know very little about the T3, T4, FT4 etcetera. I too am learning from the folk on this amazing forum. I wish you all the best

[london81 in reply to imdelightful]

same to you! there are lots of posts on my profile if you want to read through the responses for info! good luck

[Saltwater]

Personally, I would want to know. Although the treatment and symptoms are largely the same, having Hashimotos is linked to other autoimmune conditions and increases the chances of other conditions such as pernicious anaemia, and Coeliac Disease among others.

If you are unsure which you have, you should have your thyroid function tested along with your antibodies, typically the thyroid peroxidase antibody test) and the anti-thyroglobulin antibody test. The results can vary a lot depending on what stage you are in, so it can be misleading sometimes. Your doctor can also look for any family history of Hashimotos because if it is not autoimmune, they should also look for other possible causes of your hypothyroidism and take full stock of your symptoms to asses your likelihood of having this disease. The reason for the Hypothyroidism should be addressed in either case.

It is also important to know if you have Hashimotos because you will want to address the root causes and triggers in order to reduce antibodies.

Hashimotos and Hypothyroidism often occur together but they are technically two different conditions. They are both treated with Levothyroxine but for Hashimotos, this will treat the symptoms but not the cause. It is important to your health for you to know which condition you have as it will help you to improve your health in the long run by eliminating your triggers which in my case is gluten and elevated stress working to attack my thyroid.

Hope you get some answers because knowledge is the key to wellbeing.

[thyr01d in reply to Saltwater]

HI Saltwater, is this a fact "Hashimotos is linked to other autoimmune conditions and increases the chances of other conditions such as pernicious anaemia, and Coeliac Disease "?

[Saltwater in reply to thyr01d]

I don't think it is fact as such but there is certainly a higher incidence of auto immune conditions occurring together and within families. My daughter has type 1 diabetes as well as hashimotos and my son is coeliac. The clinic regularly screens them for other autoimmune conditions, particularly each others because they say that there is an increased risk of getting other conditions when you already have one. Some people consider that the gene responsible for the occurrence of a single auto immune disease can trigger the occurrence of another. There are 3 autoimmune conditions in my household shared by 3 of us. I have one, my son has one and my daughter has 2.

Around 25 percent of those with an autoimmune disease have a likelihood of developing other autoimmune diseases. Study is still ongoing but it does seem to be that there is an increased risk of developing other autoimmune conditions, but I think it can also depend on the type of autoimmune condition you have as I think some are more closely linked to others.

There are about 20 genes associated with autoimmune diseases and one gene can be linked to several conditions. It is plausible that it is the same gene that caused all three of the conditions in my household. Not fact, but plausible, which is why they say that these conditions run in families, but of course, there is sometimes an environmental trigger for the disease which in my case was likely chronic stress caused by addiction.

Many people go through their whole lives with just the one autoimmune condition, but others may have a particularly susceptible gene pool and develop several, either in the same person or in the same family. It depends on the person so there is no single rule for whether you get them or not which makes the study difficult to quantify.

Have a look at this article, it may be of interest for you.

health.usnews.com/health-ca...

[thyr01d in reply to Saltwater]

Thanks Saltwater for this explanation, it's what they call 'familial tendency' then, we have one of those diseases in our family too but so far in 4 generations and looking at cousins' families too it has only appeared once, luckily.

[Saltwater in reply to thyr01d]

Yes, it's funny because I never knew the conditions were so prevalent in my extended family until they started cropping up in my own. I have an aunt and a cousin with Coeliac also and 2 aunts with Hashimotos. My dad is from an Irish family and has 6 brothers and 5 sisters in case you were wondering about all the aunts! :)My grandma was also diabetic and my dad and his mother have rheumatoid arthritis. (think I spelled that right!)

I don't know about down the line in terms of ancestry but in living relatives, we are a pretty complex autoimmune lot!

My dad also struggled with gambling too when he was younger. I guess he passed me down all the good stuff....dodgy joints and genes and debt to go with it!

[thyr01d in reply to Saltwater]

What an inheritance! Sense of humour too at least

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Looking at previous posts you recently started adding T3 alongside Levothyroxine

You need to get FULL Thyroid and vitamin testing 6-8 weeks after being on constant unchanging dose

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .

Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

If/when also on T3, make sure to take last dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random

Typically T3 is started EXTREMELY slowly. 2 x 5mcg per day. Often with 25mcg drop in Levothyroxine. But Levothyroxine dose does depend on how high FT4 levels were before starting on any T3

All four vitamins need to be optimal

With Hashimoto's many of us find strictly gluten free diet helps or is essential

[Angel_of_the_North]

It's not called Hashimotos in the UK, but autoimmune thyroid disease - what you want is TPO and TG antibodies tested along with TSH, free T4 and free T3. You can also get an ultrasound for thyroid nodules