I am certain my thyroid is not functioning as it should but keep being turned away by my GP. I had a partial removal of my thyroid due to a benign growth 25 years ago. Hysterectomy in 2012 and have been unwell since 2015. Was under gastroentology for years due to right quadrant pain, diagnosed with IBS-c due to chronic constipation. Thinning hair, periods of extreme lethargy, depression and recently throat dryness and throbbing. I’ve also gone from 9stone in 2015 to nearly 11 stone right now. My most recent tests last week.
Free T4 7.9 TSH 1.12 GP says this is normal. My levels have steadily decreased since 2014. I also have abnormal serum cholesterol 6.1. And serum triglycerides 2.7 tested Oct 2019 this has been persistently high for 3 years. These are the only abnormal markers on my blood tests. I experience chronic hip pain, and muscle weakness particularly on waking. My symptoms seem to come and go.... I go from bouts of feeling terrible for about a month then I start to feel better and things improve. I’m on a particularly bad bout and have just had a thyroid ultrasound due to feeling of swelling where it was noted I have several small, usually left untreated nodules. I have a telephone consultation with my new GP - (new surgery due to house move.) on Friday to discuss the scan but I get the feeling she is going to say it’s all ok. I’m considering private testing with a full screening. Any comments or advice would be welcome.
Written by
K-Star
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
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
Ask GP to test vitamin levels and thyroid antibodies as well as TSH, Ft4 and Ft3
You may need to get full Thyroid testing privately as NHS refuses to test TG antibodies if TPO antibodies are negative
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 .
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
Hysterectomy in 2012 and have been unwell since 2015. Was under gastroentology for years due to right quadrant pain, diagnosed with IBS-c due to chronic constipation.
Your pain could be caused by scarring and adhesions following surgery. It can be helped (if you're very lucky) with surgery to free up adhesions. But if you're unlucky then further surgery could cause more adhesions and scarring and end up making you feel worse than ever. As a result of this doctors are extremely reluctant to do anything about scarring and adhesions and getting treatment is rare.
Unfortunately, scarring and adhesions don't show up on ultrasound, X-Ray, CT scan or MRI scan, unless the damaged tissue is extremely dense. And also many doctors think scarring and adhesions can't be that serious and can't really cause that much pain because they can't see the evidence with any kind of test or scan. (The attitude being if they can't detect it it doesn't exist.) I've often thought many doctors have no empathy and absolutely no imagination.
The other problem with scarring and adhesions is that, if you think of the gut as a tube which goes from mouth to anus, doctors always concentrate their testing on the inside of the tube. They seem to forget or ignore the fact that the tube has an outside. If the bowel is pulled or distorted as a result of scarring and adhesions it will mean that nerves, muscles, and blood vessels that supply the bowel cannot function as they should. A slight reduction in blood flow to the bowel could cause lots of pain, for example.
As you might guess from what I've written, I have personal experience of all this. I was diagnosed multiple times with IBS. I did get surgery (nearly 20 years ago) for adhesions. It fixed one problem and introduced another, although I was lucky and the new problem wasn't as severe as the original problem, so it was worth it from my point of view.
Some of the things that have helped me :
1) Going 100% gluten-free - absolutely no cheating. Benefits for my gut took a long time to become clear, but I absorb iron slightly better now than I used to. My temper and my mood both improved too and those benefits showed up in just a few days.
2) Experiment with your fibre intake. I used to take a fibre supplement called psyllium seed husk. After a few years I developed a very large polyp. I don't know for certain whether the polyp and the high dose of fibre I was swallowing have any connection, but I've reduced my intake of fibre now quite dramatically because I think they probably were related.
3) You may find this video of interest. The speaker in the video, Dr Paul Mason, is one of my favourite speakers on health. If you search Youtube for "Paul Mason fibre" (or fiber) he has discussed the subject two or three times.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Started Levothyroxine 25mg on Sunday and I feel *awful* 
Feeling awful. Thyroid?
Feel awful all the time 
Normal blood tests but I feel awful. 
