What could it be?

[Murphysmum]

So for most of this year I’ve been grand. Still a little under replaced on T3 up until around April/may and grand ever since. Completed couch to 5k, back doing daily 5/6 walks, motivated, energetic, symptom free.

Until around 6 weeks ago. I’ve posted recently asking why my levels seemed to go all over the place. With hindsight, I had tried to restart the 5:2 diet which worked well for me years ago and my levels had plummeted. My bad.

I got back on track again but I’m still suffering. I suspect I’m firmly in peri menopause as I have other symptoms related to that but I wondered if anyone else had had issues they maybe thought were thyroid related that then weren’t!

I cannot shift the muscle weakness just now. It’s awful. During the night I get very uncomfortable as my hips get achey and sore. I’m not sleeping well either so this isn’t helping. My motivation and energy levels are rock bottom. I cannot concentrate and the brain fog is worse than ever. I have two or three days a month when I feel awesome, I could conquer the world and then the next day I drop off a cliff and cannot get off the sofa. Very, very unlike me.

I’m beginning to wonder if a lot of these symptoms were female hormone related all along? Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have thyroid issues and I definitely needed T3. My life would be very different without it.

But I’m certain that my very low levels of thyroid hormones messed up my female hormones - so much so that I used progesterone cream and then a herbal remedy until recently - and now on nothing all these symptoms reappear.

Has anyone else combined peri/menopause? How did it affect you and how did you fix it? And what might happen to my T3 replacement if for example I was offered hrt or similar?

Sorry for the very long post.., I really want to seek help for this but I’m not realising seeing a gp about it for various reasons! I want to be clear what to expect

Thank you 😊

[Murphysmum]

Just like to add I have symptoms of estrogen dominance too, though they’re not as bad as they were a couple of years ago thanks to using the pg cream. I suspect their coming to the fore again since I stopped.

[london81 in reply to Murphysmum]

i can’t help as i’m on the same journey/symptoms - have a look at my post re: oestrogen dominance & progesteone insufficiency. i think some of my problems in this regard overlap with my hashimotos. i just received progesterone cream to try when i get to day 10 of my cycle, and i’m reducing my ndt as my free t3 recently went over range which may be because i started working on my inflammation & vitamins more & went gluten free.

i think there is a complicated overlap and i’m not sure i have much understanding yet - i was getting extremely bad PMT, and my weight keeps going up despite a calorie controlled diet & regular exercise, and it seemed my hormones were working against me. i did the medichecks day 3 test then the regenerus day 21, cortisol & dhea saliva test. expensive!! they helped me identify the deficiencies but also reassured me my cortisol isn’t too bad, so at least i know where to start.

was there a reason you stopped the progesterone cream?

[Murphysmum in reply to london81]

Ooh, well we can compare and contrast then!

I only stopped the pg cream because (although I knew fine I have the symptoms) I felt a bit nervous that the gp said I didn’t need it, so once I was back feeling well with regard to my thyroid levels I wondered if everything else would sort itself out too. Wrong!!

My progesterone levels and symptoms were definitely helped by the cream whilst my testosterone has I suspect always been an issue. I didn’t test for it until around august but I’ve been struggling to maintain muscle or build any all the time I’ve had thyroid issues. Again I kind of thought it might pick up again once I was optimally treated which I’m confident I am with regards to my T3.

I have no cortisol issues either but have never checked dhea. Maybe the gp will be so kind... 🤔

The definitely is a very complicated overlap snd like you, I’ve a long way to go in understanding it. Partially, this makes me confident I’m in the right track as to the source of my continuing issues but it also makes me nervous I might mess up any progress to this point.... and that was a long and not easy journey!

[london81 in reply to Murphysmum]

my GP was disinterested in the cortisol and dhea, and pretty disinterested in the hormone stuff too. she is really nice, and was helping within her level of resources and knowledge i felt, however offered me the pill or anti depressants neither of which i wanted. i understand the saliva cortisol is regarded as superior the nhs check morning cortisol only i believe. the endo did this for my sister and told her it was “ fine” and suggested chronic fatigue ( she has hashimotos, had a goitre & is much better now on NDT although the cost is crippling her).

i believe whole heartedly that my progesterone deficiency is the root cause of my mood swings , huge bloating/water retention and fatigue around my period. i didn’t realise at first as my periods were regular and my mum doesn’t have period/hormone issues, and went through menopause later in life. however as i get older and look into things more i realise my genes are much stronger from dads side- his sister is just like me and their side have hashimotos, and all the related stuff like skin, weight, gut issues!!

anyway i don’t feel mainstream medicine really understand female sex hormones at all, you obviously felt better on the cream so why the GP said that i don’t know!! magsyh commenter on my post about this issue she might be able to signpost you to websites or info?

i’m seeing a private endo next week i’ll let you know if he has any thoughts on this. i’ll also let you know of the cream helps! i got biovea which one to you use?

also- The medichecks test (day 3 ) looked at testosterone, it was £80 and the regenerus one was £180. expensive but if you can afford maybe worth it ( although as i said my GP didn’t really pay much regard, but that’s because the nhs is focused on acute not chronic illness in my opinion!). the tests are good for our records though and to get used to understanding our hormones which take us on one hell of a ride!

[london81 in reply to Murphysmum]

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

i thought you might be interested in this article

[Murphysmum in reply to london81]

Thanks 😊

[Thenightowl]

I'm pretty sure I'm in peri, and more Thyroid and hormone tests booked for tomorrow. Trying to work out how the results will be affected by it.

I hope you find some answers.