Old fashioned tests

[JAmanda]

Followed a link from here to the old fashioned way of diagnosing hypothyroidism - Woltman’s sign testing for slow ankle reflex - and found it interesting.

I’d post links here but the app won’t let me - anyway you can Google videos of how to do it and what it is.

So as I was going to the dr this morning I thought I’d ask him to test me. He laughed at me - as usual - and said oh that’s a hundred years out of date we use blood tests now! Anyway he did as I asked. “So?”, I said. “Well I guess you want me to tell you your reflexes are fast but in fact they abnormally slow!”

“Huh”, I said “that’s interesting.” Guess my meds are still not quite right! In better news my average body temperature has gone up from 34.5 to 35.8 - so on another old fashioned test for hypothyroidism I do seem to be improving.

[nellie237]

I wonder if your GP will now use that? You managed to see a GP face to face..WOW

[tattybogle]

after getting a couple of slightly raised TSH's, an NHS GP did this ankle reflex return test on me (in 2003 , and he was only about 40 ).....the result was what changed his mind from offering me antidepressants to sending off for TPOab which came back at >3000 .... . I wasn't overweight .. i didn't 'look' Hypothyroid . If it wasn't for this test i don't think i'd have been treated for several more years .

[tattybogle in reply to tattybogle]

Just so it's clear .. it's not the reflexes that become slow... they stay the same BUT it is the 'return phase' that is slower than it should be.

here's a link :-

litfl.com/woltman-sign/

[JAmanda in reply to tattybogle]

Actually my Endo had tapped my ankles when I was first diagnosed but he didn't explain why - it was probably your posts that led me to look. I do find it quite interesting as my numbers look ok now but I still have issues with my muscles - hopefully I'll continue to improve and if not I'll try Ndt or pure T3 or something.