I'm new here, so apologies if I don't go about this in quite the right way! And I know you folks probably get a gazillion questions like this, but I just can't seem to get decent advice anywhere else.
So... I had a traumatic experience a couple of years ago. Things are fine now, but since that time I have started to get 'flare-ups' that seem very Hashimoto's-like to me. At these points my weight shoots up, I retain water, my eyes get hot and puffy, my hair falls out loads, I feel extremely achy and tired with sore hip joints and my brain is foggy. I feel exhausted even after a full night's sleep, my menstrual cycle has gone wonky and exercise doesn't help either. A few stressful days at work are enough to set this process off.
Anyway, I did a bunch of tests and, predictably, they say I am PERFECTLY FINE. Here are the labs:
TSH 1.54 mlU/L (range 0.27-4.2)
FT4 16.9 pmol/l (range 12-22)
FT3 4.5 pmol/L (range 3.1-6.8)
At that point I didn't know about TPOs but I tested again a year later, without much joy:
TSH 0.98 mlU/L (range 0.22-5.04)
FT4 17.6 pmol/L (range 11.1-22.66)
FT3 4.77 pmol/L (range 2.64-7.14)
Thyroglobulin Antibodies <10 klU/L (range 0-115)
TPO Antibodies <9klU/L (range 0-34)
So apparently there are antibodies there, but the test doesn't tell me how many. Some functional medicine practitioners seem to say that even small numbers of antibodies are a sign that there's an issue, but others don't agree.
I am 43. Could this just be perimenopause? I don't get hot flashes or anything like that. Or alternatively, am I just making the whole thing up? My doctor insists I'm just depressed even though I am adamant I'm not feeling down, just unwell. I'm not in pain or anything, but this morning, despite sleeping for 8 hours, I feel like I've been hit by a truck: exhausted, aching all over and generally hung over, as though I've had a bottle of wine (I don't drink except in very small amounts).
Any help / suggestions very gratefully received.
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TNR10
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Oh, good answer! Thank you. I'm vegan - I do take vegan multivitamins that include lots of B12. I haven't had my vitamin etc levels tested cos I'm kind of running low on funds with doing all of this through private companies.
If you are vegan then I would consider vitamin d testing / supplementing. It is probably in your multi vit, but I think only occurs in mushrooms in a vegan diet, so it would be a challenge to get enough in winter, for example, without a tablet!
Not strictly, but as gluten has never agreed with me much I tend to steer clear of it. I'd never have a big bowl of pasta or a toastie, for example. But I'm not blessed with great willpower so there are definitely occasional bits of toast etc.
I was dx coeliac in Nov - I would say it was my main symptom off then more on for at least 2yrs prior to dx. Always worse when I didn't get enough sleep. I think you might want to rule it out.
There are so many complicated ways to be completely knackered, aren't there?! I obsess about the idea that maybe one day someone will just come along and say 'Take the blue pill' and then it will all be fine...
'I feel like I've been hit by a truck: exhausted, aching all over and generally hung over, as though I've had a bottle of wine (I don't drink except in very small amounts).'
Vegetarian and vegan diets are often high in carbohydrates and sugars. The symptoms you describe could be caused by such a diet, causing fermentation in the gut. Here are a couple of links that might be of interest.
You're definitely right about that, but I'm pretty sure sugar / carbs aren't the issue. I'm not a hardcore vegan and am more than capable of mainlining chocolate at certain times of the month, but I don't really eat pasta / cereal / muesli bars / cake that much, and I don't have an especially sweet tooth. Also, this whole business started before I turned vegan - I actually did it because I thought it might help!
Conventional doctors have no understanding about candida. Someone I know was diagnosed with MS, spent fifteen years getting progressively worse, ended up in a wheelchair etc. Someone pointed her at this book and it turned her life around. smile.amazon.co.uk/Candida-...
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