I am new here and have been reading through some of the posts and feel so happy to have found this website and forum! Everyone is so helpful to each other, it's lovely.
I was diagnosed with 'borderline' hypothyroid in 2014 but the Doctor at the time brushed it off as if it was nothing so I didn't investigate. I was really healthy with exercise and eating habits so just carried on. Ever since I feel a slow decline in my health to the point where I don't leave the house for days or weeks due to feeling so bad.
I had blood tests with my NHS doctor in January this year and they said my results were 'a little low but nothing to worry about' and my many symptoms are in my 'head' and to look at meditation, breathing exercises and possibly anti-depressants.
I have felt so confused with my thinking process and concentration out the window that I just took their word for it. So I tried meditation and breathing and all kinds of holistic practices such as Chinese medicine & acupuncture, Ayurveda, fasting, vitamins etc. but they only seem to help relieve the symptoms for a few days at a time then I am back to square one.
A nutritionist mentioned to me that I really should look into my thyroid as I have every single symptom. I have since had 'Thyroid Check adv + RT3' and 'Comprehensive + VIP' with Blue Horizon at Spire health care, which I am due the results for tomorrow (16 days for RT3). I also have a doctors appointment booked with a new NHS doctor next week.
I feel very isolated and alone with feeling so sick and I feel so desperate to try anything to feel better. Is there any advice anyone can give me before I see my new Doctor? I don't want to be fobbed off again. I know it is not depression itself, the sickness itself makes me feel depressed.
A few weeks ago, I tried some vitamins from designs for health (b-supreme) and they gave me such a boost for 3 days I thought I got my life back and I felt so happy....then I went downhill again and I feel gutted! My depression vanished for that short time and I felt so 'normal', I just want that feeling back.
Please may anyone help give me some hope or direction of where to go from here?
I am a 36year old female, weight gain and no amount of diet or exercise works and now any exercise makes me bed ridden for days. Swollen neck and difficulty swallowing, extreme tiredness, loss of hair on lower part of legs, head hair loss + very dry, eye floaters, confusion, struggle with short-term memory, slurred speech and slow talking and movements, feel like I am out of my own body, feel like spiders crawling on my skin, itchy skin, hot torso but cold hand and feet, bleeding gums, ridges on nails, anxiety, depression, agitated, feel like my whole body is constantly tense and only relief is sleep but I take a while to fall asleep and wake up around 2am being wide awake, breathlessness, low blood pressure, dizzy, fainting spells, look pregnant with swollen stomach, constipation, struggle to digest most foods, plus many more symptoms which feels never ending.
Sorry for the long post, I feel like I need to get it out my system and to try and make sense of what is going on.
Thank you for reading x
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Singinginthewind
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I had blood tests with my NHS doctor in January this year and they said my results were 'a little low but nothing to worry about' and my many symptoms are in my 'head'
Well, it would be interesting to know how "low" your results were. Please ring the surgery and ask for a print out of all your thyroid test results that have ever been done. In the UK we are legally entitled to our results without questionor charge.
In England some surgeries have online access to results, so check this out and register for it if it's offered. If not then get a print out, never accept verbal or hand written results (mistakes can be made). We always need printed results and the reference ranges (which vary from lab to lab) will be on the print out as well. If they say it will take a while to get all the old tests, say you would like just the latest ones for now and will wait for the others.
Once you have results, post them on the forum and include reference ranges.
As for symptoms being in your head, unfortunately it is very common for doctors to blame mental health rather than thyroid, they are either very ignorant about thyroid disease, or lump all females together as being pre/post/menopausal, and/or hypochondriacs, or maybe they get rewarded for diagnosing mental health conditions and prescribing anti depressants.
So, once we see your results/ranges we can comment further and give you some guidance on how to go forward with your appointment next week.
That's really kind of you, thank you SeasideSusie.
Looking back now, I can't believe how much I just trusted the Dr's word and never tried to investigate the results myself. I could have saved so much time. I will call them today and request the results. I have changed Dr's twice since 2014 original diagnoses so I hope it is all there for them to get hold of.
I will get onto them for the results and go from there. This is giving me hope that I can actually do something. Thank you again
It is more than likely the correct testing was not done in the beginning. I would head straight to the main website of this Forum and sign up for Private Testing with Medichecks or Blue Horizon. Testing kits sent to your home and results by email. Used by 1000's on this Forum both for diagnosis and monitoring dose. thyroiduk.org
The tests required are :- TSH - FT4 - FT3 - Antibodies TPO & Tg. For comparison the NHS will only test the TSH and occasionally the FT4 - so the most important FT3 is very rarely done - SIGH !
Also B12 - FOLATE - FERRITIN & VITD should be tested - if any are low in range then they too can make you feel very unwell. Being Hypo can be the cause of nutrient deficiencies due to poor absorption.
Hope you soon find some answers and begin to feel stronger .... 🌼
Even without knowing the actual results from 2014 and January.. it's a reasonable assumption that one of your thyroid blood results must have been slightly out of range. GP's usually don't say 'borderline' when a result is just inside the range ... they invariably would say 'normal' for that .
It is most likely that it was the TSH(Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) that was ' borderline' .. because that is the one they always test first.. (and quite often they don't test the actual thyroid hormone (fT4) if the TSH is in range)
I know from personal experience that a TSH that is only very slightly over range can be accompanied by very limiting symptoms .. my TSH was only 5.7 , then 6.8 {0.36 -4.1].. which many GP's would say was 'borderline' .. however my life had been more and more of a struggle to manage over the previous 4 yrs . (My actual thyroid hormone ,T4 was still in range)
If the GP hadn't also decided to test my thyroid antibodies and found them to be extremely high, i suspect i'd have been sent away with 'borderline, nothing to see here' for many more years instead of given Levothyroxine at that point.... But that was just good luck .... i'm pretty sure i'd have been struggling with just as many hypothyroid symptoms even if my antibodies didn't happen to be so astonishingly high at the point they happened to be tested )
In case it helps ... these extracts from your post describe EXACTLY what i felt like for 4 yrs before i was diagnosed aged 37 .. and i'm pretty sure if i'd had any thyroid blood test's during that time i would have been described as 'borderline' too.
" I was really healthy with exercise and eating habits ..... Ever since I feel a slow decline in my health .....(told) my many symptoms are in my 'head' and to look at meditation, breathing exercises and possibly anti-depressants.... I have felt so confused with my thinking process and concentration out the window that I just took their word for it. So I tried meditation and breathing and all kinds of holistic practices such as Chinese medicine & acupuncture, Ayurveda, fasting, vitamins etc. but they only seem to help relieve the symptoms for a few days at a time then I am back to square one .... don't want to be fobbed off again. I know it is not depression itself, the sickness itself makes me feel depressed......and now any exercise makes me bed ridden for days ..... extreme tiredness, loss of hair on lower part of legs, head hair loss + very dry, eye floaters, confusion, struggle with short-term memory, slurred speech and slow talking and movements .......only relief is sleep but I take a while to fall asleep and wake up around 2am being wide awake .......... constipation...... plus many more symptoms which feels never ending."
Thankyou Tattybogle 🌸 I am sorry you felt that way too. Can I ask how you feel now you have been diagnosed and taken medication? Hopefully you have relief and feel better.
Hey there, I’m new here too so I don’t have much advice to offer but I felt every bit of your post. I’ve just had a brain scan and ultrasound because my hormones are all over the place for years…. I’ve refused anti-depressants because I know it is only masking the underlying problems. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year too because of the mental fog, lack of concentration and head like a sieve. I thought I was losing my mind… even left my very good job in case it was burn out.
Weight gain, huge boobs, always look hungover, no energy to even go for a walk, blurred vision, eye floaters. Have B12 and iron deficiency anaemia too - started some vitamins - but had to source some high strength iron myself because GP didn’t think it was an issue.
Thyroid is low but not outside acceptable limits on a normal blood test.
I feel your desperation - I’m sure no one knows how badly you feel on the inside. Hang in there and we’ll figure out a way through this period together
Thank you Jogger24 🌸 I am sorry you feel so bad too. Have you had any results from your brain scan and ultrasound? Have you tried any private tests? I hope you get some answers soon. It's so frustrating when you know your own body and know something isn't right and just want answers to be able to help yourself. I pray you get some answers and relief. We will get there x
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested.
Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s or Ord’s thyroiditis)
Low vitamin levels common as we get older too
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)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins
If TPO or TG thyroid antibodies are high this is usually due to Hashimoto’s (commonly known in UK as autoimmune thyroid disease). Ord’s is autoimmune without goitre.
About 90% of all primary hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto’s. Low vitamin levels are particularly common with Hashimoto’s.
Medics frequently sail by the seat of their pants when they treat thyroid disease because they are badly educated and have no thyroid experience.
The real experts are here, members live with the disease and have learned how to cope with issues that medics disregard.
SlowDragon has given you excellent info re private testing once you have the results of a full thyroid test post them here and members will help you to proceed.
Most of us arrived here as you have done, wrongly diagnosed, poorly treated and feeling totally rubbish
A few weeks ago, I tried some vitamins from designs for health (b-supreme)
The only advice I can give you that others haven't is that taking nutrients is not something you can do haphazardly. First of all, you need nutrients tested to know what to take and how much. Then, you need advice on when to take what and what can be taken together and what can't. Supplements will only make you feel better if you need them. But, supplements on their own can't do much without good levels of thyroid hormone - and thyroid hormone can't do much without good levels of nutrients. The two are interconnected.
So, you'll know more when you get your lab results back - I take it nutrients were included in the bundle?
Just a word to the wise, totally useless testing rT3. It's expensive, takes ages to get results, and won't tell you anything you can find out for the other tests. So, I wouldn't ever bother to do it again, if I were you.
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