Does anyone suffer with extreme calf leg pain, pins and needles throughout body, muscle twitching , dizziness, feeling sick,
my legs gave way last week on the stairs last week and i fell to my knees. Shook me up.
Gp has done basic bloods and TSH was 1.04.
no other thyroid tests. Have gone private for additional bloods. Awaiting results.
can you have normal tsh and still have thyroid problems?
I wonder if you need a DDimer test to rule out dvt if you have extreme calf leg pain? Did you hurt / bump your leg when you fell?
i should have said no DVT, GP sent me for that first before doing bloods.
I also paid to have mri on leg too as was so worried about pain and nothing seen.
Gp my leg was muscle strain, but it does not feel like that at all. The pain is worse sitting and when walking is better. Has been there since September.
The tiredness after two hours out I just want to sleep. Some days it feels like a bad hangover. My hair is falling out, itching feet and head.
You mention Glandular fever (Ebstien Barr Virus) in your profile
EBV is often a trigger for autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto’s
Hashimoto’s frequently starts with transient hyperthyroid results and symptoms before becoming increasingly hypothyroid
Essential to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 too as well as thyroid
About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease, usually diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies
Autoimmune thyroid disease with goitre is Hashimoto’s
Autoimmune thyroid disease without goitre is Ord’s thyroiditis.
Both are autoimmune and generally called Hashimoto’s.
Low vitamin levels are extremely common when hypothyroid, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s or Ord’s thyroiditis)
20% of autoimmune thyroid patients never have high thyroid antibodies and ultrasound scan of thyroid can get diagnosis
In U.K. medics hardly ever refer to autoimmune thyroid disease as Hashimoto’s (or Ord’s thyroiditis)
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am
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
List of private testing options and money off codes
thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...
Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins
medichecks.com/products/adv...
Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins
bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...
Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.
Watch out for postal strikes, probably want to pay for guaranteed 24 hours delivery
Link about thyroid blood tests
thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...
Link about Hashimoto’s
thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...
Symptoms of hypothyroidism
EBV and Hashimoto’s
thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...
drhedberg.com/epstein-barr-...
Yes, I was diagnosed with a TSH of 0.49 and it had been like that for at least 8 years. My FT3 and FT4 were mid range, but fluctuated, and I didn't have antibodies in any of the tests that were carried out over a number of years.
My symptoms included, among many other things, muscle pain, stiffness and twitching, muscle weakness, dizziness and nausea. I had a history of EBV in my 20s and chicken pox in my 30s.
I was diagnosed by Dr Skinner, who believed there was a link between EBV, chicken pox, and thyroid problems. T4 alone helped somewhat, but I needed T3 to recover and feel almost normal again.
Your situation may be very different from mine, but bear in mind that a doctor who goes only by the TSH level may not be the best one for you. I do hope that the tests you've ordered privately give a clearer picture of what's going on 
Hi. Have you considered Magnesium for the leg cramp. I suffered dreadfully with leg cramp in my feet, calfs and had restless legs and thought it was my meds. After years of back and forth to my GP and various suggestions/ prescriptions and Thyroid function tests, a sports therapist recommended Magnesium. I now take in combination 2 tabs daily of Megnesium Glycinate, Sterate and Malate with D3 and Zinc from Bettervits and I haven't looked back . Helps with sleep and concentration too. I also did a allergy test using my hair follicle and this showed that I was depleted in Magnesium and B12. Shame my GP hadn't considered this, it would have saved me a lot of pain and anguish. Hope this helps. 🙂
How much magnesium do you take? I was taking 500mg but was worried about whether this was too much.
I take 225mg x2 daily.If I've done a lot of exercise I take an additional 225mg. When I reduced them to only one a day my leg cramp returned. Hope this helps.
Hi GoldieSAS, because of your symptoms, it might be worth having your cortisol tested to rule out adrenal issues.
Yes I did wonder. Do you use the same private companies that do blood tests for this.
Sorry I don't, my daughter was tested in an NHS hospital.
hopefully your recent bloods will shed a bit of light.
Yes, you can have 'normal' TSH and still have thyroid problems - as in central/secondary hypo, but also if pituitary/hypothalamus is downregulated such as in CFS or fibro or with/after EBV.... But some of this possibly sounds like B12/folate and especially for B12, serum alone will not give you enough information to rule out a deficiency, so don't discount it too soon. See what your results tell you and come back! Cheers
In my personal experience, I’ve had overall myalgia, muscle weakness, and neuropathy symptoms in my feet, calves and sometimes hand since diagnosed with Hypo in the mid 90’s. These and other symptoms are worse when my TSH is high, also frequently a problem when labs are within normal limits. Lack of sleep or movement exacerbate symptoms.
I’ve taken Neurontin, Gabapentin, Lexapro, Cymbalta, Tranadol to reduce the issues. I ultimately stopped because so much medication is unhealthy and I’m not aspiring as a wizened zombie.
What has improved my personal health is to hydrate, take large doses of B complex also sublingual B12; I take vitamin d, a calcium, magnesium, zinc supplement, digestive enzymes; cbg, cbd and THCA (non- psychoactive) helps; stretching and walking are immeasurably helpful. Best to you on your journey.
You can have a perfect TSH and still have symptoms. I've had several 'normal' to very low TSH results. Fortunately when having them on the NHS I've managed to get FT4 and FT3 levels done as well. I'm lucky as most don't. My TSH has been very low on occasion, my GP is probably clutching his pearls, but my FT4 and FT3 were really poor as well.
My last NHS test in June showed TSH of 0.22 ref 0.27 to 4.2
FT4 13 range 12_22
FT3 3.6, range 3.1 to 6.8.
Doctor wasnt bothered by low hormone levels so no further action taken. So what I'm saying in a very long winded way is TSH levels often don't correlate with the actual thyroid hormone levels. You can have low TSH levels and low thyroid hormone levels as well. This is a running theme for many of us.
Several of your symptoms suggest nutrient deficiencies to me.
Hair loss is common in thyroid disease and with low iron and/or ferritin (iron stores).
See the symptom list in this link :
thewayup.com/newsletters/08...
Other nutrients which could be related to hair loss :
discover.hubpages.com/healt...
See this link on deficiencies common in thyroid disease :
thyroiduk.org/role-of-vitam...
And compare the two lists to see which ones they both mention.
Pins and Needles
Could be low B12 and/or low folate.
b12deficiency.info/signs-an...
b12deficiency.info/folate-b...
Calf and leg pain Could be due to cramp, muscle twitching, tics, and/or benign fasciculations. (I see your doctor has eliminated DVT as a possibility.)
youtube.com/watch?v=oVuJKuq...
Cramp and associated symptoms could be caused by low magnesium, low iron, low potassium, low vitamin D, low sodium.
Low magnesium is very common, with or without thyroid disease. However magnesium testing is extremely unreliable. If your kidneys functions reasonably well then supplementing magnesium (but skip the testing) is a good idea because excess will be excreted in urine. There are probably hundreds of posts on this forum which mention magnesium, so do a search.
Low iron is very common. It can be increased with iron supplements. But since excess is dangerous it is essential to test it before considering supplementing. An iron panel is the best test :
medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...
thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...
Vitamin D gets mentioned on the forum a huge amount too, so search the forum for info on that.
If you want to experiment with potassium and sodium (salt) these are good links to read that suggest how to do that safely :
stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...
Low FT4 - FT3 and TSH in normal range
Can Someone be in the normal TSH range but still be suffering from Hypothyroidism
I need a normal TSH test.
Normal range blood test!
The Normal TSH Reference Range: What Has Changed in the Last Decade?
