hello everyone .im 38 years old with underactive since 2012 taking levothyroxine 100mg a day but im still suffering . symptoms never gone . insomnia .never slept more than 3 hours a night . brain fog. fatigue . anxiety . this is my latest blood result . any recommendations . many thanks
Normal range
TSH 0.17 0.27-4.2 mIU/L
FT4 22.8 12.0-22.0 pmol/L
FT3 4.8 3.1-6.8 pmol/L
FT4/FT3 4.75 2.0-4.05 HIGH
TG Antibodies 17.3 0-115 IU/ml < 35 OPTIMAL
TPO Antibodies 16.5 0-34 IU/ml < 35 OPTIMAL
Vitamin D 60. Normal 50 - 175
B12 - Active 55 37.5-188 pmol/L NORMAL
Ferritin. 118. ⚦ 25-300 ng/ml
l
Serum Folate 4.8 >2.9 Ug/L NORMAL
hs-CRP <0.3 0.00 - 5.00 mg/L < 1 OPTIMAL
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adam84
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How long before the test did you take your last dose of thyroid meds?
It could possibly be an adrenal issue - you can end up in a vicious cicle where you can't sleep because your cortisol is too high and then your cortisol is too high the next day because you haven't slept kind of thing - or just started when you were ill/undermedicated and the vicious cycle never got better. This can cause all your above symptoms and obviously three hours sleep a night is going to cause havoc with your autonomic nervous system so could be partially that too - no one is going to survive well or feel good on only three hours sleep. You can test this with cortisal saliva testing minimum of four times throughout a 24 hour period.
Basically anything that is missing from your body or in deficit (including low thyroid), your adrenals will kick in and increase cortisol/adrenalin to keep you going/functioning. This can be from not enough sleep, not enough food/calories and made worse if excercising, too many stimulants, nutritional deficiency and so on. It can also mess with your blood glucose levels and cause high/lows.
Because of this vicious cycle, it's hard and slow to get it to come back down but these will help:
ensuring you eat enough food to cover your actual calorie requirements (many hugely underestimate the calories they actually require)
no caffeine or reducing it to mornings only
Ensuring you drink enough Water
Limiting alcohol use if drinking a little too much for better sleep
Regular exercise is important but don't over exercise
No blue light from screens before bed - read a book
If sugar levels out of kilter (excessive highs/lows), you can try and eat a less sugary/high carb diet and eat smaller meals twice as often to help balance sugar levels again - obviously healthy and balanced diet is best to ensure you're getting all the vitamins and micronutrients you need.
Some of your vit levels could do with bumping up a little but others here can give you better advice on what to take etc.
I normally find the above is enough to resolve the issue if done long enough and stop feeling as anxious but if not, consider how you can improve stress management. If still no luck in resetting, I find a camping trip with no electric hook up completely resets my sleep lol!
Anyway, have a think whether it sounds like anything above might apply to you?
On a side note, I had a autoimmune sleep disorder with bad brain fog until I quit gluten so also worth considering this (and other intolerances) if you have other digestive symptoms or constant deficiencies etc and nothing else seems to work. I didn't have my first proper nights sleep until I was in my mid thirties so know how you must feel.
Hope you feel better soon but let me know if you need any further details, Sarah
i have done the test in the morning 9:30 . so its like 20 hours after my last dose of levo i think that's all doctors recommend .
actually i don't know what to do i feel like i'm stuck in a forest . my cortisol is in normal range . level of sugar is optimal and i'm doing everything right
i don't drink alcohol no smoking no caffeine no sweets no junk food .
im drinking enough water more than 2L a day
healthy food and only organic
i quit gluten almost one year now which make me feel better
im practicing yoga every day
i don't have any serious stress or pressure in my life
more than 10 years of suffering with no solution. GP doesn't help and it's hard to find a good specialist. who can show you the right way to follow
So you're doing a lot correctly/perfectly already then plus your inflammatory markers are nice and low.
Just to check a few things - have you actually checked to see if you are getting enough calories and calculated it properly?
What cortisol test did you do - was it the one off blood test just in the morning perhaps or 4/6 times over a day with saliva?
So I'm assuming you were about to take your next dose of thyroid meds? If so, you could be slightly over medicated? Your T4 levels are over range and TSH under range (I'm assuming you know what that means but let me know if not) and you were about to take more. meaning you could be a bit hyperthyroid all day. I feel more fatigue when slightly over medicated than when hypo because my body is working faster than it should and I crash but also can't sleep and feel jittery/anxious etc. Have you always made these healthy lifestyle choices or was it different before? If since you became hypothyroid, this can often result in a need to decrease your dose - I had to decrease my dose by 50% once gluten free and other health/digestive issues and deficiencies were finally resolved. Personally, I would try and decrease my dose (normally by 25mcg) and then retest in a couple of months and see how you feel on that.
Your thyroid antibodies are indicating normal so no indication at this point that you are auto-immune (although not always the case). Can I ask the circumstances of when you were started on thyroid meds? What were your results back then?
im taking levothyroxine since 2012 in 2020 when i start to do my own research and quit gluten i start to feel much better than before .but like alcohol and caffeine i quit them since 2013 . my dose 100 mg since 2015 never changed . doctor start with me 150mg and decreased to 125 mg and 100mg until today
i think my nutrition is good. its mix of Veg and fruits and fish meat and good quality even it cost a lot . i don't eat outside . all home made
yeah cortisol was just one of blood in the morning not the other one with saliva but next time i will ask for it for sure
actually i'm still dont know how to read my lab test and make a decision many info everywhere even doctors they have different opinions but i like you analysis looks logic
i have diagnosed in 2012 . lost weight insomnia . after my lab test doctor told me im underactive thyroid since then im suffering
Ever think of dropping your t4 and adding in a little t3? Maybe 88mcg t4 and 5mcg taken twice a day.
You might benefit from taking an adrenal test to see how they are doing. As for insomnia, I take 330 mg of magnesium glycinate and valerian root at 600 mg.
For hypo patients they can take levothyroxine only, liothyronine only or a combination of both. Another option is NDT. Many on here have had difficultly obtaining t3 or ndt from their GP. They either go private or self source by starting a post and asking other members.
for NDT what i know is not approved from FDA. and not a good option and i heard from many people who have lived in canada and usa from 2019 the NDT make them feel worse . anyways thanks for sharing this INFO and congratulation for the fourth place its a historical moment we will never forget ⚽🎉🥑
⁸An FDA stamp of approval isnt the be all end all. NDT was the first successfully used med for decades before synthetic thyroid meds came around.
I've had hypothyroidism for over 20 yrs and got sicker over the yrs taking levothyroxine. I tried combo treatment (Levo plus liothyronine) and that didnt work out either. My doctor convinced me to try Erfa(ndt) and levothyroxine and that made the most difference. My free t3 was below range when I started ndt and t4. For the first time my free t3 got to the upper end of the range after switching to ndt but it took 11 months of tweaking the doses .
yes you right but the problem is NDT is not available in uk and even in Asia i went to japan many years ago it's hard to get it .and Africa as well . from what i know its available in canada and usa. if you live in those countries you are in the safe side . the rest of the world LEVO is the first choice and easy to find i think all the people who take Ndt they buy it online which is a big risk because we can't guarantee to get it and the covid era shows us if you have a chronic disease before any stip we have to make sure everything is safe for us to live in peace
yeah what historical moment for Morocco and Africa i hope they will win the African title next year
⁸Where are you ? If in the UK, there is a list of doctors that prescribe it. As for online orders without prescription, there is always a risk. That said many on here are doing just fine ordering online. I'm aware of two online pharmacies that a well regarded member shared with me. They both sell the well known ndt, synthetic t3 and t4. Then there is Thyroid S, which several members take and have no problems with shipment.
I've ordered online a beef thyroid glandular supplement and it worked for me.
I think t3 is a little easier to get around the world than ndt. Just a hunch but I may be wrong.
2 simple things you can work on for now at least is the vit d and b. Improving them just may boost your free t3 levels.
yes im in UK . well for me ordering online like vitamins or anything else its fine but medication i can't live without it and i know its not available in pharmacys the only source is online and not produced in uk i think it's a big risk
the problem is not if approved or not the big issue NDT is not available around the world if you live in canada and usa i think its fine. but somewhere else you have to buy it online.
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