I'm being my own health detective, but need help!

[So-Many-Symptoms]

Hello, first-time poster here, and worried, so please be gentle...! 😔

I'm a woman approaching 50 😬 and have had so many crappy - but not serious - things happening. Aches, pains, fatigue, lethargy, brain fog, insomnia, blah blah blah. All part of the aging process, I figured. Not great, and definitely impacting on quality of life, but not really enough to go the doctor with.

Anxiety hit hard last year - I actually thought I was having a heart attack - and have had a significant amount of time off work as a result. Saw an occupational therapist last month, and she said to consider perimenopause. When I looked into that, yes I have a lot of the lesser known symptoms - but not the obvious ones like changes in my cycle, hot flushes etc. But none-the-less, and despite reluctance from my doctor's surgery (they're not great), I have had a batch of blood tests done, and it's thrown some stuff up.

One of the things it showed was elevated cholesterol, which surprised me - we have a pretty good diet, I'm reasonably active (I walk 2 miles a day at speed doing the school run), I don't smoke, I like a drink but I'm hardly out partying every weekend (I wish!).

I started looking into it, and found that hypothyroidism can cause 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) to rise, and my result for that was 3 - it should be below 3. In response to that result, I've been sent a text from the GP with a link to follow (great chatting to you, doctor, thanks) to tweak the diet, and that was it. But the more I looked into hypothyroidism (mostly looking at all the symptoms on this website), the more I realised I have probably 90% of them.. But my TSH level was normal, so there's no way my GP is going to agree to me having any other thyroid tests, I would think.

In terms of the rest of the menopause-y stuff, I have reduced levels of testosterone (and an appointment to discuss that), but the other obvious hormones are all still normal - hence why I'm essentially asymptomatic as far as menopause is concerned, I guess. Yet to have the chat with the nurse, mind you.

So my questions:

1. Is anyone aware of anything else that could cause these symptoms that look so much like hypothyroidism without being hypothyroidism?

2. I'm wondering about some kind of mineral deficiency..? I showed 'significantly low serum folate' and have been prescribed folic acid, but I figure if I'm low in that, I'm probably low in other minerals. Does anyone know if a mineral deficiency can either cause hypothyroidism, or look like it?

3. I know there are some private companies listed on this website for private tests, anyone got any recommendations? I probably need to get everything looked at, nutrients and everything.

Thanks so much for any help. I don't know if I'm coming or going, I'm worrying about having a stroke or a heart attack, and want to get to the bottom of what's causing all this STUFF rather than just be fobbed off with folic acid and a dietary revision, with a check up in a year's time (if I'm still here!) 🙃

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Welcome to the group.

Firstly understannd that what a GP says is a 'normal' blood result may at the very least be showing signs of your thyroid struggling but they will never acknowledge that nor understand it. For them your level needs to be well above the normal range for them to be at all suspicious.

Can you get a print out of your results and post them with ranges (numbers in brackets) so people here can comment on them?

Hypothyroidism causes low stomach acid which means you don't absorb vitamins well. Did they test ferritin, B12 and D3 too? Post results if they did. Your result needs to be OPTIMAL (upper part of range) not just in range at the bottom.

If you want to get a private test then Medichecks do full thyroid, vitamin & antibodies test which would be useful to know. Thyroid UK offer discount codes.

thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

Your suspicions might be correct and it;s possibly too early to get a formal diagnosis and treatment. It's common for people to have symptoms with blood results in the normal range.

[tattybogle]

to get hold of your latest blood test results from the NHS, the quickest way is to ask at reception for "a printout of my blood results from 'x' date please. ( the actual results and lab ranges , not just the comment )

you are legally entitled to have a copy (as long as the GP has already seen them first )

Some receptionists may not be sure about the rules on this and and may say they need to check with GP first .. if so just say you'll come in, in a day or so to collect a printout once they've checked it's ok for you to have them . They should not really be asking what you want them for , but sometimes they do , in which case just say 'for my own record'

your thyroid results are called :

TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) 0.00 [0 -0] ~ this will definitely have been done.

fT4 (free T4 / Thyroxine) 0.00 [0-0] ~ this may have been done.

fT3 ( free T3 / Tri iodothyronine) 0.00 [0-0] ~ highly unlikely to have ben done at this stage.