I started googling about hormones and thyroid after pregnancy when I felt constantly tired yet wired, my TSH has always comes back within range, between 2.0-2.9. I know TSH doesn't give you the whole picture and I really need to test to see whats going on.
First question, where is the cheapest to test privately? money is a real issue for me.
3 months ago I decided to try Metavive II Porcine Thyroid Complex 80mg, 1 a day, just to experiment, see if I felt better, at £26 it seems like a good option if it worked. I noticed a bit more energy but over time I started to feel cold and tired, napping in the afternoons, so I have decided to stop.
I also have fatty liver, I have read this can cause problems converting T4 to T3?
However, my asthma completely went during this time, I went from having to use my inhalers nightly, to forgetting all about them! Since coming off my asthma is creeping back, so I have taken another Metavive today, I HATE asthma so much, but who doesn't...
I'm wondering if anyone else has found a connection between thyroid and their asthma? I don't even know if there are any issue's with my thyroid and I don't want to make things worse for myself, but I'm just amazed my asthma cleared up.
Also, are there any NDT alternatives to Metavive without perscription and that are affordable and available in the UK?
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DamagingGiraffe
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Hi, I’m interested in this topic too and will be following with interest. Monitor my Health provide the cheapest tests, from what I can find, plus there’s discounts available via this website - I’ll find the link and share.
Essential before starting on any replacement thyroid hormones to get FULL thyroid testing including BOTH TPO and TG thyroid antibodies and vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Blood test should be done after at least weeks since stopping Metavive or after any changes eg starting/stopping HRT, going gluten or dairy free etc
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
You are absolutely right! TSH does not tell the whole story. It doesn’t even tell a chapter! It is the most unreliable indicator of thyroid health, that one could use, and an indirect measurement at that, being a hormone excreted from the pituitary gland. The direct measurement of thyroid hormones, and your own symptoms should be the driving factors for treatment.
So, it is widely acknowledged in more recent research that there is a large degree of dissatisfaction with treatment for hypothyroidism yet they don’t seem to be able to get to the bottom of it! The reality is TSH is the big block to the mental shift for researchers.
Also, there are several types of hypothyroidism, and they are not mutually exclusive.
There is Hashimoto’s (the most common), which is an autoimmune disorder, medically induced hypothyroidism when people who were hyperthyroid are made hypothyroid, and there is the ‘rarer’ Central hypothyroidism, which comes about as a result of hypothalamus or pituitary dysfunction.
As far as central hypothyroidism is concerned, I’m not sure if it’s rare or rarely diagnosed because they are obsessive about TSH - which doesn’t respond in Central hypothyroidism. TSH unreliable.
If someone has Hashimoto’s and has some sort of pituitary gland damage as well , again the TSH will never be a reliable indicator.
When the limit of an average doctors ability to read a blood test is whether or not a person is ‘in range’, you can see there is a lot they are not picking up. That’s why we have to become our own health advocates. I would urge you to start reading, not an ideal situation, but necessary in the current medical climate.
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