What do you think?

[Joant24]

These are my results and I feel tired, aching muscles and grumpy. Also I’ve had UTIs almost constantly since Christmas. Although I will say my brain fog isn’t anywhere as bad as pre medication which is a light at the end of a very long tunnel!

TSH 0.01 (0.27-4.2) no change from 2 grains

Free T3 6.1 (3.1-6.8) fallen from 7.56

Free Thyroxine 15.8 (12-22) fallen from 17.5

My T3 any higher makes me feel really anxious and uncomfortable so I don’t really want to add any more medication

Does anyone think these show a possible problem? I take 1 grain of Armour NDT in the morning and 3/4 grain in the afternoon.

This might sound strange but I almost feel like I’m sometimes experiencing Imposter syndrome as my TSH has never been very high and although I can see since 2018 my T3 and T4 have been at the bottom of the range, it’s never actually been out of range. Couple that with many Drs telling me there’s nothing wrong with my thyroid and I need to get a grip or try antidepressants and you can begin to understand my thinking however silly it sounds. I’m sure I’m not alone with this feeling. I need to own this condition and maybe indeed get a grip 😂

I think I’m a little fed up with feeling tired and grumpy and that I’d been on the road to a better place by now. Think I just needed a whinge to understanding people. I’ve an appointment next week with Dr so any thoughts would be useful .

Thanks for listening 🥰

[GlowCoach Administrator]

Just wondering if you have tackled your vitamins yet? I see one of your last posts your folate was on the low side.

What are you supplementing with?

How long before the test did you take NDT?

That FT3 would be too high for me and too much can make you feel equally hypo as being hypo.

[Joant24 in reply to GlowCoach]

Thanks for replying. I’m working on my vitamins, Folate, Vitamin D and iron. I agree with you on my T3 i think it’s maybe a little high but if I go down to 1.5 I don’t feel right either. I took my afternoon NDT 10 hours before the test as per instructions here. Thank goodness for this site!

I wonder if I might be better on synthetic medication as it seems easier to tweak. I really don’t know. My doctor is really easy to talk to so it’ll be interesting to see what she has to say.

[GlowCoach Administrator in reply to Joant24]

You have the option of going down a tiny bit and adding 25mcgs Levo. Some people find that really helps.

It's true its far easier to tweak meds with a T4/T3 combo but its an upheaval changing so maybe try reducing then adding the Levo.

[Joant24 in reply to GlowCoach]

Sounds like that may work. Thanks for suggestion.

[Beau55]

have you ever done a saliva cortisol test before?

Your t3 is quite high considering the lowish dose which can sometimes point to a cortisol issue and hence why you still might feel crummy despite the labs. It can also cause hyper symptoms when increasing as there’s not enough cortisol to cope with the influx of T3. This can also happen with low iron etc

[Joant24 in reply to Beau55]

Yes indeed , Dr tested cortisol and it was fine, although it’s interesting you mention low iron as mine is on the low side! I shall try and get that up a litte quicker if I can, to be honest I lost the plot with my vitamins as I was also taking antibiotics for all the UTIs and it was too overwhelming with all the pills, didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day 😂

Thank you 🥰

[Beau55 in reply to Joant24]

Sorry to hear about the UTI they are really awful!I had the same issue before getting my thyroid optimal last time I got well. If they are really persistent, I had ‘hiprex’ prescribed and it worked a treat to prevent mine.

Did your Dr say what your cortisol results were? ‘Fine’ isn’t always good enough with cortisol, it’s about where you fall in the range!

stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...

Yes do get your iron up it’ll be so important to get your thyroid hormones working. I use three arrows nutra and they have worked really quickly to get mine up (they wouldn’t budge on normal nhs iron) x

[Joant24 in reply to Beau55]

Funnily enough my GP has just organised a prescription for Hiprex! I think I’ve got cortisol results, I’ll dig them out and I’ll look for iron you recommended. Thanks so much.

[Brightness14]

What about trying to sort out your UTI's that should help you, these can be bad for the body.

If you had the correct test to find out which bacteria you had you can then be treated with the correct antibiotic. Dip stick tests and GP's are useless. You require a broth test with is done in a lab over a period of days.

[Joant24 in reply to Brightness14]

These UTIs have been on going for a few years and I have a consultant who is trying his best and a microbiologist who is also onboard. It’s always E. coli that causes the problem and I thought maybe my thyroid issues might be the problem so hoping that once that sweet spot is found then I can fight infection without it taking hold. In the meantime I’m sticking with my team just in case being hypothyroid has nothing to do with it.

Thanks for your input though it’s much appreciated.

[Brightness14 in reply to Joant24]

OK good luck.

[thyr01d in reply to Brightness14]

please could you tell me more about this broth test? You are right about dipsticks being useless, I used to take a sample into the nurse who would do the dipstick and say all fine, then, within hours, the GP would do a dipstick and, in her words, "all lit up like a Christmas tree".

[lauraleeds666]

Try D-mannose powder sachets for shifting the UTIs. I discovered it by chance when a pharmacist in Switzerland sold me it. Shifts my UTIS within 24 hours. It's a sugar molecule that binds to the ecoli and flushes it out of your bladder/urinary tract.

[Joant24 in reply to lauraleeds666]

Sadly for me D Mannose doesn’t help much. I did take a long course of Uralix which has lots of it plus other herbs etc and that helped for a while then not so much. It’s also really expensive, I switched to plain DMannose and it didn’t really help. I’m trying Hiprex at the moment, my Consultant and GP both independently suggested it and since hearing about it several other people have mentioned it so fingers crossed. Thanks for suggestion though much appreciated.

[lauraleeds666 in reply to Joant24]

Oh no! D-mannose only works when the source of the UTI is e-coli so won't work for around 20% of infections that are caused by a different bacteria. I hope you have some joy with hiprex . Recurrent UTIs are so miserable.

[thyr01d in reply to lauraleeds666]

Please could you tell me which D-mannose you recommend?

[pennyannie]

Hello Joan :

Just looking back I see you were hyperthyroid and treated many moons ago and in your initial bio from 2017 you talk of constant UTI problems

Do you have Graves Disease and how and when were you treated and do you even have a thyroid now ?

The TSH was introduced as a diagnostic tool to help confirm a person suffering with hypothyroidism :

The TSH was never intended to be used for anything - once the patient was on any form of thyroid hormone replacement as then you look to restore hormonal balance between the Free T3 and Free T4 readings.

There are no blood tests for NDT - you treat to the relief of symptoms.

The guidelines and ranges were introduced when Big Pharma launched it's own T3 and T4 treatment options - basically on the back of NDT - the original and successful treatment that had been around for some 100 years and long before we had the science of blood tests or even knew of T3. T4, antibodies and the like.

I have Graves and had RAI thyroid ablation in 2005 and now self medicating on NDT and much improved.

I dose once a day and am much improved though do need to keep my core strength vitamins and minerals up at optimal levels and also supplement an adrenal glandular.

[Hopeful129 in reply to pennyannie]

can I ask what is an adrenal glandular?

[pennyannie in reply to Hopeful129]

An adrenal glandular would be a supplement derived from animal adrenal glands - generally those of cattle.

just as Natural Desiccated Thyroid - NDT. desiccated thyroid extract -

is a supplement derived from animal thyroid glands - generally those of pigs.

[Joant24 in reply to pennyannie]

I had an overactive thyroid 40 years back, sorted with Carbimazole and then discovered my T3 &4 were low around 2017. I’ve gone the other way now with antibodies so probably Hashimoto disease. I’ve still got my thyroid for what use it is 😂. I do remember I had trouble with UTIs when I was overactive so hoped it would sort itself out once I was properly medicated 🤞.

[Joant24]

I’m tempted with taking all my medication in one morning dose, does it take a while to settle into this routine?