My partner has been showing lots of the signs of hypothyroidism so I talked her into doing a home test so that see can be forearmed when she sees the doctor. I wonder if you people could take a look and see what you think.
OK, so you've got the right ranges for the antibodies.
A normal healthy person generally has a TSH no higher than 2, often around 1, but that covers about 95% of the population, so the other 5% will have a higher or lower TSH, as you can see from the graph I've included. FT4 in a normal healthy person is generally around half way through range.
Your partner has a slightly elevated TSH (but she could be one of the 5%) and her FT4 is 34% through it's range and nicely balanced with FT3.
Her Tg antibodies are elevated. This can happen in Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid disease) although it's probably more common for TPO antibodies to be raised and this is the one the NHS would test, they rarely test Tg antibodies. However, one can have Hashi's with negative TPO antibodies but positive Tg antibodies. Tg antibodies can be raised in Graves disease (overactive) as well as Hashimoto's (underactive).
At the moment those results will not concern her GP and certainly wouldn't suggest hypothyroidism.
As low nutrient levels can have symptoms similar to hypothyroidism she should test
Vit D
B12
Folate
Ferritin
so come back with those results/ranges (include unit of measurement for Vit D and B12) so we can check those out for her too.
They may just offer ferritin, see if you can persuade them to do a full iron panel which includes
Serum iron
Saturation percentage
Total Iron Binding Capacity
Ferritin
This is because you can have a good ferritin level but poor serum iron and saturation levels. The full iron panel would show if she has iron deficiency, testing just ferritin can't show this.
Symptoms of low ferritin include:
◾Weakness
◾Fatigue
◾Difficulty concentrating
◾Poor work productivity
◾Cold hands and feet
◾Poor short-term memory
◾Difficulty remembering names
◾Dizziness
◾Pounding in the ears
◾Shortness of breath
◾Brittle nails
◾Headaches
◾Restless legs
Symptoms of iron deficiency can mirror or coincide with those in thyroid disease. They include:
◾Persistent fatigue
◾Pale skin
◾Shortness of breath
◾Headaches
◾Dizziness
◾Heart palpitations
◾Dry skin
◾Brittle hair and hair loss
◾Swelling or soreness of the tongue or mouth
◾Restless legs
◾Brittle or ridged nails
Iron tests should be done after a 12 hour fast so prepare for this and get the earliest possible appointment rather than go without food during the day (water is allowed)
OK, so I don't know what they're all for but this is a case of polypharmacy (taking multiple medications) and I wonder if anyone (medical) has checked side effects and/or interactions. Have you spoken to any of her doctors or pharmacist about them?
Have you read the patient information leaflets for all of them? Including the Semiglutide and Prostap injections?
If I were you I'd be spending some time looking into each of these medications, noting the side effects - are any familiar with the symptoms she's experiencing?
Then look for interactions between them, that will take some time but here is a website where you can do this:
No we have not really looked any further than if any of the tablets cause weight gain. Will look into it tho as she has recently swapped to a new tablet and the doctor at the sleep clinic(she has sleep apnea and has to use a Cpap machine when sleeping) suggested that her tiredness during the day may be a side effect as the results were good according to her machine.
Like I said I will suggested they test the vitamins as recommended on here and ask for a full iron panel as well.
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
reading you will be asking GP for further blood tests please do make sure you get a copy of the results if you don’t already have online access to them.
Years ago I approached my gp thinking I had anaemia I was told blood tests are ‘fine’ it’s your age but now I can see results online I find my ferritin was bottom of range but mid range for haemoglobin . I now know I am symptomatic if I have low range ferritin & need it above 80 (sorry can’t remember the unit) quite cross I was allowed to suffer unnecessarily for too long. Now I do as you are doing for your wife and dig deeper.
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