thank you to everyone who has given me so much useful information over the last couple of days. As detailed in my previous message, I have managed to speak to a doctor, and I have been somewhat surprised at the result. She said that my mother’s thyroid is only very slightly under active, and is probably explained by age rather than anything else. She also said that her symptoms, e.g. terrible itching, flaking, exhaustion, sleeping most of the time etc, are in fact probably caused by her kidneys, which are at stage 4/5. So basically, I have been chasing my tail for very little point. I am desperately disappointed, because now I have to take away my mother’s ray of hope, and explain to her that her symptoms are not going to go away just by taking a pill.
But thank you again to all of you who tried to help.
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Blackwidow1965
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None the less her fatgue would be improved by treating her thyroid.
Doctors can be very dismissive of subclinical thyroid symptoms but they are very real for the patient. I wouldn;t take your eye off the ball at this point.
Being 'slightly' under-active is like being slightly pregnant: either you are or you aren't! And if you have suboptimal blood test results and symptoms, you are.
Doctors have this crazy idea that old people naturally have higher TSH levels - which is about all they look at, really. True - to a point. But they don't realise - or don't know - that the difference is only ver slight. But, as with so many diseases, old people (I'm one!) are dismissed and ignored. We're not worth the effort of treating! So, your doctor's 'explanation' - i.e. fobbing off - should be taken with a huge pinch of salt!
I didn't read the follow-up to your post the other day - I will do that - but do you actually have a copy of her blood test results on diagnosis? Very important that she always get a print-out because she needs to know exactly what was tested and exactly what the results were. We have to keep our eyes on these doctors because they have very little idea of what they're doing when it comes to thyroid!
OK, so her TSH was over 6 at 1 pm! That is not 'slightly' under-active. That is under-active full stop! Whatever the age of the patient. A 'normal' (euthyroid) TSH is around 1, never over 2 and you're hypo when it gets to 3. So, you can see the difference. Ignore her ignorant doctor and insist on treatment. Pretty certain things will improve for your mum.
Thank you for your reply! She had two things tested re thyroid - TSH 6.10, T4 10.3. That was at 1pm, and at 11.30 she had had a small piece of buttered white toast, and a hot choc made with milk.
Impossible to say whether the toast and/or hot choc impinged on her TSH - wouldn't affect the FT4 - but it would have decreased the TSH, not increased it. So, whatever way you look at it, she's hypo.
She's lucky she's got you looking out for her. Many elderly people are not so lucky. It's criminal!
Aye, I feel sorry for many people who don’t have some kind of carer (I’m not officially one!). It must be a nightmare for them. It took me two hours the other day to apply for a driving licence for my 90 year father, and it required so much info that even I struggled! I asked my dad what he would have done had he had to apply himself, and he said he probably wouldn’t have done it, he would have just given up driving. So what with trying to force everything online for everyone, older people are being squeezed out of the picture. It’s awful.
Oh, I know what you mean about forcing everything on-line! In the past couple of years I've had to apply for several things on-line, passport, update to pension, etc. It's been an absolute nightmare! My eldest son helped me as much as he could but even he was baffled at some of the questions, and in the end, I had to manage by myself. I honestly feel I deserve a medal for retaining my sanity during all this time. And I have an advantage in that I've a long back-history of computer programming and such-like. But I know people younger than me who don't even know how to switch a computer on! (I had to teach them.) So, god knows how they manage. But, that's progress for you.
You sound like you’ve done really well. My parents can’t even turn their dvd player on without either me there to do it for them, or me at the end of a face time call, talking them through it 😆
you are definitely right about the elderly, if it weren’t for me keeping track of things, she may not even be with us anymore. Everything to do with the NHS is a struggle.
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Thank you to all you fighters.
