Daughter's symptoms

[bikebabe]

I'm really quite worried about my 25 yr old daughter and she has given permission for me to post her results. She has had really quite bad fatigue for 10 years and will just drop asleep any time of the day as she is so tired. She doesn't have an overly stressful job but does have some digestion issues and knows that beef/yeast/milk are not her friends! She does have a moon face. Used to be constipated and possibly still is. Hair and nails good.

We did a private thyroid test about 9 months ago and it all seemed within range except the magnesium and so the GP dismissed this and also said it wasn't sleep apnoea and she didnt score highly enough for a referral but still has problems. Can we discount hypothyroidism as a cause of the fatigue? I have Pendred's hypothyroidism (recessive condition) and am not aware that the single copy of the faulty gene she must have could cause hypothyroidism issues unless her dad has a different gene that interacts with pendred's gene.

FT4 16.8 (12-22) 48%

FT3 4.8 (3.1-6.8) 46%

TSH 0.54 (0.27-4.2)

Magnesium 1.07 (0.7-1)

Cortisol 236 (166-507)

Your thoughts would be welcome. Regards, Bikebabe.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Did private test include vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Please add results and ranges

Are these thyroid results new

Were they done early morning and fasting

[bikebabe in reply to SlowDragon]

Hiya - results from 9mths ago. They were done fasting before 9 am but no ferritin or folate tested.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to bikebabe]

Suggest your daughter gets new testing including all four vitamins

Including both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies

Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum

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

Or she may simply have low vitamin levels, eg could be anaemic……

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 that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test

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

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Link about Hashimoto’s

thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

thyroiduk.org/wp-content/up...

Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee

As her cortisol was low last test, perhaps choose Blue Horizon as also tests cortisol

[humanbean]

Cortisol 236 (166-507)

If your daughter's blood was taken at around 9am or near that time then her cortisol is too low. At that time of day it should be at the top of the range or close to it.

Another possibility is that the rhythm of your daughter's cortisol output has a peak at the wrong time. Does she have sleep problems or work shifts?

This graph is a bit cartoonish but it gives a rough idea of cortisol output over 24 hours for people who have "normal" work and sleeping hours, and you can see the maximum is at about 9am :

alpineintegratedmedicineblo...

I have never needed to raise my own cortisol so I can't help you with this. But if you do a web search for "how to raise cortisol" you'll get lots of results.

wikihow.com/Raise-Cortisol-...

Getting a saliva test done would be helpful. Regenerus is a good one :

regeneruslabs.com/products/...

Several other labs test cortisol, but they don't include DHEA, and they have poor reference ranges. Some of them even include zero in their reference ranges, and zero is not a healthy level for cortisol at any time of day!

[humanbean in reply to humanbean]

Your daughter could try an adrenal cocktail when she gets up - they can be made at home very easily :

stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...

therootcauseprotocol.com/fa...