Tests required after more troubles with thyroxine

[Tiredofthis77]

Hello,

I’m after a bit of advice re blood tests. Long story short, in 2019 it appeared that thyroxine was actually making me gain weight (a stone and a half in a short space of time) while diet and exercise remained the same. I had battled with thyroxine for around 20 years at this point do I decided to go private. Erfa seemed to do the trick for me until two months ago. My endo said it looked like it had stopped working and decided to try me on a combination of T4/T3 which hasn’t gone down very well. The weight gain has started again - especially on my abdomen. I got in touch with him to tell him what I’m experiencing and he suggested I get the following tests

cortisol (9 am)

Glucose

Hba1c

Insulin levels (?insulin resistance)

My question is where is the best place to get these? I can’t seem to find an option for insulin levels. Also, I’m due to have an appointment with NHS endo next month so would it be out of the question for me to ask my GP to test me?

Thanks for listening.

Tired

[arTistapple]

Just seen a vaguely similar post. Rather than really looking and understanding what hypothyroidism does to the body, medics always seem to be on the lookout for Co-morbidities. I think it’s highly likely under or over medication for hypo is the cause. I hope someone who is much more knowledgable will come along with proper advice.

[Gingernut44]

Testing your cortisol is a good idea as adrenal dysfunction can cause weight gain around your middle. It would be much better to do a four point saliva cortisol test which includes DHEA as the morning blood cortisol measures both the bound and unbound cortisol which doesn’t give a true reflection. Regenerus do a good saliva cortisol test. Details can be found on the ThyroidUK website.

[Tiredofthis77 in reply to Gingernut44]

Thank you