I had my Levo increased to 75mg in September & have had to wait 3months for a follow up blood test & this is what I got, I would be grateful if someone could have a look at it & let me know if everything looks ok…well I say everything but unfortunately my Gp doesn’t like to test for everything very often, if at all 🙄.
I’m actually not feeling too bad at the moment, I’m still shedding hair a bit more than I’d like, but hopefully it will settle down, I’ve also just started taking a biotin supplement.
Thank you for any help that you can offer.
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Levo - do you get the same brand each time? Different brands have different things added to make up the pill; in theory these don't affect people, but they do. For example some contain lactose so can't be used by people who are lactose intolerant. You need to make a note of the brand issued to you so that you can decide which brands suit you. Some brands can cause hair loss in some people.
Biotin - make sure that you don't take anything containing biotin for several days before your test. This is because biotin is used in the testing process so you can get inaccurate results. Did you start the biotin before or after your last test?
Your doctor only tested TSH. You really need to test TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 at the minimum. You may need to get these tested privately.
I take Mercury Pharma Levothyroxine, this is the brand I stick with.
I stopped my vitamin b complex which contains biotin 7 days before my blood test as I am aware that it affects blood test results, I started the biotin supplement after the blood test.
My GP won’t test free t3, he just rolls his eyes & says it’s not necessary 🤦♀️, my free t4 has been tested once, he probably won’t do it again for another year, I am probably going to have to get a private test done because it’s like getting blood from a stone, all I get is ‘ everything has come back normal’
Make sure to include testing vitamin D, folate and B12 at least once a year
Is your hypothyroidism autoimmune?
Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before 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
Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing
Thank you SlowDragon, I will check these links for private blood testing, I’m assuming that the tsh result on this blood test is telling me nothing, my last tsh in September was:
2.6 mu/L 0.80-1.50mmol/L
I have had to wait 3 months to see if my tsh was coming down further ( hopefully 1 or below…big ask I know) but now I’m non the wiser, honestly these GP’s are useless.
I think he thinks I’m going to go away for the next year… but I will be back to him in 3 months again, just to annoy him further 🙄
All your vitamin advice has been taken on board, I now take all the relevant vitamins ( good quality ) that you suggested & feel a whole lot better than a few months ago, I thank you for that ☺️
I was tested for coeliac in September
Normal-No action
tissu transglutaminase IgA lev 1.1 u/mL
Tissu transglutaminase lgG lev 1.1 u/mL
I’m not sure if these results are good or not.
I’m hoping I won’t need to go gluten free but I’m also unsure of any signs that I might need to.
You might not have any obvious signs of gluten intolerance……many of us don’t
But might be astonished at the difference
So it’s always worth trying
But only change one thing at a time
Only 5% of Hashimoto’s patients test positive for coeliac but a further 81% of Hashimoto’s patients who try gluten free diet find noticeable or significant improvement or find it’s essential
A strictly gluten free diet helps or is essential due to gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and may slowly lower TPO antibodies
Trying gluten free diet for 3-6 months.
If no noticeable improvement then reintroduce gluten and see if symptoms get worse
The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported
In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned
Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.
Similarly few months later consider trying dairy free too. Approx 50-60% find dairy free beneficial
With loads of vegan dairy alternatives these days it’s not as difficult as in the past
I am not sensitive to gluten, but I eat something similar to gluten free because I was tested for food intolerances some years ago and they found that my main problems were oats and wheat. I read a lot of food labels. I don't eat foods which say they contain gluten free oats because it's the oats not the gluten I'm sensitive to.
I took the test for food intolerances because I was getting arthritis and I wondered if a change of diet would be better than being on permanent medication. It was; after about 2 months without wheat and oats my joints were improved and unexpectedly my lifelong indigestion had cleared up.
I had not been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid at that stage.
I wonder if other people who have Non Coeliac Gluten sensitivity are intolerant of typical gluten containing foods such as wheat and oats.
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