Feeling poorly

[MsWhistledown]

Evening everyone,

I have continued to feel increasingly unwell. Shoulder and neck pain continues and keeps me awake or wakes me up every night now. I sometimes wake up with sweat around my neck and chest. The steroid injection I had 13 days ago helped a bit to decrease the intensity of pain but it hasn’t completely removed it.

I also have an on going headache and my period has so far lasted 7 days usually it’s on its way out after 4-5 days. I am also feeling nauseous on and off and then feel like eating something helps relieve the nausea.

Spoke to my GP yesterday and sent me for blood tests today to test for inflammatory markers, Rheumatoid factor etc due to symptoms, family history and due to the fact the private doctor I saw thought my symptoms pointed to polymyalgia rheumatica. I also had TFT.

Result of TFT: TSH 2.55 and T4 19.4 - I don’t have the lab ranges yet but have requested them so hopefully will have them tomorrow. The test was taken at 10:45am later than I had wanted but due to urgency had to take the soonest slot available. I fasted and took my levothyroxine 24 hours earlier.

I have a Medichecks full thyroid function test which I will do at the start of next week so that I can also get my T3 result. I also have an iron panel kit which I will also do.

I have been slowly increasing from 50mcgs to 75mcgs, and past 2 weeks taking 75mcgs everyday. Without the knowledge of my GP at this point.

My question is, can the hypothyroidism and in my case Hashimoto’s cause high inflammation markers in the body?

In September my CRP was 39.0 mg/l and today’s test is 1.0 mg/l. My ESR in September was 42.0 mm/hour and todays is 21.0 mm/hour. My platelet count today is elevated at 489.0 10*9/L.

I’ve had to take 2 more days off work sick again with all this. It is hell. 😒

[Buddy195 Administrator]

I’m so sorry to hear you are feeling unwell MsWhistledown. It’s a good idea to retest thyroid & key vitamin levels, but I would wait until you have been 6-8 weeks on a consistent dose (Personally I like to wait 8 weeks, as it takes my body this long to adjust even to small changes).

Do post results with ranges when you have them. TSH should always be under 2, with most members reporting feeling best with TSH significantly under 1. It would be useful to have FT3 results too, so we can comment further in your conversion rate. Likely you will need to increase Levo further.

I’m an advocate of ‘low and slow’ when it comes to adding Levo (eg adding 12.5mcg alternate days at first until well tolerated). I find a pill cutter useful for this.

Yes, auto immune thyroid issues can raise CRP, but so can many other conditions/ viruses (even a common cold). Yours has dropped significantly since September.

When I have an arthritis flare, my CRP can rise significantly. I’ve found supplementing with turmeric (with ginger & black pepper), glucosamine & chlondrotin, plus montmorency cherry all help reduce my inflammation levels (although others recommend/ prefer other anti inflammatory supplements). I think it’s trial and error to find anti inflammatories that work best for you.

[MsWhistledown in reply to Buddy195]

Thanks Buddy195.

The ranges are serum free T4 Level 19.4 11.00 - 21.20pmol/L

TSH 2.55 0.27 - 4.20mIU/L

A shame that I don’t have T3 levels at this point to see how well I am converting.

[Batty1]

It sounds like your having a migraine …. I have horrible migraines that make me want to eat (I resist) I take over the counter migraine meds the meds my doctor gave me make me feel loopy and if you don’t take before the migraine hits (dumb) it doesn’t work as well …. Ice packs on eyes help a lot.

I never had migraines until I had thyroid problems.

[MsWhistledown in reply to Batty1]

Thanks Batty1. I don’t believe it is a migraine. I started suffering with chronic migraine in 2018, so an old hat at symptoms and what it feels like for me when having a migraine. I apparently didn’t have a thyroid problem back then, but I do wonder now if I did. The headache I think had come about from the ongoing neck and shoulder pain and not getting enough sleep because of it. But it is quite possible it is starting to trigger migraine type pain.

[Batty1 in reply to MsWhistledown]

Its also possible to have a pinched nerve… I developed psoriatic arthritis(Enthesitis) after my thyroidectomy and had developed shoulder/arm pains for a year it was killer I couldn’t move my arm and my neck hurt which I believe also brought on the migraine's which didn’t help anything …. As luck has it just recently my shoulder issues cleared up (still hurts) but can now move my arm and my migraines has subsided…. It’s definitely not fun having chronic pain !

[MsWhistledown in reply to Batty1]

Blimey! You have been through it! Glad to hear that the shoulder issues have cleared up and it has had a good effect on your migraines.

It really isn’t any fun. It’s miserable.