This is a long story, and as with so much in this "we have too much info" age, I'm probably over-responding, but, I was recently blindsided by a new health condition, and I don't fancy having it happen again if there are cues available.
I've had hypothyroidism/Hashimotos for 16-17 years, at least based on diagnosis. Started on levoxythyrone as soon as I was diagnosed, tested yearly, and...that's about it. I won't say my symptoms were well managed, but I felt better on medication than not, and doctors (general practitioners only,) only ever seemed concerned with levels. not so much how I felt. One did offer T3, but I couldn't tolerate it.
Shortly after starting the levo, I developed PVCs. I wasn't concerned about them but I did associate them with the medication, especially initially because they felt like being over-caffeinated, and I felt less sleepy, the medication was the common denominator, ego, medication caused them...in my mind. They did--along with my very slow heart rate--eventually become debilitating in their own right, and they got worse with stress, so I/we "made accommodations" (downsized our house so my income would be less important, etc.)
Then, last year, I learned I have very severe osteoporosis. This took me to a naturopath, because first, I was way too young for this advanced a condition, and I just had a suspicion that Hashimotos linked everything.
The naturopath did a lot of tests I'd never had done before, the upshot being--at least what was primary for me--that I wasn't absorbing nutrients well. She put me on various mysterious supplements intended to deal with bad bacteria, yeast, parasites, and kidney/liver issues. I showed I had a high hematocrit level at that time too but I of course googled it and saw the number one cause is dehydration, and that day I had had no water, coffee, etc. due to not taking any of my supplements before the blood draw. She actually seemed concerned about kidney and liver issues but I was dealing with pain from vertebral fractures and shrinkage of my torso, so those items got pushed out of my mind.
Meanwhile, I made quite a few changes to my diet. I wasn't significantly overweight and I'd continued to walk daily no matter how much pain I was in; have never smoked, drink very little alcohol, rarely ate fast food (but I did eat some processed/junk food,) and basically thought I was doing as hood a job as could be expected for someone with a lifelong food addiction on top of poor thyroid finction. But, pain. Pain has been quite a motivator, and glomming on to the idea of absorption possibly being a contributor, I was ready to up my game.
It hasn't been perfect, but I did make significant changes. It can be challenging to know how to eat for various conditions, though. For thyroid, I hear "no gluten and dairy". For osteoporosis, it's "get calcium from food," which makes dairy top choice. You're also supposed to eat--generally--you don't necessarily want to limit calories or lose weight with osteoporosis. I did cut out gluten, and I'm still not eating grains for the most part (I'll have white rice sometimes.) I limit sugar pretty severely, don't drink pop, limit caffeine, try to cook our own food as much as possible. Sometimes things like protein bars or veggie sticks slip in (I eat in the car a lot,) but compared to a year ago, I'm much improved.
Of course, I'm taking every supplement that might help bones, so vit D, K2, magnesium, berberine, nattokinase (just as of recently,) boron...the list is long. Some of these are supposed to also be good for things like insulin resistance, clogged arteries, etc., so bonus.
The good news is sometimes I actually feel pretty good. My bones are going to be a process, and I did discover that whether I have a gluten intolerance or not, I feel better when I don't eat it, so m energy is reasonably good.
So I was excited for this year's blood work.
Oh, I should note, my PVCs got really bad, and through this forum, I learned about taurine and l-arginine, which combination actually does seem to have completely eliminated them.
Which is possibly why other elements of my bloodwork have caught my attention?
At any rate, there WERE some improvements! One big improvement was in the TG anti-body--went from around 650 to 60. The other one, TPO is still over 900. (Last year was the first time I ever saw those numbers.) I don't know if fluctuations like that are typical or if something I did made a difference.
Unfortunately, for the second time in a year (this is the first time my TSH has been checked four times in a year,) my TSH was high.
Some things I don't care about this year went from high to normal (like--potassium, how do you get high potassium? I do care about serum calcium, and it went down.)
My vit D level went up last year and gas stayed up despite reducing the amount of D I take (85) which I think is good.
But, urine calcium also went up. Creatinine went up. Hematocrit went up. ALT went up. Ferritin went up. Egfr went down--quite a bit. Basically anything that suggested kidneys and liver were struggling are now flagged as "high". Not "omg" high (my bones were "omg" high,) but enough that it's annoying in light of my improved diet, increased activity. ten pound weight loss (so even three inches shorter, my BMI is within the healthy range again,) and not acquiring any new bad habits.
(Total cholesterol, HDL and lipoprotein all also went up (HDL now at 94, read that it can begin to be not so protective if it gets too high. LDL went down but it's still high.)
What gives? Of course I've googled everything, and it does appear thyroid can affect all of these (except maybe lipoprotein.) And, I'm getting older. (63 now.) Maybe this is just how it goes? You expect to see things start to fail?
Does any of this indicate that my thyroid condition has not been well managed? Is this just another of those, "We don't know" propositions?
All of that aside, does anyone here have a similar profile? Any thoughts on what I can expect down the road? I have had mixed experiences with doctors: it really does seem they have one answer--medication. I am taking a diuretic for the urine calcium situation. But that endocrinologist I saw twice didn't even attempt to connect dots, didn't consider how a diuretic might affect my heart, for example, though he did mention electrolyte imbalances were possible. (Best I can tell, electrolytes are spot on.)
I appreciate that the naturopath does try to connect the dots, but her knowledge is still limited.
And in the end, maybe it doesn't matter. But it gives me a puzzle to try to sort out, and I HAVE learned some things that have made a difference when I've posted, so...thank you in advance.
(BTW, I'm in the US.)
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