Hi all, I am a 41 white female. Ive been a vegetarian for 30 years and ive always had anemia in which I take iron tablets. Despite eating a healthy veggie diet by weight ballooned 10 years ago and I have not found a diet that helps me to lose weight I am now obese and i have diabetes which is diet controlled.
I have been going to my doctors as I have had 7 bouts of sinus problems and my glands are constantly raised. Finally after my salivary gland became infected they started to take me seriously and sent me for an ultrasound scan.
The scan showed the area around my ear to be perfectly fine, it however showed my thyroid gland is grossly heterogenious and there are thyroid nodules.
As a result I was sent for blood tests
Thyroid Function tests - normal
Liver Function tests - normal
Urea and electrolytes - normal
Bone profile - normal
FBC - Showed Mean Corpusc haemoglobin as low 25.6 and Red Cell Distribution as high 16.8%, rest of results normal
Iron overload studies showed serum c reative protein level as high 24mg, serum iron leve as low 7,5 umol/l, Percentage iron saturation low 10%
My GP is now on leave and there is no one to discuss my results with, I get very tired, lack energy, dizzy and my body aches and tingles but its not stopping me from working etc.
I also have a red eye at the moment, the optician thinks I have an auto immune disease (he is unaware of my recent tests)
My question why would my scans show one thing and my bloods for thyroid be ok? My GP is on leave and I go on holiday next week, im guessing im ok to go but would like to know what they are suspecting. Anyone have similar results and wants to guess what I have, im guessing an auto immune disease and uncontrolled anaemia...just wish I dont have to wait 6 weeks to get answers.
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jackso1983
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3.4 for a TSH is not normal. Normal is around 1. At 3 you are hypo. But, doctors on the NHS have been told that it has to get to 10 before they can diagnose.
Can't comment on the FT4 because you haven't given a range. Please, always give ranges because they vary from lab to lab.
Weight gain is a red flag for hypothyroidism. If thyroid hormone T3 is low, metabolism is slow so calories are not being burned up and weight increases.
You need to test FT3 which I'm guessing is low....probably need to test privately
As the others have said TSH is too high.
"Normal"means nothing I'm afraid other than the result sits somewhere in the ref range....instead it needs to sit on the specific point wnere symptoms are relieved
I think when correctly tested according to the protocol SlowDragon describes that you are going to find that you are hypothyroid and need adequate thyroid hormone replacement
High CRP indicates inflammation which may suggest Hashimoto's/ thyroid autoimmune disease. This appears to tie in with your optician's diagnosis
From your description looks like something triggered severe immune inflammatory reaction - weight gain was a symptom. Diabetes (I assume it’s type 2 Diabetes) means that you are insulin resistant which lead to many other health problems.
I am actually puzzled that insulin resistant is developed while in strict veggies diet as veggies usually heal it. What veggies do you eat?
I would say look at what you eat, drink, apply on your skin and your environmental factors to try to identify what caused it and triggered it.
It could be pesticides in veges. It could be mould. Something accumulated in your body and triggered your immune system response.
I am new to this forum. I am learning so much from the experienced contributors. I am pre-diabetic. I am strict vegeterian and first time I learnt about that insulin resistant is to do with application over the skin or environmental factor, pesticides or mould that could trigger. More info on this will be appreciated.
I didn’t say that about insulin resistance - sorry for not being clear. As you can see there is clearly autoimmune here which means something triggered very intense immune system response.
Regarding insulin resistance I was surprised that it developed while on veggies. All recommendations are actually to start eating veggies to prevent or reverse it.
Tuscansun - thank you for clarifying. How one can find out that something triggered intense immune system response. I am having auto immune and eating veggies will prevent or reverse?
Veggies are supposed to work for insulin resistance. It will work for autoimmune only if your trigger(s) come from food or something that in the food (chemicals and microplastic).
It’s not easy to find autoimmune cause as it can come from so many things that trigger systemic immune reaction.
And there is no easy fix unfortunately - current treatments just suppress immune system which makes it even worse.
If you can identify when your condition started and what happened just before it started, you might get some clues where to look for the cause.
Have a look at SIRS - there are lots of information online and on YouTube.
Concerning your eyes, apart from the redness, have you any eye pain, noticed any swelling, or experienced dry eyes or any double vision?
If Thyroid Eye Disease is suspected then it’s advisable to take selenium 200ug for 6 months, as this has proved useful for those with mild/ moderate TED. If your eyes are dry, use preservative free drops (like HycoSan or Hyloforte) liberally.
I had been told for years that my thyroid blood tests were normal. (Usually TSH was the only one carried out).
I had an ultrasound last year on my thyroid which came back with similar results to those you are describing. The radiologist said this was sign of autoimmune attacks on the thyroid gland.
However, my blood tests for thyroid function consistently come back 'normal' - and continue to do so. But they're not normal for me. It is possible to have thyroid dysfunction with 'in-range' blood test results and no antibodies. I have now achieved treatment after being fobbed off for many, many years. (See my biog in my profile).
Testing TSH alone has caused me years of suffering. My TSH does not rise as my thyroid hormones (FT4 and FT3) fall so the diagnosis continued to be missed and I was labelled with a 'mystery' illness and 'all-in-your-head syndrome'...
Another serious problem with diagnosis is that the blood test reference range for FT4 (if you can get someone to test it!) is too wide. It is a population reference range not an individual's reference range - which is much narrower and, outside of which we feel terrible!
I hope you find a medical professional who understands thyroid dysfunction and is aware of the above issues.
I too was ill for years before diagnosis even though at one point I told the GP that what I was suffering fitted an article on thyroid problems I had been reading about in the waiting room! In the end I became so ill I was ready for the big diagnosis and my GP said "Your trouble Mrs P is that you always look so well!". Be prepared to push, stand your ground and have some empathy for GPs who have very little knowledge of thyroid problems, ie they might need some things explained to them.
Hi there - I am reading all these excellent replies. For many of us - joining this forum is the beginning of our journey back to feeling better.
But in the beginning it’s like drinking from a firehose!
After reading responses - if you are any questions of specifically what we suggest doing next, let us know.
I remember being told to get an FT3 blood test. I didn’t know that there were a handful of different variations (Free t3, total t3, t3 uptake…) and to make matters worse, once I got it, it showed up in my blood test results as “Triiodothyronine, free”…. Like… how was I supposed to know that was the same thing!
The confusion clears once you get the hang of it. In the meantime lean on us! We have all been there, done that, and got the t-shirt for all things thyroid 🤗
Hi there I have not got thyroid probs but an autoimmune condition. What I will say is once you have one autoimmune condition it increases the chances of getting another. Someone in my family has thyroid problems and has recently gone gluten free, he is finding it difficult but on the positive side he feels so much better that he's sticking to it. Functional medicine is powerful, it will not replace prescribed meds but we are what eat. It is worth thinking about.
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