Hello all,
My wife was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease over a year ago after having various symptoms which progressed significantly in mid 2022; with the main ones being:
- Fatigue and low energy
- Very poor sleep
- Brain fog
- Anxiety and panic attacks
- Weight gain - she has gone from size 12 to 18 in two years and has stomach distension
- Dizziness
- Low blood sugar
- Gut issues -Yeast infection and food intolerances
- Generally just feels unwell!
The functional doctor that she originally saw prescribed her 50mg of Levothyroxine for the first 6 months to get her levels back in check, and then increased to 75mg for another 6 months. And because my wife’s TSH, T3 and T4 subsequently landed in either ‘normal’ or ‘optimal’ ranges the doctor felt that was a sufficient dose. Despite the fact that her symptoms never improved!
She has also been taking supplements religiously such as Magnesium, Vitamin B12, B Complex and Vitamin D and has gone gluten free and also moved to a lower carb diet to help manage the issues with her blood sugar.
Her latest results in October were:
TSH -3.1 (Increased from 1.8 in May)
T3 -5.5
T4 -15.5
Again, whilst nothing is out of range, and the fact that her symptoms remain, my understanding, from the reading I’ve done, is that her thyroid is obviously still not functioning as well as it should. Or at least, not optimal for her?
My wife now has a new doctor who increased her Levothyroxine dose in October so it now moves between 75mg/100mg every other day. To date, her symptoms still remain unchanged.
Separately, we decided to test her cortisol levels a few weeks ago and this showed that her cortisol is high. Levels seem to start off in the normal range in the morning and shoot up at lunch and then remain above where they need to be into the evening:
7am - 6.75 ng/ml
9am - 4.83 ng/ml
12pm - 8.93 ng/ml
3pm- 4.61 ng/ml
7pm 4.69 ng/ml
Her progesterone levels are also incredibly low and even though she has been prescribed Utrogestan to help, there seems to be little change.
From what I have read, her low progesterone is likely being caused by the fact that her cortisol levels are high, as cortisol always takes priority, which then depletes progesterone. And I have seen mention that cortisol levels can be high when someone’s Levothyroxine dose is not sufficient as cortisol and the adrenals are trying to compensate for the fact the thyroid is not functioning as it should? This is not something that the doctor has ever pointed out but it’s something my wife plans to raise at her next appointment.
In terms of next steps, as it’s coming onto three months since her last set of results we plan to test her thyroid levels again to hopefully provide more evidence for a further 25mg increase of Levothyroxine. So we can then reach a point where she’s testing every couple of months and hopefully getting closer to being on a more suitable dose and finally ending this horrible cycle of poor professional advice and rabbit holes. As 75/100mg, based on current symptoms, suggests it really isn’t enough?
Full disclosure, I am just a normal bloke who knew absolutely nothing about this complex world of thyroid issues a year or so ago, so I have really been trying to educate myself with a lot of reading to try and help get my wife her life back. I know there are a lot of knowledgeable and more educated people on this forum than myself, so I would welcome any feedback on whether you think we are on the right tracks with our current thinking - that my wife’s above symptoms suggest that she is still not on the right dose of Levothyroxine and that we keep pushing the doctor for further increases until these symptoms finally start to ease?
Thank you in advance,
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