New and surprised diagnosis !!! but explains a lot why i feel so tired !!!

[jenniealberts]

i am a 58 year old female and following a blood test at my annual health check was asked to make an appointment to see my gp. she explained my tests showed i had an underactive thyroid - a normal reading was 0 to 5 and mine was 13 - this meant absolutely nothing to me. she pescribed 75 thyroxin for 8 weeks and then i am to have another blood test. i am totally ignorant of my situation and would appreciate any information, i have been taking my medication for 5 weeks. i thought my tiredness and lethargy was just due to "the aging process" many thanks

[hypodi]

me neigher jen, but the reason for the blood test is to see how you are doing and if you are on the correct dose, what have they given you. Eltroxin? in that case you will never feel really well.

[rosie in reply to hypodi]

hi there why do you feel so sure that Eltroxin is no good...what would you recommend in its place ? thanks

[Hidden in reply to hypodi]

Oh dear, that's a sorry state to begin with, it's been shown that about 87% of people do fine with levothyroxine only, I did very well with it for 10 years. It's the remaining 13% of us who have to fight and argue our case.

If jen takes plenty of vitamin c for her adrenals and selenium to help her convert the t4 to t3, she may well be one of the 87%.

Jen you really should read up about this condition, there's plenty of information on the web site and Dr Peatfields book, Your thyroid and how to keep it healthy is written in easy to understand language.

Nel.

[hypodi in reply to hypodi]

ive taken it for years our doctors dont seem to know enough about it or have the resources to refer us to someone who does, im going armed to my doctor next week so will let you know if i get anywhere. Keep taking the eltroxin it might work for you.

[Hidden in reply to hypodi]

Do you have test results?

What level is your free t4, free t3 and TSH? Ideally you should be taking enough levothyoxine to keep your free T4 in the upper third of the range and you should be converting this into T3, which should also be well up in the range.

The tsh is usually supressed if the T4 and T3 are high enough.

Get the results of any tests taken over the past few years and post them here, at least you'll have a staring point to see why you feel so rough..... It may be that you simply are not on enough. Have you taken Vitamin C and Selenium along with the Levothyroxine? What shape are your adrenals in? How is your B12, Folate and Iron? D3? it all counts.

Nel.

[Hidden in reply to hypodi]

What dose of vitamin C and selenium is recommended? Is it true that too high a dose of selenium can cause hair loss?