I have just been to see my MD after having blood tests for Hypothyroid (yearly update) Chloresterol and HBA1c. My MD says that despite having 25g more thyroxine my Chloresterol has gone up. It's just hereditary she says. Can anyone tell me if high C can be caused in the process of losing weight? I was very pleased with myself because I have lost 2st since last year, which should have helped my chloresterol come down. I wondered if the liver disposing of the excess fat coult increase the blood chloresterol.
Help!!! Anyone?
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WaryofMDs
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Hi Never heard of this but make sure your thyroid is treated correctly ie TSH, T4 and Free T3.Is your BP Ok? Heart rate ( 60 to 80) and even? I would be looking elseware, not thyroid but have the tests to be sure.You say it is high but how high? Did you have a further 3 monthly check to make sure it was not a fluke? What about the genetics? Are members of family with heart problems?You are right that all blood is controlled by liver and a close connection with cholestoral, but, I have never heard of this. Have you had your LFT`s checked ( liver function ), do you have any liver pain? It would also be worth checking for Diabetes, Glucose and Hb1Ac, also U`s and E`s, kidney function. potassium and sodium most important. GFR should be above 60 for a good kidney output. This is just a few ideas, I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Jackie
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Hi Jackie, thanks for answering. My thyroid is monitored by TSH and GP sat with screen turned away and did not give any figures. I have been hypo since around 1970 when it was treated with 300mg of natural thyroid. It was swapped to Levo around 1975. I was never free from symptoms although there was some improvement after the first diagnosis. I was afraid to go back and say I was not completely better as I thought they might take me off it completely (my stupidity not theirs) A new GP took over practice and reduced me from 200mcg to 175 where I stayed until I moved house and the new GP started the old process of reducing me down to 125. I was then diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. No treatment given, just diet controlled, but frankly I have not changed my diet and since raised Levo to 150 (at my insistence) I have not had any probs. I went for my yearly checkup and was told thatt my TSH was too low. When I contested this she said "well lower end of normal" and agreed to let me try another 25mcg which I am now doing. I have to go back in six weeks. When I asked how my Chloresterol was doing, she said it had gone up and did not say from what, to what, and repeated the old "hereditary" bit. As far as I know my family was not known for this problem, my blood pressure is OK average of about 151/59. I had expected by Cholesterol to have gone down with the extra Thyroxine, although over the last year my weight has come down from 14st to 12st without appreciable reduction in food. (Not that I did not have a healthy diet anyway).
I have not heard so much rubbish for a long time. I would change GP if possible or a different one in the practice.It is just terrible. First you are entitled to blood results, nothing to do with disclosure of info , quite separate, Even in the worse hospitals I go in I ask and receive results as they come up to the ward.If you are not well the GP is wrong, it is obvious that the thyroid is out. That is why you have high cholesterol, perfectly true that it can be hereditary but not with the thyroid out.Also diabetes autoimmune ,hormonal , so quite possible that is related to thyroid. Untreated diabetes is very dangerous, heart kidneys, periphery neuralgia, ( remedy legs or feet chopped off ) . I feel simply dreadful when my diabetes is out of control, it is at the moment. You also need your proper thyroid tests. and proper thyroid treatment to make you feel well again.Are you able to have them at Blue Horizon, as I do? They are a very well known Lab called TDL which all the private hospitals use so well known to all doctors and well recognised, They do all the NHS tests and more and are better. The results come to you on line. I have the intermediate test done for thyroid from them, if you quote TUK 10 it costs £61.thyroiduk.org.uk/yuk/te the result will come with ranges. Then take them to the GP ,if he will still nlot treat you or anyway, I would ask to be referred to an endo of your choice, not his. Do all the research first. I would also change GP`s, he obviously does not care about his patients, actually I am incensed. i have had some terrible doctors but that he should behave like that is simple indescribable
In the meantime, have you looked at diabetes UK and the American equivalent, especially diet as not what one imagines, ie little fruit , green veg, little protein ,no potatoes etc. A good endo would look after that and test for all the other things you should have been tested for.
Let me know what you do. You can PM me if you like, click on my name.
Higher cholesterol is a symptoms of hypothyroidism. Maybe you are not on enough meds. This is an extract
Of all the problems that can affect physical or mental health, none is more common than thyroid gland disturbance. None is more readily and inexpensively corrected. And none is more often untreated, and even unsuspected.
Hypothyroidism -- low thyroid function -- is one of the gland disturbances that many people suffer from without even realizing it. It can be the cause of low energy or constant fatigue that is one of the most common complaints brought to doctors. It may be responsible for chronic headaches, repeated infections, unyielding skin problems, or circulatory difficulties. Even more frightening, it can be a major factor in heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema. And it is responsible for many emotional and mental disturbances. Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness explains low thyroid function in easy, understandable language. It tells how it may be affecting your health and your life.
Dr. Broda Barnes and Lawrence Galton tell what the thyroid gland is, how it works, the problems its dysfunction can induce. They detail case histories of patients, often thought hopeless, whose problems were discovered to be related to hypothyroidism and were cured by Dr. Barnes's simple effective techniques. And they discuss whether you too may be hypothyroid, affected by a condition even a physician may not recognize.
Included is a simple test you can make at home to discover if hypothyroidism may be the real, previously unsuspected cause of your ill health.
If you know you are hypothyroid, Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness will answer your questions about your condition. If you suspect you maybe, if you are unsure what may be causing those chronic headaches, infections, fatigue and low energy, it may help you find the answer.
++++
The above is background to a book written by a doctor, now deceased, but a Clinic follows his ways of detecting thyroid gland problems.
I am Hypothyroid, was diagnosed around 1970 by local GP, who put me on thyroid tabs. I have never been symptom free, but when I moved to another GP I was swapped to Levo. The practice was sold and the new doc said my THS was non existent and cut me down gradually to 175mcg. I felt awful and kept falling asleep and eventually had to take early retirement as I couldn't stay awake at work and GP said she couldn't keep giving me sick notes. I moved away from the area and new GP said my TSH was too low and I would have heart attacks if I didn't lower my T4. I got steadily worse until they had reduced me to 125. Finally I cracked and said I wanted 150 on that for about nine months until my last GP appointment where she said I could take another 25mcg for six weeks and if my TSH stayed "within normal" that would be ok. I had been expecting my Chloresterol to have reduced, but she said it had actually gone up (again didn't say from what to what, but I know it was 6.9 when I was on 1.25mcg. whilst on that dose I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which I believe I have under good control with diet (and could it be more thyroxine?)
It really is scandalous that some GP's play havoc with our health, when they have not one clue about the danger they are causing to their patients, due only to the reliance on the TSH. It is shocking really. (I am not medically qualified)
Dr Lowe has said in his articles that because we get such a low dose of thyroid gland hormones nowadays, instead of the between 200mcg and 400mcg which used to be prescribed before the blood tests became the way to diagnose and that we may get other more serious problems, i.e. diabetes, cancer and heart.
Some of the links within this may not work but if you cursor to the question dated January 25, 2002 and also the first letter re suppressive doses:- Forget 'normal' we should not have a normal TSH:-
extract :
And adjusting the thyroid hormone dose by the TSH level gets most patients in trouble—almost always because their tissue metabolism is so slow that they are sick.
If you email louise.warvill@thyroiduk.org and ask for a copy of the article by Dr Toft, you will see question 6 is that:-
The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range – 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.
But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This ‘exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism’ is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l).
Even while taking the slightly higher dose of levothyroxine a handful of patients continue to complain that a sense of wellbeing has not been restored. A trial of levothyroxine and tri-iodothyronine is not unreasonable. The dose of levothyroxine should be reduced by 50µg daily and tri iodothyronine in a dose of 10µg (half a tablet) daily added.
Thanks shaws for your continued help and counsel. I did ask the doc about natural thyroid and she said that it was old fashioned and un reliable and one couldn't rely on the patient getting a regular dose ( I have since thought, can anyone get a regular dose from their own thyroid gland?) I mentioned T3 and she said that was unneccessary as the T4 was converted in the body to T3. Speaking as tho' she speaking to a child! She even mentioned learning about the thyroid at university in such a manner that implied that her knowledge was superior to mine. I kick myself for not saying that I have been studying and having practical experience for 40 years.
Unfortunately, I think that although it is a huge practice I do not hold out any hope that other doctors may be different. She is comparatively new and on our first appointment she was falling over herself to help, since that appointment she seems to be "towing the party line" so to speak. The practice covers about three towns including the one where I live and in that town there are no other practices.
I am taking note of what both you and Jackie have said and am at present constructing a plan of campaign. I think you are right that I should get a check up and tests from a private doc.
Many thanks to both of you, I don't know where I would be without you!!
On levo I got even more disabling symptoms than before I was diagnosed (which took about 3 years - never had a TSH test) Finally had one and my TSH was 100.
The problem is that most doctors trained since the 50's have not had the training in clinical symptoms of thyroid gland problems which Dr S and Dr P certainly had as there was no TSH blood test then. Louise also has a list of NHS Endos if you email her some are prescribing other than levo.
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