Test results - what's wrong - please help!

[lizanne]

Hi All

Firstly – I apologise for the long post here but I wanted to give you all the facts. I have been struggling for 7 years to find out why my hair and eyebrows have never recovered despite being on T3 and T4. I have just had a battery of tests done – this is my last chance to find out whats wrong and put things right so I am as close to normal as possible!

Facts:

I am female mid 40s

1) First Hypo symptoms 9 years ago – cold/low body temp with aching joints, constipation and outer 1/3 eyebrow loss

2) Progressed to – total eyebrow loss, lost hair from arms and legs, lost about 1/3 of hair on head, stiff and painful joints, high anxiety, low moods, and exhaustion. GP, endo who all agreed hypo symptoms but normal test results so wouldn’t help.

3) 7 years ago, progressed to signs of adrenal fatigue. Finally got help from private GP and started treatment.

4) I have made great progress and feel 20 times better than I did EXCEPT my hair has never recovered and that really does bother me as I guess it would most people. I know it also means that there is something still not right.

5) I am currently on 125mg of T4 and 40mg of T3 daily plus VIt D, B12 and evening primrose oil

I have now had all the tests I can afford to try and find out what is wrong. As you can see from results below there is a big problem with DHEA and Testosterone (I’m a girl – didn’t even know I had it!?).

My Vitamin D, B12 and Ferritin results are all great and well in range after supplementing so that is a good news.

Can you see anything there that could be tweaked that could help with hair and final recovery. Note my private GP has recommended pregnenolone and dhea to help adrenals – will this help re hair?

Thank you for helping

Lizanne

Blood tests & ranges

TSH 0.07 (0.3 to 4.5)

T3 free 3.64 (2.1 to 4.2)

T4 free 0.86 (0.7 to 1.8)

Testosterone 85 (150 to 600) this result doesn’t look good at all – is it linked to adrenals??

DHEA 41 (65 to 280) doesn’t look great either

Urine tests

T3 1770 (800 to 2500)

T4 2120 (550 to 3160) looks high here but is low in blood tests – why would that be?

Total 17 OH steroids 2.81 (3.17 to 8.63) I don’t know what this is either but doesn’t look good

Saliva Test

These are my adrenal/cortisol/DHEA levels and the time the test was done. The overall comment was that I was at Resistance Stage 3 - Maladaption

1 (after waking at 7am)

results 17.6. Results on the normal range. The range was 12-22

2 (4.5 hours later)

results 4.8. Results low and outside the range. The range was 5-9

3 (another 4.5 hours later)

results 2.6. Results low and outside the range. The range was 3-7

4 (just before bed time)

results 1.4. Results in normal range. The range was 1-3

total daily cortisol 26.4 (range 21 to 41).

DHEA levels

0.08 (results were low) range 0.30 to 1.00

0.10 (results were low) range 0.30 to 1.00

DHEA:Cortisol Ration 0.34 (results were low) range 1.0 to 4.0

[sporty333]

Wow, you adrenal stress test results were the same as mine! I'm about to have another one, along with the urine test. Are you under dr P?

Simon

[Jackie]

Hi You are right ,if the treatment is correct you should feel well. Have you had your vit D, calcium and PTH tested, together AM. If P all high or D high for you and others high you need a nuclear scan for the parathyroid and an ultra sound for the thyroid.Do you know you must have calcium tests with vit D, corrected calcium, as if out of range, higher, it is too dangerous to take vit D. What about diabetic tests? It is hormonal and autoimmune.. very similar symptoms to start with.Also worth having the not totally reliable Caeliac blood test.When seeing a good endo all these things and adrenals etc are tested.

If you do not feel well, something is wrong and you do need to find out what it is. Sometimes, thyroid disease can be a red herring, make sure this is not your case.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

Best wishes,

Jackie

[lizanne in reply to Jackie]

Hi Jackie and Simon

Thanks for replying.

No I am not seeing Dr P - I'm seeing another doctor off the thyroid uk list.

Re VIt D yes that is fine and they tested my calcium at the same time. I did have very low vitamin d but after supplementing etc it has come up and I feel all the better for it. I have also been tested for caeliac so a lot of those things have been already been checked.

I am not under an endo - the one I was referred to originally was very dismissive which is why I went down the private GP route. I do keep my NHS GP posted on my results. hence latest battery of tests to figure out what is missing as I am doing so much better than when first diagnosed but just trying to solve the hair problem that was my first hypo symptom and the last to go!

I think it is coming back to adrenals and thyroid meds as that seems to be what the tests are showing most clearly. I just need to figure out what I need to do or take!

Lizanne

[Jackie in reply to lizanne]

Hi Yes unfortunately a lot of people have bad experiences with endo`s, although of course same could be said of doctors in general, including private ones.

What does the private doctor think?

I saw a private doc for 2 years, long ago and they did no tests what so ever, so good that the GP is still taking an interest.It was only hen I saw my brilliant endo that I had al the tests and quickly my Hashimoto became stable. With a few blips!

I hope you sort it all out soon!

Best wishes,

Jackie