Very frustrated at the mo, if I get out of my car and touch our metal gate I get a little jolt....this has also coincided with me suddenly starting to get cramp in my feet and achy muscles. My face has also gone very round, puffy and I've grown a double chin and the back of my throat always looks red, my brain fog is also getting worse.
I've only been diagnosed for just over a year and was feeling very well for around 5 months up until 4 weeks ago, since then I've steadily gone downhill and can't understand what has gone wrong.
I've been on levo for just over a year steadily increasing the dose.
My TSH has gone from 4.8 to 0.03 and my T4 is now 14 and I was positive for antibodies. Sorry don't know the ranges.
I've recently been suffering badly with anxiety, panic attacks, rapid heart rate and was advised to reduce my Levo from 100 to 75 and was also given Sertraline.
I have also been taking Vit D as i was deficient with a result of 20, Ferrous Fumerate and also B12.
I feel extremely depressed and low because I've gone from feeling okay to feeling lousy....also I feel like I can't breathe properly (already on Fostair pink inhaler).
I'm due to go back to the Doctor next week for more blood tests. Is there anything else I should be telling her or asking her ? Could it be an Adrenal problem or something else ? I must admit the electric shocks and cramps have got me baffled.
Can anybody share some words of wisdom please ?
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Ask for a 24hour cortisol urine test to rule out Cushings Disease. It is rare and difficult to diagnose and I suffered for years until I was eventually listened to having crawled into my endo saying that I could no longer function. He simply me asked how I managed going upstairs? I replied that I couldn't do stairs having had to move into a bedroom on the ground floor. I don't mean to be alarmist but it is worth ruling it out. I have had an underactive thyroid for over 30 years. Ging
Dont know if its connected but I keep getting electric shocks lately and I have just had an adrenal test done. Not getting the cramps but am also low in vitD ( have just finished a weeks course of 50,000iu suppliments again as this is the second time of having them). I am also low in iron and am supplimenting them as well. My endo gave me a thorough going over and also book me for the adrenal test (my initial adrenal test came back out of range so he ordered a more indepth one), bone scan and heart scan (due to rapid/irruegular heart beat), which I am having on the 17th. Didn't get the electric shocks until I started taking the iron suppliments so dont quite know what to think of that. Had the adrenal test done two weeks ago and am waiting the results but its strange how our symptoms are so similar.
Gosh it is similar isn't it. I did have a phase of having electric shocks last year I'd even pass them onto my children if I touched them getting out of the car but then they just stopped possibly at the same time as I started to feel better.
When do you take your Levo - morning or evening and you do take it well away from any food, drink (expecially milk) and suppliments dont you? I know I may be telling you what you already know but thought I would check. You being low in three of the main vitamins that are key for absorbing the levo wont have helped your situation so maybe once you get these up to an optimum level you will notice that your thyroid meds work better.
I have been wheat free for about 4 months now and found it a great help. If your body is having trouble absorbing the Levo then no matter how much you take it wont get to where its supposed to, it will show in your bloods but wont be getting into your cells.
When I first started taking my levo I took it in the morning and my TSH barely moved in 6 months from 4.8 to 4.6..then to 3.8. I decided to take it at night as it was easier to control with having to take 3 x iron tablets. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence but since taking them at night and also starting to take B12 sublingually I've seen my TSH go from 3.8 to 0.03.
I ran out of the B12 3 weeks ago and yes it's coincided with my poorly symptoms re-occuring but surely it wouldn't have such a negative impact so quickly ?? Brain fog and disorientation has definitely got worse in the last week. My last bloods have shown my B12, Iron have improved ....Vit D I'm not sure as i had that done privately due to my GP nto being able to test for it, you need to be referred by a consultant !
I feel I may suffer with 'gut' problems and a change in diet may help, however I don't feel knowledgable enough to know what to do. I've always had a problem going to the loo, had IBS, and had a feeling I may have 'absorption' problems but it's just a feeling as i haven't had any tests.
I've recently put on a huge amount of weight around my middle which is not shifting and feel very sluggish after eating bread, chocolate etc......generally my diet is good (when I'm feeling healthy and fit) but when I feel ill and lethargic I find comfort in eating those exact foods that end up making me feel worse - catch 22 !
Sorry to waffle - going back to your point though Moggie so are you saying even if my bloods show a raised T4 it doesn't mean it's going into my cells hence why my health doesn't reflect my results ? Is that right ? It certainly makes sense but what would I have to do about that then ?
You would need to clean your gut up so that your body can use the levo properly. Just try cutting out bread for a week and see how you go (as well as cake and biscuits). You have an autoimmune illness which is attacking your thyroid but it also leads to other problems, expecially in the gut.
If you are on enough levo, which I think you possibly are, and you are low in so many vitamins I would be starting to questions why I cannot absorb vitamins from my food and the obvious answer would be that my stomach is not very healthy. An awful lot of thyroid sufferers also have coeliac, which is a wheat and gluten intolerance.
Have a ead of this very interesting story, which explains it a lot better than I can.
Thank you so much Moggie, you've been a great help and have motivated me to sort myself out....it's so easy to wallow and let this illness get the better of us, everyone on here is such an inspriation. Thank you
Your more than welcome - it is such a complicated illness, and usualy not just the one illness either, so sites like this one are a very valuable learning tool which I, like many, take full advantage of BUT sites like this one can only point you in the right direction and its really up to you to help yourself.
Why dont you speak to your GP and ask for a coeliac test BEFORE you reduce your wheat intake, tell him/her that you feel you have absorbtion issues and would like to find out why, if he isnt veryhelpful then ask to be rferred to an endo. I had a test done after being wheat free for three months and it has showed up nothing (cant understand why my endo ordered it seeing as he knew I had been wheat free) but it just goes to show that even endo's are now realising that thyroid meds may not be working due to gut issues. You need to have eaten wheat normally for at least six weeks for the test to work so before you start looking at your diet ask for the test.
My endo said the same as I am saying to you - "we need to look at other things to see why your thyroid meds are not working" hence all the tests he has put me through and like you I was found to be low in a lot of vitamins. Also dont rule out adrenal problems will you but what you do about that is another issue as the NHS GP's dont really recognise it although your GP may be different to mine, maybe another good reason for seeing an endo as they do recognise it and do factor it into thyroid issues.
The electric shocks could be a consequence of the colder weather. In colder, drier places, this is quite a common thing to happen in the winter. I think we don't usually get much of this here due to the higher humidity. Just a thought. discoveryplace.org/blog/pos...
Did they tell you that the anti-bodies were for Hashi's? If so, that could be why you are suddenly feeling worse. Long story short, with Hashi's the antibodies slowly destroy the thyroid gland (simplified version) so you slowly get more and more hypo. Ideally, as you get more hypo, your levo should be increased to compensate, but yours has been decreased, so I'm not surprised you don't feel well. 75 is a tiny dose, almost a starter dose. Anxiety, panic attacks, rapid heart rate and depression can all be hypo symptoms, so it's more than likely that your 100 should have been increased rather than reduced.
Thanks for this Greygoose. Like many other people the doctor didn't really explain much to me or tell me what it was called. She just said your antibodies are positive which means your thyroid will pack up in the future, come back in 8 weeks and start taking this medication.
i didn't realise that the anxitey, panic attacks, rapid HR and depression were also signs of being hypo.
The pins and needles and muscular pains seem to have returned aswell.
Thanks everyone, I've only been diagnosed for about 14/15months and I'm already fed up so I can't even begin to imagine what some of you are going through when you've been suffering for 10 to 30 years.....I take my hat off to you but most of all wish you well x
I'm not sure about those static shocks. I sometimes get them and when I do, my husband also gets them so I don't think it has anything to do with one's health as he is not ill. I wonder if there is an environmental cause instead.
I have been getting (and giving) a lot of electric shocks since I started on levo three months ago. In fact it is so bad at times you can see it and I even boosted my iphone the other week just by touching it! it was on charge at 65% and I zapped it and it went up to 94% !!
I have the shocks too, ive noticed them a lot more and get them every time i get out of the car, it annoys me so much!!! My son thinks its hilarious and loves to watch the spark??!! Ive always been able to recieve shocks off things like shopping trollies cars etc but this has been happenening every day now for a few months so i wonder if it has got something to do with 'winter'. I use my feet to close the doors now.
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