PCOS HASHIMOTOS FBC RESULTS ADVICE NEEDED

[Serendipity97]

Hello,I'm a 26 years old woman with two young children aged 2 and 3.

I've had Hashitmotos disease since 2017 and suffered from postpartum thyroiditis after both pregnancys.

I also suffer eith PCOS for over 10 years.

I've recently come off the contraceptive pill (progesterone only) I was only on it for 3 months but it was making my PCOS worse. I had 4 burst cysts within the 3 months I was on it. I am also currently reducing my antidepressants that I've been on since September 2023 (citalopram 20mg) over thr past month I've reduced from 20mg to 10mg and feels so much better for it. My memory was awful to the point I couldn't remember when I'd showered, what day it was, plans I'd made even with help of a calendar. I also became even more depressed and anxious and overall not able to cope, which as a single mother of 2 toddlers is not helpful.

ANYWAY..

I recently has blood tests done and received my results today for thyroid function (they didn't do T3)

Iron profile, full hormone profile and blood count. My FBC has come back high in some and I'm not really sure what this means. I've been feeling unwell for a while now. I haven't had my period for 54 days. I have tried a castor oil pack at night for weeks which would usually help it start but nothing. I take agnus castus every day. I have no energy, I'm taking iron plus from wild nutrition, a women's multi vitamin as well as an immune multi vitamin but my chest always feels heavy. I'm out of breath easily and I honestly couldn't exercise if I tried which is upsetting as I love it. I can't lose weight yet I'm eating well. I currently take 100mg of levothyroxine daily as well as the above multi vitamins and omega 3 and 10mg of Citalopram hoping to keep rducing down. I just wondered if someone could look at these bloods and give me an idea of what might be going on eith me as my GP is no help.

Thanks so much.

Blood results as follows:

FBC in photo attached

Plasma FSH level: 6.2 IU/L

Female FSH reference range:

Follicular Phase: *3.5-12.5*

Ovulation phase: *4.7-21.5*

Luteal Phase: *1.7 - 7.7*

Poat Menopause: 25.8 - 134.8

"Plasma LH Level" 17.0 IU/L

Female LH Reference Range:

Follicular phase: *2.4-12.6*

Ovulation Phase: *14-95.6*

Luteal Phase: *1.0-11.4*

Post Menopause: *7.7 - 58.5*

"Plasma prolactin level" 162 mIU/L (102-496)

"Plasma oestradiol level" 198 pmol/L

Female 0E2 ref range:

Follicular phase: *114-332*

Ovulation Phase: *222-1959*

Luteal Phase: *222-854*

Post menopuase: *<505

Vitamin B12 foliate

Vitamin b12 level: 556ng/L (197-771)

Foliate level: 11.2 ug/L (3.0-26.8)

Iron profile:

Serum transferrin: 2.25 (2.00-3.60)

Ferritin level: 67 (13-150)

Iron level:20 (10-30)

Transferrin Saturation: 35.6% (20.0- 55.0)

Thyroid function

TSH level : 2.16 (0.27-4.20)

Free T4: 18.3 (12.00-22.00

Urea, creatinine and electrolytes:

Sodium level: 140 (135-146)

Potassium level: 4.1 (3.5-4.6)

Chloride level: 105 (95-108)

Urea level: 4.2 (2.5-7.8)

Creatinine level: 58 (45-84)

Bicarbonate level: 22 (22-29)

#hashimotos #thyroidfunction #PCOS #hormones

[catpotter44]

Hi Serendipity97,

Sorry to hear you're having such a rough ride. I also have both PCOS and hypothyroidism (probably hashi's), and have felt the same difficulty exercising. I'm still figuring things out, am still having issues, but I do have a few suggestions I hope might be helpful.

Firstly, have you been on the thyroid UK forum? It's very active and lots of good info about thyroid.

Have you had your vitamin D tested? I didn't see it. This one is extremely important and will definitely contribute to fatigue if low. And it tends to be low in both hypothyroidism and pcos. Supplementing vitamin D has been a huge help for me. I also supplement Magnesium which is necessary for the body to use Vitamin D correctly, and can be depleted by stress.

You say you're supplementing iron, have you had low iron in the past? I don't have a lot of knowledge on the topic, but maybe if you don't need it it could relate to high FBC numbers? All I know is you have to be careful with iron supplementation if you don't need it. Hopefully someone else can give better advice on the iron topic.

A lot of your symptoms sound thyroid related. Even depression. Your thyroid levels could be better. In the thyroidUK forum they recommend that TSH tends to be closer to 1 for people to feel better. Also T4 should be in the top quarter of the range (75% through the range) and it is currently 63%, so you have room for improvement. The other thing is to try to get freeT3 tested. T4 (which our medication is) needs to be converted into T3 by the body in order to be used, so if you aren't converting well, this can contribute to symptoms too. I believe this is affected by certain nutrients (eg selenium), gut health and stress.

For me, dealing with gut health and stress seem to be the final pieces of the puzzle, my most recent blood test came back good, although I have still been experiencing symptoms. Stress is probably the hardest thing to deal with, because we all have stress in our lives, right! But I think it is something that can really help move the needle. The more I research and the more I listen to my own body, the more I realise how huge an influence stress is. Because it effects the adrenals, which are linked to the ovaries and thyroid and all the other hormones! Eating enough protein made a huge difference to me too, and I am currently working on healing my gut and starting to see improvements.

Anyway, it's a lot of info, but I've gone through it and hope that what I have learned might be helpful. Summary, optimise thyroid, vitamin D and Magnesium, look after adrenal health (stress) and gut health.

It's a lot, but small steps and look after yourself. Good luck!