Consultant recommendations in the Essex, London, South East area

[Cybob]

Hi

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism almost 5 years ago now despite me not having any symptoms. I'd had a blood test because of illness in my family and I was very surprised to find out that my T4 levels were around 8.5 and my TSH was 10.3. My antibodies were out of range and my iron levels were borderline anaemic also.

I was started on Levothyroxine (25mg), there were a few ups and downs and consultations and at some point after a year my dose was increased to 50mg. My T4 (2.72) increased and TSH (2.72) decreased to the appropriate ranges after approx 20 months. Everything sounds great, but it wasn't.

Before I was on the medication, I felt great, I had a lot of energy, my diet was great and I'd recently managed to lose a decent chunk of weight since having two children. For reference, my weight was 61kg down from 70kg in the space of a year. But whilst on the medication, I was feeling sick all the time, very tired, and my mood was low. I even began putting on weight and my periods got worse. Despite my T4 and TSH being at the right levels, my quality of life had dropped significantly and I was experiencing the symptoms of hypothyroidism for the first time!

I met with the GP several times and even a consultant to explain that I was better off before the medication. They would only blindly argue that being off the medication was too serious to consider, but they never tried a different medication or adjusting the dosage - as long as the numbers were "OK" they didn't care that my standard of living had plummeted.

I decided to come off of the medication against the doctor's wishes after two years because I didn't want to suffer in the short term for the sake of the long term and hoped that the hypothyroidism was more a symptom of the low iron levels (which I read could be a cause of Hypothyroidism rather than a symptom). I immediately began to feel better.

I never ignored the issue, I continued to use iron supplements, focused on having a good diet and looked into other avenues. I have recently used a P5P supplement that supposedly helps bypass a genetic inability to process vitamin B6 and solve a bottleneck in the chain of T4 production (or something like that, the science is beyond me). This made me feel even better and I had high hopes that my T4 and TSH were returning to normal.

After two years off of the Levothyroxine, I still feel great but unfortunately my levels have not improved. Currently my levels are T4: 7 and TSH: 42.

I am open again to trying traditional medication again, but I would really like to seek out a specialist who will listen to me and take my wellbeing into consideration. Ideally I like to find a specialist who will look deeper into my condition, my high thyroid antibodies and low iron and even consider alternatives such as T3 supplementation, desiccated thyroid or at the very least different brands of Levothyroxine. I also had a blood transfusion after my second child and it caused me to have anti-c blood. I wonder if this could be a cause of the situation?

I live in Epping, Essex and so any recommendations of a specialist in London, Essex or nearby would be very much appreciated. Please private message me if you can help. Thank you so much.

Gem x