Thyroid question...
Every time I have a check up my doc checks my thyroid because it seems on the surface that something is wrong with it. Every time it shows up on the labs as normal..I don't know what the numbers are but they tell be it is within normal limits. My questions are; 1. Was it easy for you to get diagnosed? 2. Were any of your results within normal limits? 3. Did they have you do the basal body temperature and how accurate was that?
I have the following symptoms of hypothyroidism, as detailed by the Merck Manual, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the Thyroid Foundation of America
_yes*_ I am gaining weight inappropriately *(I eat no more than 1300 calories a day)
_yes___ I'm unable to lose weight with diet/exercise
__no__ I am constipated, sometimes severely
_always!___ I have hypothermia/low body temperature (I feel cold when others feel hot, I need extra sweaters, etc.)
_yes___ I feel fatigued, exhausted
_yes___ Feeling run down, sluggish, lethargic
_yes___ My hair is coarse and dry, breaking, brittle, falling out
_yes*___ My skin is coarse, dry, scaly, and thick *(not thick)
_no___ I have a hoarse or gravely voice
_no___ I have puffiness and swelling around the eyes and face
_yes___ I have pains, aches in joints, hands and feet
_yes___ I have developed carpal-tunnel syndrome, or it's getting worse
_yes___ I am having irregular menstrual cycles (longer, or heavier, or more frequent)
_n/a___ I am having trouble conceiving a baby
__yes__ I feel depressed
_yes___ I feel restless
_giant yes___ My moods change easily
_?___ I have feelings of worthlessness
_yes___ I have difficulty concentrating
yes____ I have more feelings of sadness
_yes___ I seem to be losing interest in normal daily activities
_yes___ I'm more forgetful lately
I also have the following additional symptoms, which have been reported more frequently in people with hypothyroidism:
_yes__ My hair is falling out
_yes___ I can't seem to remember things
_yes___ I have no sex drive
_no___ I am getting more frequent infections, that last longer
_no___ I'm snoring more lately
__no__ I have/may have sleep apnea
_yes___ I feel shortness of breath and tightness in the chest
_yes___ I feel the need to yawn to get oxygen
_no___ My eyes feel gritty and dry
_no___ My eyes feel sensitive to light
_no___ My eyes get jumpy/tics in eyes, which makes me dizzy/vertigo and have headaches
no____ I have strange feelings in neck or throat
_no___ I have tinnitus (ringing in ears)
_no___ I get recurrent sinus infections
_yes___ I have vertigo
_yes___ I feel some lightheadedness
_yes___ I have severe menstrual cramps
any advise would be greatly appreciated.
They diagnosed my hypothyroidism with a basic TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) blood test. There are more advanced ways to test, but I didn't need any of them so I'm not familiar with them.
I still have the symptoms even with thyroid replacement. I'm brain dead without it and that improves, but with it I still have to eat like I'm anorexic and I'm often cold.
Insist on getting the TSH, TS3 and TS4 tests. I'm sure I was hypothyroid for years before the doctors would accept that "low normal" was actually "low." If you live where you have to pay, you are a customer as well as a patient. Get a second opinion and demand to be heard. If you're willing to pay for the tests, they should be willing to run them.
since they have tested me every year for at least 5 years and my symptoms are getting worse I have done some research and found that some peoples test show normal...because I feel like crap all the time I feel that she thinks its all in my head ..even though she has always been nothing but nice to me..so I am hesitant to bring up that some peoples test are within normal range and they still have hypothyroid...unless someone personally tells me that it happed to them...you know?
Yabbit, yours was low normal?
They found mine with just blood work, the first time they tested, but I think mine was pretty wack by then because I had all of those symptoms to the extreme. They never did the basal temp thing for me or anything, although I know for me 96 degrees fahrenheit is normal, which is a little lower than average.
Have you been to this site?
http://www.endocrineweb.com/tests.html
I feel like I have a "wow, I am stupid" brain. Probably not a symptom but that is how I feel sometimes when I know I know something but just can't make it click..that is how I felt trying to understand that website. Thank you for the link though..I am going to try and go through it again later when maybe I am not so "duh".
even though you may be w/in "normal" levels, it may be low *for you*.
there are more and more docs realizing this...that some pple may need a bit higher of a level...still w/in "normal", but on the higher end.
Some are putting their patients on a small dose of med...about 20-25 mg, to see if that helps w/ symptoms. THere is some thought that depression, fibromyalgia andother random conditions can be affected by low thyroid (again, "low" being a relative number).
It would be worth getting a printout of all your lab work. Pay attention to the numbers and see if there arent major fluctuations as well.
i hope you feel better!
This website has TONS of great info about hypo (and hyper)-thyroidism. If my mememory is correct, the woman who started it had to do tons and tons of research on her own because her doctor refused to (listen to her and) believe she had hypothyroidism.
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
Seding you well wishes in your search for better health. :)
OMG! brain fog is a symptom!
I just went to the site you link to firefightress and it is great.
Thank you so much guys...maybe I can know get to the bottom of this.
ps. vegwebbers rock! :)>>>
eeewwwww....the thyroid replacement she recommends comes from pigs. :'( >:(
Yabbit, yours was low normal?
Yup, for years I heard, "Well, it's a leeetle low, but normal." But over the last few years I got the symptom of coarse hair, insomnia etc. Finally I went in for a full physical and my GP was astounded that my cholesterol was maxed out. ME? So she ran the TS3 and TS4 tests. TSH isn't enough, make sure you get those 2. TSH will just say "it's a little low but still in the normal range."
The "specialist" tried to tell me "it's not your thyroid"until I mentioned that I choke on swallowing water sometimes. That seemed to get thru to her. Voila--Hashimoto's.
I am still thinking that they need to up my meds again, but on the NHS sometimes it's hard to get heard. Not because of our health system but because of this city--doctors think they are God. But in Sept I am going to a paid nutritionist and if I have to go to a paid endocrinologist too, I will. Sigh.
The rich pay with money, the poor pay with time. And patience. And perseverance.
I wasn't paying attention to this thread cause well, I thought I was fine. Wow, the majority of those symptoms... yeah, that's me. Alright, time to get some blood drawn!! Thanks for bringing this to our attention THHF!! And I hope you feel better soon, ALL of you! :)>>>
Brain Fog: When I was in college I didn't have health insurance, or any money ($12 a week for food). I could get thyroid replacement through the Health Center on campus, but it cost $30 for a 90 day supply and I didn't have $30. There was a huge decline in my being able to think. I developed test anxiety that semester, because everything was so much harder and I was used to my high standards.
yg mentioned cholesterol. High cholesterol is another symptom of an underperforming thyroid. Have them check that, too. Being vegan helps with cholesterol, so even if it's just a little high, it will tell you something.
Wow, high chlosterol with thyroid issues. I never thought of that. My husband has alot of those symptoms including the fact that no matter what he can't loose any weight. ??? I think I'm going to have him talk to the dr about this as a possiblity. On a funny side note one of the symptoms is "Handwriting nearly illegible", his is pretty bad, but wouldn't that mean that all dr's have hypothyroidism.
My hubby's handwriting is flat-down illegible, but that's just him. A former forger (now classed up) who was one of his clients told him that nobody on earth could imitate his signature. He was like, "What--this old thing?" ;D
It's not just me. I once went to Wales and took a list of CDs my husband was interested in getting. On the list was Vaughn Williams' "Songs of the Morning" and the fellow in the shop looked at it and faltered: "Songs..of the..Motorway?" Not to mention that Tomasso Albinoni looks like Tomato Albino. (Must be some new cat! Let's give it a listen to!)
How much processed soy are you eating? Soy in small quantities and unprocessed like tofu, and soy milk 1-2 servings daily is good for you, but highly processed soy such as in TVP and meat analogs and excessive soy intake can be "goitergenic" to some people, meaning it can cause hypothyroidism. The reason I know this is because I have hypothyroidism that was prompted by too much soy consumption. I wound up having to take medication for it. My diet is still vegan, but I really watch the soy now. I use mostly rice milk or nut milks, get my protein from beans or seitan, and my symptoms gradually improved. If the medication is not vegan, I'm sorry and I hate it, but the symptoms were very bad and there was no other way. It is quite possible that your TSH can be in the "subclinical" range and you will have symptoms, but your doctor may not treat it because it technically still falls within normal levels; some doctors are conservative like that. Having at least the TSH and Free T4 done will give you a bigger picture of overall thyroid function, but I would ask for the actual numbers, not just the doctor's opinion of whether it is normal or not. I say all of these things from my experience both with the hypothyroidism and as a nurse for 15 years working with doctors.
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that my hypothyroidism WAS "subclinical". My TSH was 3.68 which is in the upper normal range meaning that I was producing more than adequate thyroid stimulating hormone, but my thyroid was not reacting. My personal physician, luckily, was not conservative and went ahead and treated my symptoms, very similar to yours, with the medication. I hope that you can find out what is causing your symptoms, be it your thyroid or hopefully something else even simpler. I know how miserable it can be.