thyroid misery

Greendiamond

Hello everybody,

Just had some bloods back from my gp and she says my TSH is 5.9 , t3 and t4 are ok. I have to go back in 3 months to be retested and then most likely be put on medication.
My problem is I have a lot of weight to lose. For the last 6 months I have made drastic changes to my diet and lifestyle. I cut out all junk, have 3 healthy meals per day, snack on fruit and excercise daily. I am only losing a pound a month !!
It's so disheartening .....would my elevated TSH be stopping my weight loss and if so what can I do for the next three months before I get my bloods done again?.
I am 45 and know its harder to lose weight as you get older but my huge changes to my diet and the fact I have a lot to lose means I should be losing more than a pound a month.
What are your thought ?

cltt97

I would go back to the GP and ask for an antibody test to see if you have autoimmune disease. In that case the sooner you get treated the better. I never understand why GPs always rather want to wait to see if it gets worse first...
Anyways, for most of us it is quite hard to lose weight, especially in the beginning when first diagnosed. I'd say at this stage most people don't want to read through 800 posts, so in summary, what most people find is that a low carb diet helps them, some go completely gluten free (although that does not mean low carb necessarily). Many say a fish & veg diet works for them. Some people also suffer quite with water retention (swollen ankles etc), I got that at some stage and found that drinking isotonic fluids helped.
I found my metabolism slowed down to such an extend that I could not eat like a normal person, my skinny friends would all eat lots more - a woman on this board reported gaining weight while on a weight watchers diet.

Greendiamond

cltt97 wrote: »

I would go back to the GP and ask for an antibody test to see if you have autoimmune disease. In that case the sooner you get treated the better. I never understand why GPs always rather want to wait to see if it gets worse first...
Anyways, for most of us it is quite hard to lose weight, especially in the beginning when first diagnosed. I'd say at this stage most people don't want to read through 800 posts, so in summary, what most people find is that a low carb diet helps them, some go completely gluten free (although that does not mean low carb necessarily). Many say a fish & veg diet works for them. Some people also suffer quite with water retention (swollen ankles etc), I got that at some stage and found that drinking isotonic fluids helped.
I found my metabolism slowed down to such an extend that I could not eat like a normal person, my skinny friends would all eat lots more - a woman on this board reported gaining weight while on a weight watchers diet.

Thank you so much for your reply....have been feeling really deperate today ! Honestly I have worked so hard the last 6 months and have only lost a few pounds.
My gp said she would test in 3 months for antibodies ..... I suppose she doesn't want to start me on long term medication without being sure but I feel it leaves me high and dry for the next three months.

Is there a chance my TSH would return to normal by itself in three months ? Is that why she's waiting ?

Deepsurf

Gemini123 wrote: »

In the last month or so my hands get pins and needles at night and my wrist and lower arms ache which means I wake up every night several times.

Hi, I had two operations to remove my thyroid and on the second one they damaged my parathyroids. This means I cannot store any calcium and have to take supplements. My calcium levels are low at the moment and I get those awful pains in hands, wrists and forearms. I have no strength in my arms but I find if I up my calcium levels thought food - yogurt, milk etc., the pains improve. I would ask your doctor to check your bloods for calcium levels to see if yours are low too. Good luck - hope you get sorted. I'm going back to see if they will increase my calcium.

cltt97

Greendiamond wrote: »

Is there a chance my TSH would return to normal by itself in three months ? Is that why she's waiting ?

Yes that can happen. Hypothyroidism can be transient, not all forms are autoimmune, and it can be due to diet and other factors. Some people on this forum got well again without thyroid hormone replacement.

Deepsurf wrote: »

My calcium levels are low at the moment and I get those awful pains in hands, wrists and forearms. I have no strength in my arms but I find if I up my calcium levels thought food - yogurt, milk etc., the pains improve. I would ask your doctor to check your bloods for calcium levels to see if yours are low too.

You also need Vitamin D to utilise the calcium. Vit D levels are generally low in the Irish population and pretty much all people on this forum that had a Vitamin D test came back with deficient or insufficient levels.

Deepsurf

cltt97 wrote: »

You also need Vitamin D to utilise the calcium. Vit D levels are generally low in the Irish population and pretty much all people on this forum that had a Vitamin D test came back with deficient or insufficient levels.

Yes I'm taking One Alpha D3 for Vitamin D deficiency.

cltt97

Do you need to take Parathyroid hormone also? I must admit I don't know much about parathyroid gland disorders...

Deepsurf

cltt97 wrote: »

Do you need to take Parathyroid hormone also? I must admit I don't know much about parathyroid gland disorders...

No but since you've brought that up I'll be asking that question at my appointment next week. Thank you.

Orla K

robinph wrote: »

Lot of duplicate entries in there to make the list longer and just writing things in different ways for the same thing.

Yeah some of them can be quite similar but what I find interesting about it is the range of different areas of health that can be affected. Most people know about weight gain an the coldness but things like ringing in the ears, high cholesterol, gall stones and depression some people may not realise that it can be related to hypothyroidism. And it can be useful to know before a doctor starts to prescribe statins or anti-depressants.

lovelystuff

Sorry to keep popping in with random questions,but I was looking for a little advice,I wasn't due to see my endo til end march,but when I rang up I was told I could go get bloods done in the hospital earlier,which I did.haven't heard back and its been a week,can hospitals give these results over the phone or will I have to wait til I see my endo anyway?thank you just looking to get answers still feeling crappy:(

Never mind,they lost my results,back to square one!hope everyone is doing ok

cltt97

Who lost your results? The hospital?

lovelystuff

cltt97 wrote: »

Who lost your results? The hospital?

Yep! Don't even get me started

cltt97

Unbelievable. What hospital was it?

lovelystuff

cltt97 wrote: »

Unbelievable. What hospital was it?

Vincent's of all places,just frustrated because I will have to wait even longer now to hopefully get my meds upped

cyning

Orla K wrote: »

300 hypothyroid symptoms

I tried counting the ones I had at my worst, I lost count.

I hate those lists with an absolute passion.... you have the symptoms you have, reading those lists doesn't help. Also it's so important if you have new symptoms that you make sure they are not thyroid related. And a huge amount of those symptoms are different ways of saying new things. And if someone is depressed because of a thyroid issue it doesn't mean they don't need anti-depressants etc in conjuction with treatment for their thyroid: but as most of us here now sometimes getting your thyroid levels right isn't that easy!

I'm off my Eltroxin almost 2 weeks so on Ti-tre three times a day and I feel wonderful.... fingers crossed it lasts Although taking tablets 3 times a day is some pain in the neck I must say

cltt97

I spread mine out over 4 times a day. I have an alarm on my phone, it'd be a hopeless venture otherwise!

Not a fan of those lists either - I'm better off not knowing about all those things that I could end up getting - self fulfilling prophecy and all...

Orla K

cyning wrote: »

I hate those lists with an absolute passion.... you have the symptoms you have, reading those lists doesn't help. Also it's so important if you have new symptoms that you make sure they are not thyroid related. And a huge amount of those symptoms are different ways of saying new things. And if someone is depressed because of a thyroid issue it doesn't mean they don't need anti-depressants etc in conjuction with treatment for their thyroid: but as most of us here now sometimes getting your thyroid levels right isn't that easy!

I'm off my Eltroxin almost 2 weeks so on Ti-tre three times a day and I feel wonderful.... fingers crossed it lasts Although taking tablets 3 times a day is some pain in the neck I must say

I feel the need to point out with ssri's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, anti depressants) they can inhibit thyroid functioning. I can't remember how it works anymore but they seem to work against each other, it's a symptom of thyroid disfunction, treat the thyroid treat the depression.

If the Ti-tre is a T3 only med set your alarm 4 hours before you wake up to take your first pill, your T3 should peak when you wake up and it should mimic what your body should do naturally.

cyning

I breastfeed no such thing as "normal" in this household!

In general it makes no difference to me when I take it: I take it when u get up, about 3 ish and again going to sleep about midnight.

Gemini123

Deepsurf wrote: »

Hi, I had two operations to remove my thyroid and on the second one they damaged my parathyroids. This means I cannot store any calcium and have to take supplements. My calcium levels are low at the moment and I get those awful pains in hands, wrists and forearms. I have no strength in my arms but I find if I up my calcium levels thought food - yogurt, milk etc., the pains improve. I would ask your doctor to check your bloods for calcium levels to see if yours are low too. Good luck - hope you get sorted. I'm going back to see if they will increase my calcium.

Thanks Deepsurf for that tip on Calcium. I have had two children in the last four years and breastfed them each for a year. My dentist suggested calcium with Vit D at the time, but I haven't taken it for awhile. Will start again now and see if that helps with the pains in wrists and arms. Cheers.

lovelystuff

So I got test results again today after a really bad month,tsh back up to 5.5 even though they increased my dose last time,so really planning on addressing lifestyle more to try and balance things out again! I have started doing weights and working on my diet,thinking about meditation or yoga now too...just thought I would check in anyway,this forum is always so useful and supportive

Kloecor

Thanks for all the advise a few months back. I started taking kelp like ye said. Been taking it for months now and noticed a huge difference. In fact.... I have no idea how I ever functioned before! I noticed the kelp seems to do better for me than my actualy medication! If I forget to take my kelp, within two days I feel awful and soooooo tired, I just want to stay in bed. So, I never forget to take it anymore. Kelp for all!

cltt97

Kloecor wrote: »

I noticed the kelp seems to do better for me than my actualy medication!

That's interesting. I am too lazy to browse through previous posts, so if you don't mind refreshing my memory - do you suffer from autoimmune thyroiditis and is it Eltroxin you're taking? Also are you taking any selenium as well?

Kloecor

cltt97 wrote: »

That's interesting. I am too lazy to browse through previous posts, so if you don't mind refreshing my memory - do you suffer from autoimmune thyroiditis and is it Eltroxin you're taking? Also are you taking any selenium as well?

I'm on Eltroxin for hypothyroidism :-)

Not taking selenium, in fact, I don't know what that is. Pretty sure I was looking at it in Holland & Baretts the other day, does it help with thyroid function?

cyning

I was just coming on to ask the same as cltt

Kloecor

Was researching selenium. Sounds great. Says it's great for goiters. I have a multi nodular goiter so I think I'm gonna get some Selenium and see if it helps reduce my goiter. I was told by my doctor that because I'm taking Eltroxin anyways it'd reduce the size of the goiter but it has only gotten bigger. It's getting annoying how big it is now!

Kloecor

Also just reading up about my multinodular goiter.... Lots of people are saying that medication for hypothyroidism actually makes nodules to grow and/or multiply........ My doctor told me that the medication would shrink my goiter. Anyone know if medication is good or bad for multinodular goiter?


Medication will reduce normal goiters
Medication will increase multinodular goiters

?????

Orla K

Kloecor wrote: »

I'm on Eltroxin for hypothyroidism :-)

Not taking selenium, in fact, I don't know what that is. Pretty sure I was looking at it in Holland & Baretts the other day, does it help with thyroid function?

Eat 2/3 brazil nuts a day for selenium. There's info about it here he's able to explain it much better than me

However – and this is a big “however” – iodine may only pose a problem for people with Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune thyroid diseases in the presence of concurrent selenium deficiency. In the study above where rats developed goiter while receiving excess iodine, when they were given adequate selenium they did not develop the goiter.

Other studies have shown that selenium protects against the effects of iodine toxicity and prevents the triggering and flaring of autoimmune disease that excess iodine without selenium can cause.

I don't know much about goiters but it's a good idea to check your free T3 and reverse T3. Those seem to matter much more than TSH and FT4.
FT3 should be in the mid to high end of the lab range.
Reverse T3 should be low.

cltt97

There are a few studies that have shown that the TPO count decreases with selenium intake. I had always been under the impression that iodine is a big no no for Hashimoto's sufferers, but I am starting to see more and more information that this is not the case, and indeed highly linked to selenium status. So that's why I was quite interested to hear that you were feeling so well on taking kelp.
I'm afraid I don't know anything about nodules...

Kloecor

Hmm I find it all quite confusing. I think I will try the selenium for a month or so and see if I notice any difference with the goiter as it's becoming a problem for me. Learn something new everyday!

Kloecor

Well luckily I don't have Hashimoto's!