This is my year, EE and Green days with Photos

Re: Thyroid Troubles, EE and Green days with Photos

Hi there, I'm afraid I know nothing about your condition, but I'm sure Moira will be on soon and will be happy to help.
In the meantime I'm sending a big hug your way as you're certainly having a tough time at the mo.
Take care xx
 
@ Cheekychinchilla

Found something for you (us).
Thyroid Function Tests

It appears there are no fixed guidelines for the NHS, the Trusts/path labs set them. They have to justify that and their level guidelines need to be evidence based.

This may help to argue your case xx
 
cheekychinchilla said:
I'm glad I spotted your diary. Hope you don't mind me posting, but I've been chasing a diagnosis for underactive thyroid since March. I even put myself through blood tests (my only phobia) and had to be quite heavily sedated to have them done :eek: They came back as 'normal' and my Dr put down my A4 list of symptoms to a depression crisis. I didn't buy it, but whatever. The major symptoms I have are trouble losing weight/over the top gains, extreme exhaustion - to the point where I've started crying when I wake up :eek: , hair thinning, etc...
I did a lot of research in to thyroid problems and asked the two people at work who have recently been diagnosed and started treatment through a private GP.

Last weekend at work I couldn't stand up for very long, was very dizzy, almost fainted a number of times, my heart rate dropped, and I couldn't find a pulse.
I saw a Dr on Tuesday explained what has been happening, what new symptoms I had ('lump in the throat'). Funnily enough I have now developed low blood pressure - I'm a heart patient so I know for certain I've never had this before. And she also examined my throat and neck and my thyroid is enlarged! So she's requested an appointment for me to go have it scanned. Which is great, but also pretty scary.
I got a print out of my results and my TSH is 4.7. The NHS guidelines allow up to 6.0 :eek: So it's funny that you say the guidelines in Ireland are different, as they are if I were to go private. Even the thyroid charities have them lower than the NHS.....
Since Sunday I have been very ill. Incredibly dizzy, palpitations getting worse, some chest pain, an increased 'lump in the throat', and just this constant feeling of being drunk/hungover. I've also noticed that I'm getting this feeling of moving and talking in slow motion more and more. sometimes it feels like there's a massive weight on my hands and it takes a lot of effort to make my fingers do stuff :confused:

Does any of this sound familiar at all? I'm starting to get really fed up and pretty scared :eek: Just wondering if you could offer me some advice over speaking to the Dr? I've booked another appointment for Wed to basically tell her how bad I am and that I'm not coping at all.

Sorry to take over your thread :eek: xx
Click to expand...

GoodMorning I'm in work and have just been reading your post. I know exactly how you feel and I will post a full reply when I get home this evening after 9 ish. Don't worry you will be grand I have a lot of advice for you but can't type it up now. Chat later x.

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Well Hello ladies, i finally home from work ,fed, watered and sitting down, thanks be to god.

Cheekychinchilla and Hexe you are both welcome.

Cheekychinchilla, The first thing im gonna say to you is that you are defenitly not alone in this, the problem in my opinion is that the internet is full of people who suffer from both over or underactive thyroid and to be honest most of them that post only have negative things to say, they seem to spend half there lives fighting their gp or endocronoligists and it can be very scary when this is all you read after googling symptoms. The majority of people that are treated and are fine get on with their lives and forget all about it so dont post helpfull information and that is exactly what you need to be told right now.
In the two years ive had this problem i have had a TSH from 0.01 up to 16.4 so i have at this point had all the symptoms you describe and they have gone away. REMEMBER they always go away with treatment.

So lets get started................. most of the symptoms you are experincing right now are normal, im gonna say that again "NORMAL" so you need to stop panicing and feeling scared.
Even though you feel awful and you are probally waiting with baited breath for the next awful symptom to appear you have had most of them at this stage and remember you have SURVIVED.
It really dosent get much worse than this so try and be positive because all you need now is time to become better. Everything you are feeling right now CAN be caused by depression or anxiety so your doctor is right when he has told you this but it may also be caused by your thyroid,

You already know about the ranges for TSH and as far as your doctor is concerned you are within normal range, because you are, going by the english lab ranges.
but what you need to understand and tell your doctor is that you need to be in the optimal range for you.
Some people feel fine @ 3 or 4 or higher but the majority of people need to be between 1 and 2 to feel their best. by the way all doctors know this....
so what do you need to do............ i see you are having a scan, so that good, you said your thyroid is enlarged thats normal too, so dont be worring about that, you will have more info when your scan is done, when will you have this test done ???
i would advise not to start googling scan results because you will drive yourself mad looking at all the stuff, i speak from experience here and none of it will apply to you anyway.
all the doctors ect i have seen here have been private and i had to pay but i will say it has been worth every penny.
im not farmiliar with the healthcare system in england but i see you mentioned 2 people you know who attended a gp privatly, so that is what you may need to do to get this sorted out, you will probally need to see an endocronoligist because they are the ones with the specialist knowledge for further tests you will require.

when you see your gp on wed i would defenitly refer to the lab ranges for treating a hypothyroid patient and remind the gp that optimal thyroid treatment will leave a patient in the 1 to 2 part of the range not up in the 4rs. i would also ask for something like xanax which in the short term will calm you down and help you deal with some of the symptoms you are having now. there really is nothing else the gp can give you on wed to make you feel better yet.

your gp and you need to work together to find the cause of all your symptoms, you need to remind them of that..... and if you are not happy i would have no hesitation in changing gp

REMEMBER OPTIMAL RANGE OF TSH............ NOT NORMAL RANGE IS WHAT YOU NEED
LET ME KNOW HOW YOU GET ON
 
Thank you so much for your reply Bikerbabe! I must sound like a right loony posting all that?! :eek:

I've honestly been very good with my research and only looked at sites like Thyroid UK and other thyroid sites, some bits from the NHS, and spoken to my work friends who have recently been diagnosed. Anything like comments or blog posts I've not taken any notice. I'm pretty sensible with medical stuff. I've been around hospitals and stuff my whole life coz I'm a heart patient. I've also studied some medical stuff and work in veterinary. So surrounded my medical, sensible minds. And I'm like that too :)
I haven't scared myself with stuff I've read. But how I've been feeling has really scared me. It's just gotten so bad now.
I was lucky that this week happens to be a week off work because of time owed. I'm really worried about going back to work on Monday as even today I still can't stand up for any length of time and even some hoovering wiped me out :( I'm on my feet between 7-9hrs depending on my shifts and work in a very, very busy veterinary hospital. I've already had to speak to my boss back in March and she's had to speak to HR and the likes about how capable I am at my job at the moment :( :eek: So really worried at how much worse it is now.
I made it 20mins slow walking in Sainsbury's before then I had to sit for 10mins so my head would stop swimming :rolleyes:
Oh I know a lot of this could be cause by anxiety and depression. I've been dealing with it for 15 years, unfortunately. And I agree that it could be that, but I found it unlikely, if you know what I mean? It feels like more, much more, and I've been in some pretty dark places in the past :eek:

I really can't afford to pay for private treatment. I really wish I could or I'd probably be getting help by now. But it's unlikely that I could ever afford to do that.

I understand my GP can't really do anything for me right now. But I want it to go down on my records at how bad I am and how I'm really not coping. I need them to start taking it seriously - which I know this Dr is, with the scan and all. But if I don't tell them, they don't know. I've recently upped the dose of my antidepressants and I also take sleeping tablets, so not sure they'd give me anything else. And, again, I'd be really worried about further impairing my ability to work.

Optimal range is good, I will remember that. It seems the range differs lab to lab and not even just countries and stuff. It's just hard to know what to say. I don't want them to think I've self diagnosed from the internet and I'm being silly lol.

I haven't had my appointment through for the scan yet. but I really hope it's soon. I didn't think it was normal for an underactive thyroid to be enlarged? But then I haven't looked in to that properly yet because I couldn't find any info that wasn't terrifying :p

Thank you again. And so sorry if I came across as hysterical. I just feel so bloody ill and sorry for myself.xx
 
Re: Thyroid Troubles, EE and Green days with Photos

Hi all
Cheekychinchilla - I really hope you get something sorted soon, from what Moira had said at least you know that everything is normal and can't really get much worse. Not that that's much consolation when you feel terrible. Keep us posted with how you're getting on xx
 
image-3462348297.jpg

Cheekychinchilla, note the thyroid enlargement in both under and over active
Most of your other symptoms not listed there are probably caused by anxiety, but remember that the thyroid causes anxiety which then causes the symptoms. It's a bit like the chicken and the egg it doesn't really matter which came first. Definitely ask for Xanax just for the short term treatment . U need something to calm u down even though you may not realise it at the minute.

Private treatment may not be that expensive. All you really need is the initial consultation with the gp,cost of 1 set of bloods, follow up consultation to get your results and possibly a visit to an endo. You don't need to be in the private GPS all the time ( just something to think about)
To give u an idea of cost here it is gp EUR45, bloods EUR50, endo EUR160 I only see my endo twice a year the rest of the time I just fax my blood results into her and she rings me if there is a dosage change.
Hopefully you won't need to go down this road cos your gp is now getting your scan done

Try and relax and really try to stop thinking about the symptoms if you can cos it just takes over your whole life if you let it, do anything you can to distract yourself. You need to tell yourself you will be grand a thousand times a day and eventually u will believe it.
Remember when you see gp OPTIMAL range..... Chat later x

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
bit of a late update sorry folks........saturday 1 june........... success express

Breakfast...............usual porridge muller light and fruit

Lunch...........working all day so mugshot and fruit

image-2730198473.jpg

And for dinner..............i had the steak sandwich again the same as the other night with a big plate of stirfry veg. I used green beans, mushrooms, onions, baby sweetcorns, sugarsnap peas with a splash of yorkshire relish to put a bit of taste on it.

and then ......Drum roll please...........oh god 41.5 syns.............
4 jelly sweets (4) 1 rich tea biscuit (2) 2 tbsp el mayo (1) 1 curly wurly (6) 1 hoops and crosses (4.5) and to wash all that down 6 bacardi and diet coke (24)
lets just say i wasent hungry going to bed lol

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Last edited:
sunday 2 june ...........extra easy day today

Breakfast............porridge, muller light and fruit

i had a lovely day today i went shopping with my daughter, we drove about half hour to the sainsburys and m and s and i picked up a few bits and pieces. after that we looked around the shops and i ate a packet of turkey just to keep me going till we got our takeaway on the way home
Chinese takeaway slimming world style for dinner.......chicken garlic lettuce wraps and chicken chowmein yum yum

image-3570636372.jpg

got some new thing to try out all, low in syns

image-3025901811.jpg

do yous think i have enough muller lol lol............. i got my regular ones and a few banana and custard, rhubarb, coconut to try out too


image-1758981924.jpg
syns for today........... few jelly sweets (4) ??2 squares chocolate (4) ??? bacardi, i will count them later

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Last edited:
Love the food shop, you are sorted for this week alright! Well done on putting down what you had last night as well; I wouldn't remember after 6 bacardi's lol.

I am reading the advice to Cheekychinchilla with interest and what the variations in the thyro levels are. Tbh I don't know what my level is as it's not something that has ever been really explained to me, i'd be told it's either too high or too low. I'm back at hospital in a couple of weeks and am going to get a printoff and ask them to explain. Might help me judge better as to what to do next.

Oh and good luck cheeckychinchilla, sometimes it difficult to even get the diagnosis but when you know that something is not right you should definately push for it.
 
Hiya bikerbabe, sorry to invade your post but thought I would check in with you. I have had an under active thyroid since the age of 13, though only started treatment at the age of 27 by which time I was 19 stone 8 ( nice!). Have gone through more blood tests than I ever care to count and have been on levotyroxine 200mg for some time and finally stabilised. I also suffer from bipolar disorder and anxiety. I am treated with propananol for the anxiety and it works a treat. As someone on here has already said, having an underactive thyroid does make you more predisposed to depression and anxiety but with the right treatment the world is an ok place ( I promise) I dont know whether anyone has mentioned to you but there are a few foods that you should avoid ( due to the amount of iodine in them).. My apologies if you have already been told about these.

All the very best xx
 
Re: Thyroid Troubles, EE and Green days with Photos

Ey up!
Am soo impressed with your Saturday - you're my sort of girl lol. Sorry, I shouldn't encourage you, but Saturdays are Saturdays after all. At least you've got the extra day to pull it back.

I love your yoghurt collection, I think you need a designated muller fridge. Which reminds me - do you mix your oats and let them stand or eat them straight away? I like it chewy but have been told you shouldn't eat them like that.

Velvet crunch are yum!

I'm now joining a Wednesday meeting (I will make my mind up one day) I bumped into an old friend who's lost loads of weight, and raved about this consultant, so it seems sensible to follow a recommendation.

Don't eat all your new snacks at once x
 
riahummingbird said:
Love the food shop, you are sorted for this week alright! Well done on putting down what you had last night as well; I wouldn't remember after 6 bacardi's lol.

I am reading the advice to Cheekychinchilla with interest and what the variations in the thyro levels are. Tbh I don't know what my level is as it's not something that has ever been really explained to me, i'd be told it's either too high or too low. I'm back at hospital in a couple of weeks and am going to get a printoff and ask them to explain. Might help me judge better as to what to do next.

Oh and good luck cheeckychinchilla, sometimes it difficult to even get the diagnosis but when you know that something is not right you should definately push for it.
Click to expand...

Ria its always good to know where you are in the range, only you know how you are feeling at any given time and you will start to learn where abouts in the range you feel the best. it is then up to the doctors to keep you as close to that as they can with medication.
the treatment for us is different to cheeckychinchilla because we are overactive. you will always only have 3 choices the first one is medication and try after 18 mts for remission which is rare. if we are reativley young they wont leave you on neomercazole for life because of possible liver damage so the second choice will be RAI....i cant stress enough you need to really read up about thyroid eye issues getting worse after it and not being allowed to get pregnant for some time etc, it can take months for the thyroid to die. the third choice will be surgery..... thyroid is gone straight away and you just need a while to get correct dose of eltroxin right. remember you will be on eltroxin after the RAI too. if i was you i would ask for a copy of ALL bloods since this started. the ones we have been talking about are called TSH they will probally have done free t4 and t3 but thats a whole other story and when you get copies if you like i will explain them to you then
 
Mandyboo said:
Ey up!
Am soo impressed with your Saturday - you're my sort of girl lol. Sorry, I shouldn't encourage you, but Saturdays are Saturdays after all. At least you've got the extra day to pull it back.

I love your yoghurt collection, I think you need a designated muller fridge. Which reminds me - do you mix your oats and let them stand or eat them straight away? I like it chewy but have been told you shouldn't eat them like that.

Velvet crunch are yum!

I'm now joining a Wednesday meeting (I will make my mind up one day) I bumped into an old friend who's lost loads of weight, and raved about this consultant, so it seems sensible to follow a recommendation.

Don't eat all your new snacks at once x
Click to expand...

HI Mandy, how can i eat all my snacks, sure im too busy drinking the bacardi again lol.
If we lived closer we could garden together.
i just mix my porridge with the muller in the mornings and eat it straight away, ive being doing it like that for about a year and it hasent done me any harm so far.
my saturdays always carry on into sundays too though which can be a problem . ive just remembered that i have some fresh pineapple in the muller fridge think i will pop out and have it with the coconut muller yum yum
 
Re: Thyroid Troubles, EE and Green days with Photos

That would be great - not sure we'd get much gardening done - but would we care?!
At least your after drink snacks are healthy, I usually do a whole packet of kit-kats...
 
Fat Vicky said:
Hiya bikerbabe, sorry to invade your post but thought I would check in with you. I have had an under active thyroid since the age of 13, though only started treatment at the age of 27 by which time I was 19 stone 8 ( nice!). Have gone through more blood tests than I ever care to count and have been on levotyroxine 200mg for some time and finally stabilised. I also suffer from bipolar disorder and anxiety. I am treated with propananol for the anxiety and it works a treat. As someone on here has already said, having an underactive thyroid does make you more predisposed to depression and anxiety but with the right treatment the world is an ok place ( I promise) I dont know whether anyone has mentioned to you but there are a few foods that you should avoid ( due to the amount of iodine in them).. My apologies if you have already been told about these.

All the very best xx
Click to expand...

Hi Vicky welcome to the thread, im shocked you were not treated for so long but glad to know you are stabilised now. it can be very scary going through the symptoms cant it, but thank god it has settled for us now. i dident think i needed to aviod any foods because im only underactive now because i had my thyroid removed. i thought that if i did not have a thyroid then the iodine rich food could not irritate it, so then it would not apply to me. can you tell me what these foods are please ?

i too took betablockers for the palpitations but they dident agree with me, they left my heart rate too slow at only 40 beats and when i went for my pre op checks the anaesthetist took me off them straight away.
im with you about the blood tests and i laugh when i remember how nervious i was at the start, at this stage its no bother at all
do you mind if i ask why it took so long to start treating you for the thyroid ?
moira x
 
Morning Moira

Enjoy your bank holiday - wish I lived in Ireland...
I hope it's as beautiful and sunny there for you as it is here.
I'm stuck in my office all day - boo!
 
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