Hi Keygan2010
I have 2 vital pieces of information, that tie-in rather
well to possibly explain what might really be going on
with your health issues.
1.Dr. Lowe from the Fibromyalgia Research Foundation supports the premise that most Fibromyalgia patients are either hypothyroid or thyroid hormone resistant.
2.When I was studying Dr.Barnes work (the renowned thyroid expert), one particular finding really stayed with me.
From ALL the thousands of patients he treated for hypothyroid (using natural desiccated thyroid ) NONE of these patients developed Lupus. Emphasis on the NONE!
The ones who had been already diagnosed with Lupus, NONE developed any new signs of organ involvement, while being treated by Dr. Barnes for hypothyroid!
I think this is an amazing statistic which unfortunately has not been given much consideration by most conventional doctors :(
As far as thyroid testing goes, the most indicative & accurate for cellular thyroid function are: Free T3 (fT3), Free T4 (fT4) AND Reverse T3 (rT3)
All 3 are needed!
fT3/rT3 ratio is probably the most reliable marker for low cellular thyroid function.
To my opinion though, we cannot find a better method to test than Dr. Barnes Basal Temperature Test. (there are several versions now)
I have devoted countless of hours, scanning through the studies and groundbreaking work of Dr. Barnes, The Father of Hypothyroidism, lol!
Simply brilliant and way ahead of his time!
Instructions For Taking Basal Body Temperature:
Use an ordinary oral or rectal glass (not digital) thermometer.
Shake down the thermometer the night before, and place it on your nightstand.
The first thing in the morning BEFORE you get out of bed, place the thermometer under your arm for ten(10) minutes.
Record the temperature reading and date right away!
Repeat for 10 days.
Normal Range: 97.6 to 98.2
Averages below indicate hypothyroidism.
Note that in the presence of any infectious conditions, these results may be inaccurate and this could be a problem with chronic low grade infections accompanied by low grade fevers, for the purposes of the temperature testing.
Or you may want to do the original Dr. Barnes Test. Very similar.
Just check it out online.
HOWEVER there's potentially more at play here.
Please bear with me.
In the event your mental and/or biological stress levels are elevated and remain chronically elevated, naturally cortisol (being the main stress hormone) levels increase.
Prolonged elevated cortisol, affects thyroid function, in a mechanism where stressed adrenals down-regulate thyroid function, for their own recovery.
Any attempts to treat hypothyroidism conventionally, without addressing the stressed adrenals, will likely
make matters worse.
An Adrenal stress profile ( Cortisol x 4, DHEA-S saliva test) is highly recommended to rule this in or out.
One final observation is that one of the many possible complications of untreated hypothyroidism is stroke!
Unfortunately, if you're dealing with NHS doctors chances are that you won't get much help with any of the above.
A reputable and experienced Holistic or Naturopathic doctor may be well worth looking into.
I hope this helps, however, please note that my comments do not constitute medical advice.
Best wishes,
Niko
PS Some parts of my current post were copied and pasted from previous posts of mine