Help with years of symptoms

[jimax]

All,

I have been desperate for a diagnosis for years. That said, I get discouraged when I go to a doctor, they do standard blood work and/or an ekg, and say... "Welp, these are normal, so you're healthy as can be." Admittedly, I lose hope on this often and when symptoms diminish, I stop my pursuit.

I think my situation screams auto-immune, and I am going to the doctor on Thursday to request testing. With your experiences, do you think I'm on the right track to suspect hypothyroidism? Below are a list of my symptoms. Some have gone on for years, most come and go. I'll have a month or a week of feeling not healthy, but 'better', and then symptoms will come on with a vengeance.

I should note that a few of these symptoms have been relieved by a gluten free diet.

HISTORICAL SYMPTOMS:
Nose rash, inner nose pain/dryness/scabbing, increasing fatigue over time, muscle feels bruised when scratched or rubbed up against (usually accompanied by bloating and water retention), bloating, water retention, muscle twitching at rest, shooting pains in chest, pain upon taking deep breaths (mostly left side), pain at the side/base of ribs, loin pain, ribbon bowel, constipation, hemorrhoids, weakness and deteriorating strength, exhaustion,  lower back pain, groin pain, abdominal pain, off colored stools (green, light green, or pale), heavy heartbeat, heart fluttering, blurred vision, double vision, feeling of low sugar/weakness when hungry, shortness of breath, muscles spasms or ‘charlie horse’ (mostly calf muscles, and probably contributable to dehydration), muscle spasms in ribs when twisting, spasm in neck muscles or glands or lymph nodes (physical hardened lumps that protrude instantly and are relieved by tilting head back and pressing them with my hands as they reduce in size), feeling of lump in throat when swallowing, EXCESSIVE sweating, night sweats, sleep paralysis, loss of coordination and mobility, headaches, anxiety, skin tags, skin lesion (only one) that will not heal, pulsating aches and pains everywhere.

[Red_Star]

Skin tags are occur more frequently with insulin resistance. This is one of my symptoms of insulin resistance.  I was also losing excess magnesium in the urine due to insulin resistance so I had a long list of magnesium deficiency symptoms as well.

Excerpt from Magnesium - A Miracle about some of the deficiency symptoms (there are many more possible symptoms than this however)...

"EFFECT ON MUSCLES & NERVES
*  headaches, migraines
*  tight sore aching knotted muscles
*  backache, shoulder girdle ache, chest pain
*  cramps, twitches, spasm,
*  inability to sit still, fidgety, restless
*  restless leg syndrome, cold hands & feet
*  anxiety, agitated, nervy, ready to explode
*  panic attacks, irritable, apprehensive, aggressive
*  poor attention span & concentration, ADD

EFFECT ON SLEEP
*  body jumps on point of going to sleep,
*  legs restless & jumping - (wears holes in sheet),
*  leg & anal cramps, body rocking,
*  grinding teeth, hiccups, lump in throat feeling
*  poor breathing, sleep apnoea,
*  wake stiff & sore
*  feet feel puffy, swollen, sore to walk on on rising
can feel every pebble through shoes or crumb on sheet

EFFECT ON HEART & BLOOD VESSELS
*  abnormal heart rhythms, palpitations, racing pulse
*  high blood pressure, heart attacks
*  poor circulation, purple hands & feet
*  tingling, prickly feeling, crawling sensation on skin
*  light headed, dizzy, numbness
*  muscles seize up in cold due to constriction
*  skin sensitivity - sore to touch
*  noise sensitivity - TV too loud, lawn mower hurts ears"

[goolarra]

Yes, weight gain is often a symptom of hypothyroidism.  When you're hypo, metabolism slows, which of course causes weight gain.  I also had very swollen feet and ankles, which drained once on meds and allowed me to lose some of the weight I'd put on while hypo.

Do you think your doctor will cooperate with the testing I suggested above?  

[jimax]

Thank you!

I did forget to mention the main component that had me suspect hypothyroidism. In 2012, when most of my symptoms began, and my quality of life began to degrade, I gained approximately 25 lbs in a very short period of time. I have always been a yo-yo dieter of sorts, but this was very unusual for me.
At the time my fiance was pregnant, so I associated it with overeating. That said, I've had several bouts of overeating in my adult life and this had never happened. So, I then attributed it to aging. The main point is, though, that a significant unusual weight gain was the beginning of it all.

Thanks,
Jim

[goolarra]

Some of your symptoms sound like classic hypo symptoms, others don't.  However, thyroid hormone deficiency effects every cell in your body, so if you've been hypo for some time, you can rack up a myriad of less usual symptoms.

If you suspect autoimmune hypothyroidism, the best thing to do is insist (don't take no for an answer) on a full thyroid panel to include TSH, FREE T3 and FREE T4.  Be sure FREE is specified in those tests, or you will get two different tests that are not nearly as useful.  

You should also test for the antibodies that are the markers of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  These are TPOab (thyroid peroxidase antibodies) and TGab (thyroglobulin antibodies).  Both of these must be tested to rule out Hashi's since some of us are positive for one, some the other and some both.

If you get the results of those and post them here along with the reference ranges from your own lab report, we can help you interpret them.  Once we've seen those, we can give you a much better idea where to go with this.