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Hypo Symptons/"Normal" Tests Results/Fibromyalgia

I finally went to the Endo last week because of all the symptoms I am having and thought I was having an issue with my thyroid.  Tests came back within the "normal" range.  

I am a 43 yr old female.
I have Fibromyalgia and have for over 10 years, so I'm achy, but to me that's just "normal".
I have gained (according to them 50lbs but according to my scale about 35lbs in 9 months).  I work out 3-4 days a week.  I have a pretty decent diet, not big on junk food.
I'm always tired (I even yawn at the gym!!) regardless of how much sleep I get.
I have zero sex drive.
Dry/Brittle Hair
My hands get cold for no reason.
I have bad night sweats
Constipation
My mood swings are horrid
Dry skin (but I live in Colorado...so it's normal for here).

The only tests the Endo did was the TSH and Free 4. Along with 2 for diabetes (thankfully those are "normal" and I don't believe that's the issue anyways).

She put me on Metformin to help with the weight loss.  But has stated "your thyroid is not the reason for your weight gain". Great...but something is!  I'm not eating McDonalds every day or a dozen jelly donuts a day!

She never once addressed my Fibromyalgia as an underlying problem.

I have a friend who has been diagnosed, and she thinks I should go to her Dr. who does much more extensive testing.

If I don't get myself "fixed", it'll probably be an end to my relationship. Not due to the weight gain (he's been very supportive with this), but more the mood swings.  I'm not pleasant to be around sometimes.

I don't think the endo did enough to find out what is really happening..just put me on a drug for weightloss instead.

Suggestions on what other tests should be done? I know my body..and this is NOT me.  Something is off and I need to find out what the root cause is.

Thanks!!
22 Responses
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649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
Metformin is a drug used to lower blood sugar and is often used to treat PCOS.  If you don't need it, your blood sugar levels can go too low.  

I'm really happy to hear that you have an appointment with another doctor soon.  Everyone has given good ideas of tests to have done/questions to ask...... wish you the best of luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I just scheduled an appt with a new dr (who treats a friend of mine) on the morning of the 29th. More needles...oh joy. (Yes...needles and I are not friends but I do know that blood needs to be drawn).
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Avatar universal
Your initial post says you had fibro as a result of the car accident which was 10 or 11 years ago.  That to me could  plausibly mean that pituitary damage possibly occurred and that maybe you started having problems then.

What IF you were Hypo starting then due to a mis regulated pituitary function, diagnosed as Fibro instead of Hypo, but were not hypo enough until recently to really investigate the Thyroid.  Thyroid production reduces with age and the added 10 years caused you to more recently have issues to go get thyroid checked.  Then only to be told by the Dr who can't believe that you being that low in the range could be causing your issues and sending you home.
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Avatar universal
Yes, even though patients often don't fully realize that they are starting to have thyroid problems, 11 years seems like a stretch.  I saw no indication it had been that long.
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Avatar universal
There should be a standardization for all medical tests IMO.  Funny how one Dr. will do only a couple tests and another will do extensive testing.
Helpful - 0
1841872 tn?1324666089

Once you get the RIGHT tests it will not be hard to figure out.
Getting the Doctor to give you the RIGHT tests may be the hardest part!

Mia
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Avatar universal
I just want to thank you all for your input!!!  I hope the Dr I plan on seeing will take the time to help me...rather than just put a "bandaid" on the real issues at hand.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Would it take 11 years to have issues??  My shoulder (rotator cuff) was the injured part of me (from putting my arm out to stop my daughter from hitting the dashboard).

I'm upset with the fact that the Dr. didn't really even care. Here are some weight loss drugs...CYA.

Can an Endo test the pituitary?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Have a look at this link.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17630613

It doesn't have to be a severe injury either, to affect the pituitary function.
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Avatar universal
I've read about symptoms...and I don't think it's Lyme disease.  Just from the listing of symptoms and time frames of the symptoms that go along with this.  My accident occured in the dead of winter.
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Avatar universal
I was actually tested (of course many years ago when I was diasgnosed with Fibro) for Lyme and it was not.  But perhaps I should add that to the list of tests.
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Avatar universal
Hi there blue eyes,
Most people with fibro eventually find out they really have lyme disease. Please PLEASE get tested with a proper Western Blot for lyme. All your symptoms fit lyme disease.
I supposedly had CFS for 26 years before finding it was really lyme.

It's commn in lyme (ten percent of patients) to get hypothyroid but normal TSH, BTW.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
You're FT4 is only 19.3% of the range.  many people don't feel well as mentioned above until middle of the range which is 50%.  Surly you can see there is plenty of room for improvement.

When you mentioned severe car accident the 1st thing I thought of was pituitary issues.  Severe head trauma's can cause pituitary issues.  And the pituitary is what produces TSH and is supposed to regulate thryoid.  So if your pituitary does infact have issues, then it would be plausible that it could result in thyroid related issues.

You really need to get an FT3 test done to get a clearer picture of your true thyroid condition.

T4 is a storage hormone and waits in the blood until the body calls for thyroid in which case the storage T4 is converted (mostly in the liver) into T3.  Only hormones that are "free" from being attached to a protein are used by the body.  This is why it is so important to get the "free T4 and "free" T3 levels.  Otherwise they will test for "total" and that counts both the "free" hormone along with the ones that are attached to a protein are are useless to your body.  At the cellular level your body ONLY utilizes the free T3 hormone.  So really the only way to know how you are doing is by actually measuring the actual hormone your body uses (which is free T3).

here is a great site but is pretty detailed about thyroid. http://nahypothyroidism.org/

another site is: "stop the thyroid madness".  I would to the link but it seems on this forum the link gets messed up.  Just do a search on stop the thyroid madness and you should find it.

I think both of these sites talk about the the history of TSH and how fibro came as a result and may be lack of Hypo treatment.  Also study's now showing that people with Fibro just happen to start thyroid medications get dramatic relief of Fibro symptoms.  Another indication that Fibro may at least in some cases simply be lack of recognition and treatment of hypothyroidism.

Again I'm not saying "for sure" this is your case.  But the fact that you are considerably towards the low end of the range that many people feel well, by treatment of thyroid you MAY find some relief.  It is certainly worth continuing to explore!

Weight gain is a COMMON symptom of Hypo.  
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Avatar universal
The note from the Dr on my paperwork reads as follows:

Deb, please call her and tell her that her thyroid labs are in the ideal range and aren't causing her weight gain and her A1C is also normal. I didn't find an endorcrine cause of her weight gain but hopefully the metformin will help her lose.


Yes...those are the EXACT WORDS!
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Avatar universal
Even hypochondriacs get sick.  LOL

Were you aware of the possibility that head trauma of any kind can have an effect on TSH output from the pituitary?  Could it be that your thyroid problem and other related issues stem from the accident, but were not diagnosed for a long time?



Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My lab ranges according to the Dr Office are as follows:

Free T4 (my resulst - 0.90) normal 0.59 - 2,19
TSH (my resulte - 0.937) normal range 0.465-4.680
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Avatar universal
My fibro was brought on after a severe car accident....it took a long time to be diagnosed, years of testing and different drugs to help with the non-muscle movement.  I am not on anything for it.  I have learned to deal with the soreness when I have it.

The night sweats no one has answers for for whatever reason. I was even tested for TB, which came out negative. But again, I have had those since my car accident in 2001.

I'm trying to figure out why the Dr never mentioned the adrenal or pituitary gland is perhaps an issue?

Perhaps with my fibro my body isn't doing what it should with it's own insulin and it's just floating around in my body?

I was truly disappointed with the Dr...it was more of a "Here..let me give you a drug for your weight gain and your thyroid isn't the reason for the weight gain." and didn't adress any other issue whatsoever.

Why can't Dr's do what they are supposed to do and not just try to fix everything with a bandaid type drug.

I have insurance...so I won't pay for outside testing but when I get an appt. with this new Dr, I will go in with a list of symptoms as well as a list of tests I think should be done.

I hope it doesn't make me look like a complete hypochondriac!!
Helpful - 0
1841872 tn?1324666089

I would also add magnesium and selenium testing as well, if you can!

(So glad to make other laugh, goolarra! :)

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Avatar universal
Fibro seems to only have shown up since the invention of TSH test.

Seems a lot (not all) people who have a TSH that falls "within the normal range" the Dr's rule out completely that low thyroid could be the cause.

So when a patient has all these "unexplained" symptoms, they label it Firbo or sometimes "chronic fatigue syndrome".

When in fact many times it is simply untreated hypothyroid.  This goes undetected because many Drs will NOT look or test beyond TSH.  And even if they do test for Free T3 and Free T4.  Again they rely upon the FAR too broad reference ranges and again "assume" that somewhere in range is perfectly fine.  NOTHING could be further from the truth.

Many people here will attest that anything lower than about mid range for either free hormone test is questionable.  Many have found the better target rule of thumb is for the Free T4 to be at the MIDDLE of the range if not slightly higher AND (that means in addition to) their Free T3 to be in the UPPER 1/3 of the range.  As you can see significantly higher in the range than the low end.

ALL the symptoms you list except maybe the night sweats are all consistent with Hypo.  As well as your FT4 appearing to be very low in most common FT4 ranges used.  Almost certainly below mid range which appears to be very common for people to be needing medication to feel better.

I find it interesting that the Dr has zero qualms with prescribing a weight loss medication and with the commonality of symptoms with Hypo wouldn't even consider that you are Hypo!  seems amazing to me.

Tests that should be run for people who are fatigued etc and think hypo may be possibility:

TSH
Free T4
Free T3
TPOab - one of the Hashimoto's antibody's
TGab - The other Hashimoto's antibody
Vitamin B-12
Vitamin D3
Iron
Ferritin
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
You don't post your range with your FT4 (ranges vary lab to lab and have to come from your own lab report), but using a "usual" range of 0.8-1.8, you'd be very low in the range.  Many of us have found that hypo symptoms persist until FT4 is around midrange.

I agree with sunrock that FT3 should be tested as well.  It's the test that correlates best with symptoms.  Both thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOab) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGab) should be tested.  Hashimoto's thyroiditis is the most prevalent cause of hypo in the developed world, and some of us with Hashi's are TPOab positive, some TGab positive and some both.  

sunrock, you made me chuckle (always a good thing)...94% better?  You really get it down to precise numbers, don't you?  LOL

Healthcheckusa is also an excellent suggestion.  Many of our members have used them  They're fast and efficient and reasonably priced.  You don't need a doctor's order to get them.

I also agree that you will probably be surprised how many of your fibro symptoms go away if you get your thyroid hormones right.  There are those who don't think fibro is a separate disease, but untreated hypothyroidism.  It's interesting that fibro is often treated with thyroid hormones...
Helpful - 0
1841872 tn?1324666089
I had very bad luck with an Endo.

I strongly suggest that you go for more testing. To a Doctor that will listen to your symptoms. The most important tests to do are a Free T3 and Free T 4 along with a TSH. And perhaps a anti-body test for Hastimoto's
Then post them here along with the lab ranges.

I too had many of the symptoms you are describing, and now I am at least 94% better. I am still working on what will work the best for me.

I found  www.healthcheckusa.com is one way to get the tests I need for less then my insurance.
Then I have the test results in hand when I see my Doctor.

You may be very shocked when and if you get the right treatment for thyroid  Dis-ease that your  Fibromayalgia gets better.


Mia
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My test results were as follows:
Free T4 - 0.90
TSH - 0.937
Homoglobin A1C - 5.5
Est Avg Gluclose - 111
Helpful - 0
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