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660974 tn?1248272668

Hypothyroidism symptoms?

I have fatigue, constipation, swelling hands, shortness of breath, High cholesterol, brittle nails, bouts of anxiety, Abnormal menstrual cycles and heavy when I had one (hysterectomy-just cervix and uterus due to fibroids) , decreased libido,  Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight and other vague symptoms.  I recently found out I had allergies.  I was allergic to 32 out of the 38 they tested.  I recently (2 years) developed those symptoms.  The fatigue had been several years, the constipation has been several years.  My doctor says to take more fiber, it just makes me more constipated and gives me gas,  He said to drink more water and then I have to pee 20 times a day including getting up 4 or 5 times during the night.  He gave me Amitiza for the constipation and it just gave me diarrhea.  He gave me Detrol LA for the frequent urination, still had it, then he tried another one and I still had it.  He gave me Lexapro for anxiety and fatigue, it made me more fatigued.  I slept 20 hrs straight several times, he switched me to other anti-depressants and it did the same so I said “No More”.   I had my heart checked for the shortness of breath and hand swelling, heart is fine.  I eat very healthy and my LDL cholesterol and triglycerides keep rising.  
Test results…

4/24/08
RDW - 15.4 %
should be between 11.7 – 15.0  
I don’t know what this is only that it was marked high.

Sodium, Serum - 134 mmol/L
should be between 135 – 145  
I don’t know what this is only that it was marked Low

Thyroxin(T4) Free Direct, S - 1.3 ng/dL  
should be .61 – 1.76

Antinuclear Antibodies Direct – 16
should be <99

Rheumatoid Arthritis Factor RA Latex Turbid -10.3 IU/mL  
should be <13.9
TSH - 1.070 uIU/mL  
should be between .350 – 5.500  - this had an attached note: Adult TSH concentration below 5.5 uIU/ml does not rule out the presence of subclinical hypothyroidism.

Sedimentation Rate-Westergren – 4 mm/hr
should be <20

Cholesterol on 6/6/08 Cholesterol on 2/19/09
Total 198 Total 231
Triglycerides 71 Triglycerides 167
HDL 50 HDL 60
VLDL 14 VLDL 33.4
LDL Calc 134 Direct LDL 127

I’m only concerned because I work out 2 hours 4 days a week and 2 days I work out 1 hour and I have 1 day rest sometimes.  My diet is whole grains, skim milk and water only,  Egg whites only, low fat, or fat free cheese, turkey, chicken, fish.  No sodas, no alcohol, no smoking, I have an occasional pizza, hamburgers, tacos and sometimes white rice.  I can’t lose weight and my dad died at 49 of heart disease.  All 5 of his arteries were blocked.  I’m 43, 4’11” and weigh 139 lbs.  I am trying to get my
weight and cholesterol in check and nothing seems to be working.





8 Responses
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660974 tn?1248272668
I had my appointment and I'm now being treated with Metformin.  I have either Metabolic Syndrome, Insulin Resistance,  or Polycystic Ovarian Disease.  The doctor said they all have the same symptoms.  High LDL, High Triglycerides, high blood pressure and High glucose.  He's sending me a brochure on Polycystic Ovarian Disease because of my bouts with ovarian cysts.  I also have a Vitamin D deficiency.  I'm still working out and dieting with no success and I'm still have chronic constipation and fatigue.  My hand still swells and I still have the shortness of breath, none of which was taken care of with my doc appointment, I'm still as miserable as I was before I went, but I don't have any side effects from the Metformin.  
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Avatar universal
The 3 1/2 TBLSP coconut oil was per day, not meal, but now I use more of it. Like it on veg., for sauteing, and, once in a rare while, on a slice of pumpernickel.  Plus, if I don't have an appropriate food to put it on, I just eat a spoonful, especially if I have one of the better brands.  Think you need to be gluten-free, too, at least for a month or so.  Start out slowly with the Vit/Min. and build to the recommended dosage, same if you then increase.  Die-off (herxheimer effect) results when your body suddenly gets what it needs to rid itself of the baddies.  The baddies have only your orifices and sweat glands as exit points, so if you flood yourself with baddies, you can feel pretty terrible, like you have the flu.  Do it slowly and avoid most of the discomfort.  Same with adding the B's and veggies.  Since you exercise, you'd likely have less discomfort than most.  You may have increased gas from the B's and fresh veggies.  The probiotics and enzymes with the protein meals and snacks throughout the day should minimize that.  Gas & constipation are signs of intestinal problems.  If you like pineapple, fresh or the canned in natural juice is a good digestive aid; even a couple bites.  Bromelain (from pineapple) is available at the hfs.  Be sure it's not one of the things to which you're allergic.  Since you have so many allergies, think you should definitely read Wilson's book.  Allergies always compromise the adrenals, and you have a ton of them!  Goat products in place of dairy is supposed to be healthful, but haven't tried it.  If you use reg dairy, use organic.  Think you should eliminate the dairy, at least until your system is back to normal.  Pantothenic acid and the B's and C and E are good at relieving edema, or swelling, and they, plus cholin and magnesium, help the blood cholesterol balance.  If you are daily taking the B's, an occasional pantothenic acid to relieve swelling doesn't seem to be a problem; just don't get in the habit of it.  Once your tissues are saturated and your body knows it's getting a daily supply, the edema should be relieved, at least most of the time.  If you read the deficiencies of the diffferent vits and mins, including D, as suggested by ChitChatNine, I think you're going to be bowled over by the crosslinking to your many conditions and symptoms.  Many of your symptoms are listed as magnesium deficiencies.  I've also eliminated all the Old Testament forbidden foods, including pork, shellfish, and catfish, all three probably right after chocolate on my list, but on the occasions when I've experimented by eating one of them, the next morning my mouth feels like a thousand camels have tromped through.  Another very interesting thing for you to research is oil pulling, at the site below (non-stop learning at this site!---I love it!):       http://www.curezone.com/default.asp      Go to the far right column.  Scroll down to Topics in the blue background (not Knowledge Base; that's just a survey site).  Oil pulling and swishing is about the fourth item in the list.  Have only been doing this for a few days, so haven't yet drawn any conclusions.  Research colon, bladder, gallbladder and liver cleanses, too, but if you do them, do the gentle ones, at least to start with.  Suspect you'd benefit from them, starting with the one for colon.  Again, good luck!
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Avatar universal
I can really sympathize with your trying so hard to do everything right, and in spite of your efforts, seeming to be on a treadmill.  You can't even enjoy your meals!  I don't understand why you would not consume egg yolks.  Are you aware that every cell needs cholesterol?  The cholesterol-is-a-problem-don't-dare-eat-it folks have spread a lot of harm, in my opinion, which I base upon research and the beliefs of people who know a lot more about it than I.  The person who told you not to eat foods containing cholesterol is not up to date.  You can spend a lot of bucks (and time) testing for vit & min deficiencies, and many labs don't test accurately, anyhow.  If I were you, I'd sleuth and self-test first, then go for lab tests after getting clues from research and the way my body feels from basic supplementation.  Almost every health food store has books for public use with extensive index listings of symptoms and what to do for alleviating them, plus discussions of the deficiency symptoms of ea vit & min.  Entire books have been written about almost every nutrient, and some nutrients have several books written about them.  Of course, there's the web, but a hfs employee can help you navigate the info avalanche.  I see no vegetables on your list, nor do I see a source of the good guy fats, omega 3's, except for occasional fish.  Read about their deficiency symptoms.  Get a book about coconut oil.  Buy the whitest you see.  It will cost more, but you can go cheaper later, using the first jar as a comparison standard.  Since about now you may be thinking I'm nuts, google:  http://www.coconutdiet.com/testimonies.htm    Pay special attention to all those categories in that vertical gold box on the upper left.  Be sure to click on blog, and anything else that interests you.  Google coconut oil benefits, and you'll find pages of info references.  Yes, you'll find some negatives, but they're not based on good science, and, being America, people can say whatever they wish.  You'll find that to be true about any medicine or nutritional substance.  Always follow the money.  If the source denigrating a particular nutrient is a college lab funded by a drug company, you know why there's negative info being spread; happens all the time.  Deficiencies in any of the following can cause shortness of breath:  folic acid (so named for the nutrient from plant foliage, or vegetable, which I don't see on your intake list); cholin, inositol, all the B's, esp Vit B1 (thiamine), and iron.  An interesting little tidbit is that you can have good iron consumption, but because you lack hydrochloric acid, the iron passes through your system rather than being utilized because it can't be broken down enought to pass through the stomach walls into the blood stream.  Your Vit E should come about 8 hrs after the iron, because the iron destroys it, and you need the E for your vascular system, heart, and thyroid, and to prevent anemia, to name just a few reasons.  Pantothenic acid, cholin, inositol, and Vit C are very helpful for diminishing the severity of symptoms caused by allergies.  Grain, with its certain mold contamination due to the nature of grain and storage, exacerbates allergies.  Incidentally, it's also the diet of chickens, hogs, and cattle that are being quickly fattened for slaughter.  Re-read what you've written.  You took a drug; it gave you a symptom. Another drug; another symptom. Still another drug; yet another symptom.  Antibiotics are equal opportunity---they wipe out all the bacteria in your system, including the good guys that keep you in balance and all sytems in go mode.  Then you get a yeast infection, with that familiar itch, smell and permanence; it takes forever to get rid of it.  It compromises everything and makes us feel wretched, setting the stage for one opportunistic disease after another.  So then we start with one drug after the other.  It's not just you.  Few humanoids past 30 aren't taking at least one drug to control a symptom.  I think your intestinal environment needs tweaking.  Get a probiotic with multi live cell good guys (acidophilus is the most common; get a variety) and a multi-enzyme to take with each meal and snack.  If you were my kid, I'd eliminate all dairy and grains, and after you're feeling pretty fit, introduce something you've eliminated, no more frequently than every 4th day, since you have so many allergies.  I'd make sure you got protein at every snack and meal, with the probiotics and enzymes.  I'd gradually get you to at least 1/2 raw veggies.  I'd start you on a high quality multi vit/min, plus a mega multi B and after about two weeks, double the dosages, then back to label directions after another 3 to 4 wks, and I'd have you drink a lot of pure water.  No chlorinated critters in your water!   Never take isolated B vitamins by themselves.  If you double your consumption of one, then double your mult B, because they are synergistic, and taking extra of only one or two can cause the others to become deficient.  The Makers Diet, by Jordan Rubin, is a good diet.  About 30 yrs ago I lost 36 1/2 pounds on the diet and supplements recommended in Low Blood Sugar and You, by Carleton Fredericks.  Rubin's Patient Heal Thyself and Robert O. Young's Sick and Tired would give you a lot of good info, as would Young's other books, esp in regard to pH balance.  With all the nutritional deficiencies that I think you probably have (I have no med credentials), you may have some adrenal fallout, too.  Adrenal Fatigue by James L. Wilson is very informative.  I personally experienced losing 23 pounds with no diet change and no exercise (I hate exercise) over about 1 1/2 to 2 months, by drinking a glass of water about 1/2 hr before eating,  and by taking about 3 1/2 TBLSP coconut oil.  Just before giving you the URL, I googled the coconut site  in order to find something that might back up what I was telling you.  I was astonished to see the ramifications for thyroid problems.  I had never seen that site until today.  No wonder I'd felt the changes in my muscles and energy!  See, we learn something every day!  Right now I'm following the Low Blood Sugar and You, using the coconut oil as the fat allowed.  But I'm going to check out that coconut diet.  I'm also checking out hoodia and green tea for weight loss.  Incidentally, increased libido usually comes naturally with more overall energy.  Hope you don't think I'm preaching.  Am just astonished at all the illnesses that were non-existent, almost, 20 & 30 yrs. ago, and hoping that the more we all know, the less we'll fall victim to the ravages of disease, both physically and mentally.  Good luck to you.  Anyone who exercises as much as you do and eats as spartanly as you do, NEEDS good luck!  I certainly admire your tenacity.
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Avatar universal
To simplify it, your thyroid glands produce T4  and it is stored in the body and converted to T3 as needed.  Some people's bodies have trouble converting T4 to T3 and can have a high level of T4, but a low level of T3.  The really active component is free T3, which is T3 that is not bound up with carrier proteins.  That is why I always suggest that free T3 is the most important test, followed by free T4 and then TSH.  This is a direct quote from a site about thyroid.

"Triiodothyronine (T3) is a thyroid hormone that circulates in blood almost completely bound (]99.5%) to carrier proteins. The main transport protein is thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG). However, only the free (unbound) portion of triiodothyronine (free T3) is believed to be responsible for the biological action. Furthermore, the concentrations of the carrier proteins are altered in many clinical conditions, such as pregnancy.

In normal thyroid function, as the concentrations of the carrier proteins changes, the total triiodothyronine level also changes, so that the free triiodothyronine concentration remains constant. (In an abnormally functioning thyroid, this is not necessarily so). Measurements of free triiodothyronine (Free T3) concentrations, therefore, correlate more reliably with your clinical status than total triiodothyronine (T3) levels."
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660974 tn?1248272668
I don't think I have a vitamin deficiency, but I may ask my doctor to check it out next visit, it can't hurt.

Thanks.
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660974 tn?1248272668
On my report, T3 wasn't even listed.  I wonder if it's somethng I have to ask for.  What is the significance of T3 versus T4?

Could one be in range and the other out of range?

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Avatar universal
Just a shot in the dark here, but I think I would also check free T3 also.   Free T3 is the most active component of thyroid hormones and  largely regulates metabolism.  Some people's bodies do not convert T4 to T3 very well; therefore, I would just check to be sure.      
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168348 tn?1379357075
Hello and WELCOME!

Have they checked your Vit D?  I ask bcz it can mimic hypothyroidism.  Mine was recently very very low and we were shocked that I was severely defficient!  My TSH was ok though.

C~
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