hmmm, not sure what happened to the 'p' in the title there :/
I went back and read your prior threads. In my opinion if I had to sort through a wide variety of possible changes in diet and lifestyle with a hope of becoming one of the few that can claim remission of the Hashi's, I'd much prefer not waiting around to find out if going through all that worked or not. I would go ahead and take enough thyroid med to relieve hypo symptoms, since whatever damage to the thyroid gland already incurred has reduced the output of thryoid hormone and has to be replaced with thyroid med.
If I were in your shoes, I would continue on the meds you are on. Since you are feeling so bad, I would not wait 8 weeks, I would insist on going back in 4 weeks for new tests and an increase in meds. You need to keep increasing your meds until you optimize Free T4 and Free T3 levels.
Speaking of which what were your last two sets of thyroid test results that you said show improvement? Also please post the reference ranges shown on the lab report. Also, Hypo patients are frequently to low in the ranges for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin. If tested for those please post those results as well.
I realize you are frustrated and tired and depressed right now, but that is exactly the reason you need to push ahead with your doctor and get your Free T4 and Free T3 levels optimized, along with D, B12 and ferritin. Believe me we have been there also in the past and after doing these things for ourselves, we feel much better. You can't stay where you are, and you can't go back, you will only feel worse very quickly. You have to push through this.
Thank you xxx
You're right, of course!
I'm just tired :(
My Dr will be happy to retest whenever I want - he's awesome, I'm the one who's failing to keep up the drive on this one! He didn't seem happy simply with my levels being in normal range, because I still feel crap. They're only JUST in the normal reference and he wants to push them higher normal (don't have the results on me just now - and I couldn't be bothered moving :P )... At least I've got no fight from my Dr.
Vit D is a costly test which I can't afford (particularly as I'm barely working at the moment), B12 was good, ferritin quite low - tried to supplement, but found I have to sort out other digestive issues first as it made them even worse... So now I'm on an elimination diet to identify probs there...
I think I really needed to hear someone tell me 'no', you just HAVE to push through. Everyone is being oh so kind, taking my lead, not telling me what to do - but I'm exhausted by trying to come up with a plan and follow it through!! All I WANT to do is lie in bed & cry - that's surely not going to help at all!
Thank you so much for the push :)
I agree with what gimel has told you. It takes time to find the right dose...and patience, lots of patience.
You have a cooperative doctor, so you've got a jump start over where most of us started out. And this is HUGE: " He didn't seem happy simply with my levels being in normal range, because I still feel crap." Many doctors simply quit at the point you're at. Your levels are "in range", they've done their job, your symptoms are no longer thyroid related.
Push, push...
I, too, agree with everything gimel and goolarra have said...
I did notice this: "B12 was good, ferritin quite low" - if you can find your exact B12 level and post it, that would be good. Even if it was in range and you think it was good, it might not have been good enough. B-12 needs to be at/near the top of its range or you can have symptoms of deficiency and tiredness/fatigue/exhaustion is the number one symptom of lack of B-12. Your level should be well above 500.
Low ferritin probably means low iron, which also causes tiredness. Those combined with being hypo could be exacerbating your problem.
My last labs:
TSH: 1.8 (down from 5.3) ref range (0.3 - 3.5)
Free T4: 11.8 (up from 9.6) ref range (9 - 19)
Free T3: 4 ref range (2.6 - 6)
Which on the face of it look really quite good! Certainly heading in the right direction :)
Strangely I don't seem to have iron/B12 in my wad of test results, but I distinctly remember talking about them with him... guess somehow these weren't printed :/
I'm just being impatient... just so hard, I've had zero income for 4 weeks & massive medical expenses... just wishing I could ignore it and it would go away :'(