Thyroid

[friesenhoreluvr]

I have a tsh taken in march of 2.65 taken in april 3.35 . ran a Ft4 value was 1.0, Free t3 was 88 my TPO was 1.0 . I have fatigue, depressed, constipation, sometime diarrhea, sensitive to gluten all in he last 4months, excessive weight gain, constantly cold, occasionally night sweats, lymphedema, hair loss, excessive grey hair, joint pain, memory loss, loss of concentration. muscle weakness, moody, emotional.  I have been told to continue eating a low fat diet and exercising  I zumba even though my body hurts 3-5 days a week  I do Pilates 3 times a week . I have gained a total of 60 pounds since dec but almost 20 in one month. I eat a 1200 to 1500 cal diet. I  have been in the health care field for over 20 years when I explained to the FP guy this is not normal for me, he just stated everything is normal & wants me to see a endocrinologist.  they cant see me until sept and doesn't sem to have any answers or even looking for answers. lol  I am lost I am 44 years old feel like I am 80and  I fall asleep as I am studying and even after exercising. My Aunt has graves disease my mom has has hypothyroid along with my grandmother.  I have moved back in to the area from Indiana since when do physicians stop listening to there patients.!!!  Yes I am looking for another physician but anyone that has a good reputation is booked out until aug for New patients. . I am currently taking 3o,000 IU of Iodine that has helped me a little and my concentration but I still need a nap @ 4-5 hours. So if anyone has any advice I would love it

[Red_Star]

Sounds like untreated hypothyroidism. And a classic quote from Dr Lustig's presentation on youtube - Sugar: The Bitter Truth...

"...obesity, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke prevalence all jacked way up as our total fat consumption as a percent has gone down. It ain't the fat people. It ain't the fat"

[Barb135]

Everything gimel said is correct and I'm only going to jump in long enough to elaborate on the iodine issue... Too much iodine can actually cause hypothyroidism, so instead of making yourself better, you could actually be making yourself worse.

[gimel]

Sounds like you have a lot of typical hypothyroid symptoms, but your doctor is focused on TSH as the diagnostic and tells you that your thyroid tests are "normal" and symptoms can't be thyroid related.  Wrong.  

Your Free T4 result was in the very low end of its range, I am sure.  Your T3 test appears to be Total T3, not Free T3.  You should always make sure they test for Free T3 not Total T3.  If your Free T3 is in the same position in the range as your Total T3, that is another indication of hypothyroidism.  It appears your doctor was testing for the possibility of Hashi's, but both TPO ab and TG ab should have been tested.  Hashi's can show as either or both antibodies.   So you still can't be sure about the presence of Hashi's until you test for both TPO ab and TG ab.  .

A good thyroid doctor will treat a hypo patient clinically by testing and adjusting Free T4 and Free T3 as necessary to relieve symptoms without being constrained by resultant TSH levels.  Symptom relief should be all important, not just test results.  You can get some good info from this link written by a good thyroid doctor.

http://www.hormonerestoration.com/Thyroid.html

Do you think you might be able to give information like this to your doctor and persuade him to prescribe thyroid meds and treat you clinically as described?  If not, if you will tell us your location, perhaps we can suggest a doctor that has been recommended by other thyroid patients.  

By the way, if it should turn out that you have Hashi's, iodine is not recommended for you.