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Original poster

Hypothyroid Diagnosis - how long will it take to see a difference please?

82 replies

PerAr6ua · 31/08/2011 13:38

Got the diagnosis out of the blue yesterday - doc spent ages talking me through it (I love my doctor, he's utterly lovely). I'd gone in a couple of weeks previously re ongoing period problems, and a couple of tests later I've got a completely unexpected diagnosis for hypothyroid. Apparently my TSH was 3 times higher than it should be, and antibodies 10 times higher.

So, all the stuff I'd been putting down to age, stress and hypermobility could be sorted with one magic pill a day? And I could be losing some weight again?

Who wants to tell me the positives please?! Other than free prescriptions for life Wink. I think it's good news. I mean, it's not often you go to the doctor's for one thing and get given a medical excuse for being fat and lazy... But at the same time it's weird having something I'm going to have to take stuff for for the rest of my life.

And that's another thing. I'm going to have to add ram-raiding a chemist for supplies of levo-wotsit to my zombie plan aren't I... Hmm

OP posts:
sincitylover · 12/09/2011 20:51

ive looked at a couple of websites and think that you still need a px to get it.

I can get that but will prob continue to go through a UK pharmacy.

Rather ironic that you have to have a px (think it's UK regs) for something that is dismissed as proper treatment.

sincitylover · 12/09/2011 20:52

per sorry wasn't ignoring you but don't know the answer to your question sorry!

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 12/09/2011 21:18

np sincity Grin

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Ormirian · 13/09/2011 17:16

I really must stop googling Hmm

From what I've read:

  1. I have plenty of the symptoms of hypothyroid.
  2. I'll be lucky if I get taken seriously unless my test results are really dramatic.
  3. I was possibly hyperthyroid a few years ago when I went to see my GP about anxiety and associated symptoms.

The GP I saw was really approachable so I am hopeful. I desperately want there to be something that can be done - I have had enough of cutting out booze or coffee or wheat, and taking supplements of this or that, of trying to 'think positively', or excersise more (until my tendonitis flares up again) - all the usual guff that I have been trying with limited or no effect for years to make myself feel better. It would be so nice if someone else could actually help me.

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 14/09/2011 19:49

yy Orm. When the doctor raised the possibility I googled, and got the distinct impression that doctors treated it like a made-up thing unless you were off the charts. But it was the doctor said I should take levo-thing, and having come at it from the otherside as it were, I'm just hoping all the stuff I'd put down to age, stress and 50 hours a week in the new job will start getting better.

Especially the muscle aches. I've been on a walking stick on and off recently as my hip's buggered again, but the physio's not helping this time - I think because I'm getting to muscle fatigue too quickly.

But what's really getting on my nerves is the insomnia. Which I've always had, but which has been worse for the last 3-4 anyway. So I can't sleep more than 6-7 hours and I'm still tired enough to cry in the shower most mornings...

It's a lot like I remember 8 months pregnant being like, iyswim.

So good luck for your appointment, and if it doesn't come back with a high TSH and/or antibodies, sounds like you should ask for a T3 count?

OP posts:
Original poster
PerAr6ua · 14/09/2011 19:50

not sure if any of that made sense. Sleep at 1, woke at 4, 5, 6, up at 7... think I may medicate with gin tonight Grin

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Original poster
PerAr6ua · 14/09/2011 19:51

Jeebers, I have actually turned into a 90 year old, haven't I?!

OP posts:
Ormirian · 14/09/2011 20:57

There, there per. I knew what you meantWink.

I should do as I am the same

Ormirian · 15/09/2011 11:40

Not a good start! I went for my blood tests and my blood pressure was sky high Confused Not a sign of hypothyroidism Hmm It did come down when she took it later though but still....

i am so worried it will all come back clear next week. I don't want to be ill but I do want to find out why I feel like this and perhaps be able to do something about it.

Are you feeling any better yet per?

sincitylover · 15/09/2011 14:59

That's exactly how I felt Orm when I was trying to get diagnosed - I knew there was something wrong with me physically.

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 15/09/2011 19:21

Thanks Orm. No, not noticing anything yet. When do your results come back?

OP posts:
Ormirian · 19/09/2011 12:56

Tuesday.

I had a contact lens check on saturday. Optician told me that my eyes were so dry he wanted me to get the blood tests results back before giving my another exam to see if I needed new lenses.

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 19/09/2011 21:22

Don't know anything about the dry eyes - mine always have been so I wear hard gas permeable Grin.
Crossed my fingers for something fixable tomorrow...

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Ormirian · 20/09/2011 15:26

Nothing wrong.

Thyroid, liver, kidneys all working fine. No diabetes. Which I suppose is good news Smile

She was angling for me to go back on the ads. I am not going to. Not yet anyway!

i still don't know what causes this lethargy, this exhaustion. Just life I guess.

She did suggest too much caffeine might be an issue - i do drink a lot of it I must admit. Will try cutting it out and insisting on going to be when I want to not when my sons and my DH wants to!

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 20/09/2011 16:55

oh rats! Did she say what your tsh was then?

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Ormirian · 20/09/2011 17:18

No. I should have asked shouldn't I? TBH I was simply trying not to cry at the time. Which clearly didn't help with her thinking I was depressed Hmm But I AM NOT DEPRESSED! I know what it's like and i am not suffering from it. Just frustrated at the way I feel so tired and there being no physical cause for it.

Grrrrr!

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 20/09/2011 23:21

maybe phone and ask tomorrow? If you're on the cusp see if you can take it further, or if they can compare with anyprevious counts you might have had before?

OP posts:
Ormirian · 21/09/2011 11:23

I wonder if they would tell me them without seeing a GP. I don't want to see one again ever! I feel like a hypochondriac - I have been banging on and one about feeling like this for so long and there is never any reason that they can find. Fed up with it now. I jsut get more and more tired and look more and more like death warmed up but there is no cause apart from 3 DC and a full-time job.

Didn't help that the GP was so nice - if she had been a mean old harridan who told me to buck up and get on with it I could have been cross with her!

Anyway - I have hijacked your thread for long enough. Thanks for the sympathy and I really hope you feel better soon.

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 21/09/2011 12:16

don't be silly! And keep at it - you're not well. That's what doctors are for...

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Ormirian · 21/09/2011 16:57

They told me over the phone! 3.08 so normal as could be. Ah well....back to the grindstone.

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 21/09/2011 22:54

ooh, thanks for that sofabitch -shall do some browsing.

Orm - the doc told me that 3.5 was the upper limit for TSH these days - which puts you at the upper end - could you point out that that warrants some investigation? Maybe get your antibodies looked at, in case your functions on it's way down?

Also suggests you might need retesting in a few months, even if not?

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Original poster
PerAr6ua · 21/09/2011 23:28

Right, just been browsing here and now I need to step away and stop surfing for the sake of my sanity... But maybe take a look and see if you can quantify your symptoms a bit more for the doctor Orm? See which markers ring a bell and give examples of the size of the difference?

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Ormirian · 22/09/2011 13:13

Thanks.

Both useful sites. When I have a bit more energy and time I will have a good look and go back to the GP armed with more information. Most of the symptoms are exactly those I have been suffering - I just need to get her to realise that it isn't depression - or if I am depressed it might be as a result of something else. But then I begin to doubt myself too.

Original poster
PerAr6ua · 27/09/2011 19:03

I have a goitre. A fucking goitre. Like a bastard Agatha Christie character.

I thought I was supposed to be getting better by now?

4 weeks to the day I started taking the fucking thyroxin, and for the last 2 days I've had a throat like I had a cold coming on. So I look in the mirror and yes, I can see my fucking thyroid gland, in all its fucking butterfly fucking splendour.

Fuck.

What now?

Yes, I'll phone the doctor in the morning for an appointment, but will it go down again? Or is it another thing I'll have to dress around, like trying to disguise the enormousness of my arse and wearing waterproof eye makeup cos I keep fucking crying.

Arse.

OP posts: