Another thyroid question thread..

[hellymelly]

My thyroid has been sluggish for years, but always just within the normal range, or with a raised TSH but still "normal" T4. I had a bad fall recently and my bloods were tested after that, my TSH was 23 (think maybe the shock of the fall had affected the levels? ). Had them done again last week and the TSH is down to 9.something , but this time they tested for antibodies and I do have them. I'm not seeing the doc for a couple of weeks which gives me time I suppose to work out what I need to ask. Has anyone tried natural thyroid extract? I had it three years ago when my TSH was raised , from a private doctor, but I felt terrible on it (sleepless, as though my heart was about to pack up) even though I was on a tiny dose. I feel generally grotty now and think I do need meds but am scared of how I might react to them. Not sure whether to try the Armour thyroid stuff again or levothyroxine. Is it normal to feel horrible at first on the medication, or should it be more of a feeling of returning to normal ?

So you have antibodies, so you need treating, whether anything is out of range or not. The variations in TSH may be the natural swings and roundabouts of auto-immune thyroid disease.

An NHS GP will want to treat with levothyroxine, because it's cheap, but that may not work for you. It works for most people, but not for all. If it doesn't work he can prescribe liothyronine, either on its own or with the levo, but he may not realise that.

It is virtually impossible to get natural dessicated thyroid on the NHS. Armour have changed their formula recently and now Erfa, from Canada, is the preferred brand. I am doing very well on NDT, which I buy from abroad.

Different people react in different ways to different meds, but getting used to T3, or the T3 element of NDT can be tricky unless you take it gently.

D

So possibly the T3 element was the thing that made me feel so strange last time? It was truly such a frightening and horrible feeling that I am really scared of starting on medication, but I feel so rubbish (up and down, but often exhausted, foggy thinking and apathetic, cold, nauseous if I am at all hungry, craving carbs, lots of palpitations, rib pain and faint feelings, so pretty crap!) that I can see I have to. My mum is hypo and she isn't great at all which is sort of depressing to have as a future image, although she is very elderly. So do you now feel how you did before you had thyroid problems? I have felt under par for years and years but because it has been just within the normal range the GP has usually been very dismissive, asking me if I am "depressed" etc. Did you chop and change meds? Is natural thyroid usually better than the synthetic thyroxine?