It sounds perverse, but I really hope I have an under active thyroid

[BerylStreep]

I went to see my GP today, in the hope that I will get a diagnoses for an under active thyroid.

I haven't felt right for ages - I can easily sleep for 11 hours a night, am exhausted, no libido (at all), have put on a lot of weight. I commented to my Mum (who also has an under active thyroid) the other day, that life feels like I am trying to run up a mountain. It shouldn't feel this hard - I am only in my early 40s.

My GP sounded fairly sympathetic. I'm getting blood tests done on Friday. I have had tests done before - in 2008 they came back as borderline, but I found out today that the last 2 tests which were done, in 2009 and 2011, although they came back 'normal' were only just inside the lower range, which I didn't know before.

It sounds so wrong to hope that I have a long-term condition that will require constant medication for the rest of my life, but the alternative is that this shit feeling is just the new normal, which has no treatment.

I've just turned 44' but to be honest I have been like his on and off for at least 5 years.

I was moaning to a colleague today (and I try not to discuss in RL but I really feel like I am at my wits end). She is hypothyroid, and was asking if I am cold. All the time. My DC actually complain any time I touch them because my hands are so cold, they hate me washing their hair or getting them dressed in case my cold hands touch them. Last night I slept in my DD's room, and spent half the night awake, freezing, because she only has one duvet on her bed (I sleep under 2 duvets, plus am normally having to switch the heat on before I go to bed).

Funny, she mentioned vitamin B12, apparently thyroid and B12 deficiency go together and she gets B12 injections.

Ok, Beryl - please make an appointment for a B12 test. The first result may be a bit muddled, because they've got to work out B12 and B9 (folate) deficiency, but they get there in the end.

The good news: - B12 deficiency can be supplemented by injection every 3 months (likely to be replaced by a tablet soon) It's like flicking a light switch on - you suddenly feel alive again.

Bad news: it can be a part of other conditions, but again everyone has different success rates with the meds.

Good luck and stick at it - it's the only way. Just as a matter of interest, do some of your fingers get colder than others?

I'm just reading my results which have come back as "normal"
Don't know if these numbers seem right?
TSH 2.26
Free T4 13.4

Serum ferritin 64
Serum iron 10
TIBC 68 (they said low?)
Iron saturation 15% (and low)

Oh, that is very sad news. I read on his pen picture that he was born in 1942, which is the same year as my Mum. I did think he was quite old still to be working.

I didn't realise that korma. Dh used to be a patient of his years ago.
How sad.

I saw the GP this morning. He thinks I am coeliac, although I had the test last year which was negative. He reckons there are loads of people who are coeliac who test negative, and he told me that he has been completely gluten free for 8 years and feels so much better.

He talked about leaky gut, and how if this happens, then the immune system can start attacking the thyroid gland. Anyway, I got bloods taken today, so will find out next week.

I have been taking my basal temperature - this morning it was 35.8, when normal is 37, so it is very low.

Could you ask for a referral to an endocrinologist? Or pay for one privately? I have seen one due to my family history of hypothyroidism and she said that the US reference ranges are different and might consider treatment outside of the US ranges, not just the UK ones.