Weird, annoying, worrying symptoms! Any ideas?

[chocolatto]

Hi these are the symptoms I have experienced for the past year.
Any idea what they could be related to?

• Need to urinate all the time
• Thinning hair (but the hair that still grow is coarse??) Hair falls out very easily. Rest of hair is incredibly dry.
• Horribly dry and tight skin.
• Feeling down and low.
• Period is heavy and painful one month, barely spotting the next.
• Stabbing pains in breast (left or right) before period.
• No, and I mean NO libido.
• Fat on belly that doesn't shift no matter what.
• Greasy facial skin.
• Dry, gritty eyes
• Tired.
• Mood swings.
• Foggy brain, confused and forgetful, lack of concentration.
• Deep horizontal dips in thumb nails. They make the nail look wavy but otherwise healthy looking.
• Nose seems to always be blocked (but I have had that since giving birth to my second child).

Any thoughts please?

Oh I forgot, skin tags appearing under armpits, in neck, on stomach (again in the past year).

Have you had your thyroid levels checked? That can cause some of the symptoms you describe. I'd get that done (it's a simple blood test) and go from there, I think.

Are you me? From that description you are, and I have an underactive thyroid.

Banana I kind of suspected it but I have seen several GPs about this and had a TSH level test but it came back within the normal range.
A year on I have just asked for another one which I am having done tomorrow and then seeing another (nice) GP to discuss it.
But if they come back normal, what to do?
Banana do you also get the skin tag thing? And the thinning hair?

How old are you? All these symptoms are fairly similar to those of the years leading up to the menopause....

Diabetes?

Yy to menopause.

When I read your post I immediately thought of thyroid problems.

It is something that can and does get missed by GPs and they have not been thorough enough with regards to testing.

www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/index.html is a non woo website re thyroid problems.

If they've only done TSH they certainly have not been thorough enough:-

The blood test for thyroid problems is called a Thyroid Function Test. The most usual tests are:

TSH, TT4 AND FT4
There is a range, which is used for the tests. These vary sometimes which is why you must always ask what the range is, so that you can see where you are in the range.

TSH = THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE
This hormone comes from the pituitary to stimulate the thyroid gland into making more hormone. TSH rises when the thyroid is struggling.
The approx. reference range for this test is 0.4 to 4.5.

TT4 = TOTAL T4
Thyroid hormones bound to proteins. TT4 lowers when the thyroid is struggling.
The approx. reference range for this test is 50 to 160.

FT4 = FREE T4
Thyroid hormones not bound to proteins. FT4 lowers when the thyroid is struggling.
The approx. reference range for this test is 10 to 24

FT3 = FREE T3
T4 converts to T3 and is the only thyroid hormone actually used by the body's cells.
The approx. reference range for Free T3 is 4 to 8.3

When I read your post I immediately thought of thyroid problems.

It is something that can and does get missed by GPs and they have not been thorough enough with regards to testing.

www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/index.html is a non woo website re thyroid problems.

If they've only done TSH they certainly have not been thorough enough:-

The blood test for thyroid problems is called a Thyroid Function Test. The most usual tests are:

TSH, TT4 AND FT4
There is a range, which is used for the tests. These vary sometimes which is why you must always ask what the range is, so that you can see where you are in the range.

TSH = THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE
This hormone comes from the pituitary to stimulate the thyroid gland into making more hormone. TSH rises when the thyroid is struggling.
The approx. reference range for this test is 0.4 to 4.5.

TT4 = TOTAL T4
Thyroid hormones bound to proteins. TT4 lowers when the thyroid is struggling.
The approx. reference range for this test is 50 to 160.

FT4 = FREE T4
Thyroid hormones not bound to proteins. FT4 lowers when the thyroid is struggling.
The approx. reference range for this test is 10 to 24

FT3 = FREE T3
T4 converts to T3 and is the only thyroid hormone actually used by the body's cells.
The approx. reference range for Free T3 is 4 to 8.3

Never believe anyone who says that your test results are 'normal'. They may be within the reference range, but are they optimal.

Your TSH needs to be around 1, with your FT4 and FT3 in the top third of the reference range.

Skin tags deffo, especially armpits where they rub on my bra. I am overweight though so may not have this so much if i dropped a few pounds!
I also have very thick hair. It sheds like buggery, but luckily i am the only person who can tell it's getting thinner.
I have a friend with pcos and her hair thins a lot every month. She has no pain, but yes to headaches, hair thinning, weight gain, oily skin but no acne and hairy sideburns.

Thanks all for your replies.
Pink I am 37. I did think of the Meno but the second doctor laughed when I suggested it and she said "You have plenty of oestrogen so it's not that".
Attila that is absolutely brilliant info thank you, I will definitely save that for when I get my results.
Last time they only tested for TSH and FT3, and the (nice) doctor admitted to me that that is all he would do this time because the rest is not a routine lab test.
banana yes, I see exactly what you mean. People think I'm bonkers when I tell them my hair is thinning because it started off so bloody thick that now it doesn't look too bad.
That's why it's so hard to explain to the doctors. Only my trichologist said that I had lost a lot of volume and that I have the "telogen effluvium band" which is situated around the temples, sideburns and hairline).
Maybe I've also got PCOS too though which is why I'm losing hair.
I don't know, it's so confusing and INCREDIBLY distressing.
I know the horizontal ridges in the thumbnails are defo a big givaway. I heard a famous professor talk about it on tv and I looked at mine and thought "oh my god. What if?"