Help! Meno vs thyroid test results

[notMrsRobinson]

Had a total meltdown at work this morning and left in tears. Gp was supposed to have called this morning but despite having phone in hand all morning all I got was a PPI call... I guess gp doesn't take menopausal / thyroid women seriously . So I barged into office and demanded test results which they gave (wish I'd don 2weeks -ago!) it's
TSH 4.4
Serum free t4 11.9
FSH 45.4

So... Any ideas whether my problems (weight, fog brain, hurting feet, muscles and as of 2 weeks ago incessant tearfulness!) are down to thyroid or meno??

(I'm currently googling thyroxine on the net looking for an illicit purchase, feel totally fed up with drs! I wouldn't really but am furious right now...)

You really need the ranges with those results, but at a guess, I would say both. That TSH should be much lower and the FT4 quite a bit higher, which suggests that your thyroid is struggling. FSH levels of more than 30iu/l are generally regarded as being in the menopausal range.

You can buy thyroxine online, but if you can get a diagnosis and an NHS prescription it's free, and so are all your other meds. However, for thyroxine to work efficiently, you need to have optimal levels of some of your vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B12 and folate, vitamin D and ferritin. You may need to look at that first.

I can see you're very stressed about all this, but if you want to unravel this, you will need to approach it in a calm and logical way and tick things off as you go.

Can't find a way to buy it online without a perscription. This can't go on.

I finally had a phone call from the GPs and they have told me to come back for a retest in 6 weeks. I am so depressed I cannot function, I even tried to tell the doctor on the phone about it, tha I have re-started an old habit of binge eating (used to be bulimic but I thought I'd overcome it, now am doing the binge part of the cycle without the subsequent purge so I don't know what I'd call it ).

It's probably menopause anyway, but I have been totally tearful since I got the 'not normal' result, and I've never been this bad before.

I think you need to go back and talk to your GP. You may need to start by resolving the MH issues.

I'm trying to pick myself up now, GP suggested I try weight watchers when I asked WTF was I supposed to do about the sudden weight gain (I'm somewhat overweight already but gained 1/2 stone in last 2 weeks, the GP is very young and slim, I asked her about low carb but she said she knew nothing about diets). I have decided to use the next 4 weeks (before retesting) as a time to commit to diet and no alcohol, just written myself out a sensible plan which I'll try to stick to religiously, as a test of whether it makes any difference. I'm just feeling so angry. Sorry, this is a total pity party but it's helping to write it down. I'm back at work, still keep bursting into tears and feeling v sorry for myself.

I suspect the next 4 weeks on a sensible 1500 cal per day diet, combined with daily gym, will knock some of the weight off, then maybe I won't be so keen for a magical cure ie daily thyroxine. Or maybe not, then I'll really be sobbing! And if the problem is underlying thyroid I'm livid that I have to wait an extra 4 weeks for something that could start helping today IYSWIM. I'm seeing a counsellor tonight for other issues (problems with H) and I still don't know if the problems are due to hormone imbalance or H. I'm starting to feel like I'm going to be stuck wondering that for the next 4 weeksas I'll focus on that rather than the important issues!

You need to bear in mind that there are a number of thyroid conditions, including a transient thyroiditis. It's pretty much standard to wait six weeks and then re-test, in case it's just a blip.

Sorry to hear about your problems.

But contrary to online advice, please do not self medicate. You simply should not be taking thyroxine without a doctors supervision. It's totally irresponsible for anyone to suggest that. I can't believe any educated person would ever do or suggest taking something like thyroxine without being monitored. I've got gp friends who would be horrified at the thought.

No one online knows anything about you, nothing about any medicines you currently take, how they may react, or what is normal for you etc. thyroxine is not aspirin and it can be harmful if not taken or managed properly.

I don't think anyone has advised self medication in this case, or indeed in any other.

Thyroxine is actually very safe, but it takes a particular kind of desperation to resort to buying online and dosing yourself.

i would not rush to blame thyroid unless you have antibodies. the symptoms apply to many other conditions, starting with low ferritin, low b12 and low vit d. ask your gp to investigate further would be my advice

Thanks all, I didn't get very far with my attempt to buy online anyway Looking back, I realise I've never really had anything like this, I went for blood test not expecting anything in particular but when the result came back abnormal I didn't realise the depth of sadness and rage I'd feel in being told to do absolutely nothing about it... Retest on 6 weeks, that's another month of my life down the drain. I guess I just want to do something, anything.

So I've stopped binge eating, for 2 days have done 'sensible' and gone to gym, Pilates last night. I've always been fairly happy day-to-day, counting my blessings, but for the past week+ I've been a mess. I've had mean thoughts and am perpetually in tears (told a chugger to F off yesterday, I was sobbing as I walked down the street yet again. I don't let people out at junctions and that's made me happy. I hate myself).

I think it's just the shock of being told that my 'normal' isn't normal and it may not have been for a long time. I thought my lack of confidence, not trusting myself to remember etc was due to other things but if its down to an imbalance I might as well give up!

Your symptoms may be hypo related but they may not be at all and tbh even when my tsh was 20plus, I never felt anywhere near that bad (literally a bit tired but that's all) so please be careful that you are not overlooking something else. I wouldn't expect such drastic symptoms to be caused by your thyroid results which are at worst only borderline.

I remember that summer between tests. It was dreadful. I really thought that I was going mad, that I would be diagnosed with some sort of serious mental illness (as if already having depression wasn't enough!) and would lose my dc.

Please remind yourself that the dreadful emotional roller coaster that you are on is heavily influenced by an imbalance in your body. You don't need to give up on yourself, but you can - temporarily - give up responsibility for those emotions until you start treatment. Please don't blame yourself.

Kick up a fuss at the GP by all means. A 6-week retest seems reasonable, but not informing you until you made a fuss seems quite unreasonable.

I find low-carbing wonderfully compatible with meno/thyroid upheaval, because it really helps with the mood swings and energy levels. It also allows you to indulge in the munchies without derailing yourself. As long as you munchie on the right things, of course! My GP was also dubious, but monitored me and was so impressed by the results that she started looking into LCHF diets in more detail, and now supports them.

BTW I don't know whether you already have experience with LCing, but you can feel physically very rough in the first few weeks, as your body gets used to it. Push on through! (And check out the Bootcamp threads if you need advice or support.)

Bear in mind that it is possible to be overweight and, simultaneously, not getting essential nutrients that your body needs. That feels...well, pretty much how you describe you are feeling, ime!

I am pretty sensitive to not getting certain nutrients. They don't all show up on tests. Good if you can have iron, vitamin D, potassium/sodium (this is a test for other conditions) iodine, calcium, magnesium, and any others which affect mood.

For me, it's a combination of things that helps, and thyroxine is only a small part of it. (I'm now on a very low dose. It took many frustrating years to get a diagnosis and about a year to settle on the right dose. It is not sensible to take a different amount to that prescribed, but I am allowed to take an extra 25mcg every few days.) I need daily iron (my GP has cut my prescribed dose, but is ok with me taking more iron if I feel I need it and have physical signs.) I make sure we have red meat in our weekly diet, so the rest of the family are getting enough iron too. I also find iodine in my diet helps my mood enormously. Now, an iodine overdose is very nasty and dangerous, so I tend to just eat a bit of seaweed now and then rather than take tablets. There is a lot of iodine in some seaweed. I take a multivitimin a day if I notice any other problems.

However, I didn't do any of this (apart from eating red meat) when getting blood tests because I needed my basic body function to be assessed without help. Very frustrating. I truly feel your frustration. Do stay calm and be patient. You will get to the bottom of this and things will improve for you. Taking control of your diet is a great thing. It took me a year to lose my extra weight though. Even so, I ate very little each day, and I still put weight on very easily. Managing your diet for optimum fitness is something to do for life. It is a medical necessity and you have to deal with it yourself, a GP won't help much until it gets so excessive it threatens your life (morbid obesity).

Something else which has helped is finding out fairly recently that I have mild hyperextension of joints, which leads to sprains and pulled muscles, joint aches and generally makes exercise a lot harder, but much more necessary in order for me to stay healthy and fit. I now exercise daily as a form of self medication, to strengthen my legs, arms, joints and core (stretches and indoor exercise in winter, building up to short runs in better weather).

Losing weight and keeping the weight off is no easier now that I have daily levothyroxine. It is hard, it always will be, and I have to put effort into watching what I eat every day. I have to exercise just to be in reasonably good shape, I don't have time to do more to run off a packet of crisps or a biscuit. My joints can't take the strain of longer runs either. So I have learned to see snacks as my enemy (but have to keep this attitude to myself as one DC is underweight).

second paragraph, I was suggesting good if you can get tested^ for those minerals and vivitamins that affect mood. I'm not suggesting you take supplements until you have been tested.

A hearfelt thanks to you all so much for the fantastic help and information. It's made all the difference, I'm feeling calmer today (but nothing resolved as yet). I've felt that nobody else cares or understands, not to sound pathetic, but it's a why-should-they-care sort of issue, doctors have followed the correct protocol but it doesn't help me NOW. And I saw the counsellor Wednesday but she couldn't add anything, I don't want to sit there and talk, I want some action... H is worse than unhelpful, telling me to 'get some pills' and I think it's the relationship issues that are at the base of a lot of this.

I've always felt that I could take a lot of control of my own health/mood/situation, and this has sort of turned my perception of myself upside down.

Oink thanks!! I have low carbed for years and love it. I've been up and down weight wise (now UP) but I'm going to try a low GI approach until the retest. I've wondered if low carb helped for thyroid, but my only problem with LC in general is that I can go overboard on, say, nuts if I feel that they are 'allowed'. So in the interest of keeping everything as evenly keeled as possible for the next 4 weeks I'm not going to LC but going to be very sensible. I never eat sugar anyway! I feel that LC/HF is a great approach and now it's getting good press, about time. I'm not going Phase 1 until after tests then maybe a fresh start as I probably never did it 100%. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates having to wait, it's so disempowering!

Buttercups I am not sure, this is the first thing I've looked into and I am wondering if I'm looking for a magical cure. Might get vit D and B12 checked, never suspected but I may as well know now that I've opened the pandora's box!

YeGods many thanks, I can relate to it all, glad you've come out the other side! is hyperextension the same as hypermobility? Will google. I'm v hypermobile, easily touch floor and knee to nose (a bit obscene really!) so I wonder if there is a connection to low thyroid? I'm trying to build strength via weights and pilates/yoga (love it!) as that is where our fate lies, so I've been told, as we get older-- and strong is the new skinny, I tell myself (I am neither at the moment but have a better chance at strong, not being vain but I want to prolong middle age as much as possible before the inevitable decline!).

Peace, that's exactly what I'm doing... and I've chucked out the sea kelp. I take a hair-skin multi vit and I guess I might as well continue?

Once again, thanks to all... this is the only place I've really been able to 'vent' and get some meaningful feedback!

Yes! Hypermobility! I couldn't think of the right word!

I find it really helps to recognise that this feeling that nobody cares, the feelings of impatience and frustration at work, with the doctor, the feeling of disempowerment, are all symptoms too!

Which is not to say you cannot change them, as in a way you can, it just takes practice. You have to tell yourself that you can choose your thoughts, you can control your eating and exercise routine, you are an adult and don't need a doctor to parent you. There are days when I can't help but be tired, achy, cold, tearful, and scatterbrained but I don't have to also be grouchy, miserable company, shouty or bitchy. It is very easy to be like that, but not inevitable, I can decide not to. I might not be fun or bubbly but I am more likely to be if I just ignore anything that is upsetting and let it go.

Dr Oink prescribes a healthy dose of selfishness, to be taken as needed.

We try to be everything to everyone: mother, lover, partner, role-model, worker, colleague, friend. When our dc are toddlers, or pubertal, or teens, we make allowances for the difficulties growth and hormonal upheaval cause them. We don't expect everything from them at those times, but cut them some slack and give them time to get through that normal developmental stage

So when we go through the normal developmental stage of the hormonal upheaval of meno, do we cut ourselves some slack, or do we demand and expect ourselves to continue the usual 'be everything to everyone: mother, lover, partner, role-model, worker, colleague, friend'?

So cut yourself some slack. Do something that pleases and stimulates - or relaxes - you. And don't feel the least bit bad about saying "No" to demands.