Is there a DR in the house?

[MamazonAKAfatty]

I just wanted to ask the opinion of any Dr's we have here about my dad.

He is 46 (i know) and despite being very slim and active all his life he is now well over 25stone (thats as high as the scales at the surgery go to). he is 6'7 tall.

He started putting on weight about 5 years ago but didn't take much notice. as it got worse and worse he decided he needed to change his diet, stop drinking etc. but it made no difference. he had no energy, was constantly falling asleep without notice...even whilst driving short distances.

so he went to the GP. when he described all hi symptoms - slurred speech, dry skin, flakey scalp, lack of energy, increased weight, falling asleep etc etc the GP immediatly said it was probably Hyperthyroidism.

He took some bloods for a test but started him on 50mcg of thyroxine. the tests came back showing no reading from his thryoid at all so the GP increased the dosage time and time again until after about 2 yeras he was up to 150mcg.

There was still no reading for his thyroid function at this time and my dad was getting frustrated at the fact that although he was feeling a difference and the symptoms were all but 20% cleared the Gp wouldn't increase the dose any further.

like the stubborn old git that he is he stopped taking the thyroxine at all.

my family moved.

now is about 2 years since he took thyroxine. he has fallen veins in his legs and they swell up incredibly to the point that he gets ulscerated legs.
My mum was having to bandage the legs herself as he wouldn't go to the GP.

about a month ago we finally managed to get him to the Dr and as soon as the GP heard my dad speak he said "you have a thryoid problem" he ordered for some bloods to be taken and ordered tests for not just the thyroid function but also diabetes, liver function and a multitude of others.

My dad is now completly housebound. he cannot walk more than about 10 feet without needing to sit down or collapse. he currently has a district nurse attend every day to put compression bandages on his legs.

the tests came back from teh DR and he said that everything was perfectly normal. nothing had any elevated readings and that his thyroid function was at 2.4

he is now saying that as the reading is pretty much normal then he cannot prescribe the thryoxine despite him having had it make a huge difference to his life for the past 2/3 years.

My dad is now getting more and more paniced about what actually is wrong with him. he is thinking about things like MS.

He is getting himself worried to such a state that he is developing ostrich syndrom and just wants to bury his head in the sand and ratehr not know.

I know you can't diagnose over the net but i was just hoping someon might have some suggestions about A) if its not the thyroid problem then what could it be? and B) if you think it probably still is the thryoid how do we go about getting him retested when teh GP just accepts the results without question.

Thank you, any suggestions would be gratefully recieved

Is it possible for him to go to a different GP and get a second opinion?

...and as a less useful suggestion...perhaps copy/paste your thread under a new title, perhaps mentioning thyroid in the question? I almost didnt bother reading it as i'm not a dr! in fact the only reason I looked was because I was intregied by your new name , you are fattymama???

Sorry to hear your poor dad is having these problems.

Could you clarify - when he was started on thyroxine did he definitely have an underactive thyroid? Thyroxine affects your metabolism and if a person with normal thyroid function takes it it can cause weight loss and it is a drug which some people have abused as a diet pill - if your dad was on it without having a diagnosed thyroid problem then it will have suppressed his normal thyroid function so no wonder he got so much worse when he stopped it.

Has been referred to hospital, to a specialist? If not, then I would suggest that should be the immediate priority. It is obviously a far more complicated problem than a GP can deal with. He needs to see an endocrinologist ASAP

The symptoms you describe are those of Hypothyroidism - not hyperthyroidism. Hypo means under-functioning and hyper means overactive. I don't mean to be pedantic, but it is useful to be clear in case you need to write letters or anything. I do hope you get your dad referred soon. If it was my dad I would be concerned too - he is still a young man and needs proper investigation and treatment. His quality of life must be awful.

Re-reading your post, it sounds as if thyroxine is exactly the right treatment. I work in the nhs - have been a nurse for 30 years - it is not unheard of for lab results to be wrong!!!

Sorry for repetetive posting, but I keep thinking of things whilst getting ready for work. Must go now. Good luck.

I wouls definitely ask for a second opinion and if you don't get any joy ask for a referral to an endocrinologist. I speak from bitter experience as my mum was undiagnosed cushings disease for 8 years, and at 50 was near on house bound, TBH if she hadn't changed GPs I doubt she would be here now. Please don't let this rest, at 46 he is far far too young to be living lke this without a proper diagnosis.

just out of curiousity, when you say that initialy there were no readings for the thyroids function, do you mean that it was below zero, if so then the thyroid was suppressed and he was bodering on overactive thyroid as opposed to underactive..the reference ranges change according to some labs and a person with a reading over 2, may now be classed as boderline hypothyroid especially if symptomatic, also id be interested to know if other thyropid function tests were ordered
ie
free t3/overall t3, this would give a better indication of wthether his body was actually converting the t4 to t3 in his body which regulates the metabolism.
also has he had a blood test to check for thyroid anti bodies?
i would definitely persist as your father is obviously not well, a referral to an endocrinilogist sounds the best course of action.
HTH
p.s not a doctor but a thyroid bore!

thank you so much fpr all your res[onses.

yes i was fattymumma but changed to something less negative (new year, new you and all that)

to be honest we know very little about it all. my dad just sees it as an under active thyroid - he had no idea of what it was called.

its wquite interesting about the possibilty of the thyroxine being given actually causing some of the problems.

i think the first blood test came back as having a normal (ish) reading but the Dr was certain that given his other symptoms the thyroid problem was the cause so he prescribed the thyroxine. from then on my dad has just said that there was "no reading" i have taken that to mean that the tests came back with zero or whatever.

My dad was worried that his thyroid had died completley which was why there was no reading.

As for being reffered to an endocrinologist - it has never even been mentioned but you can bet your last penny it will be now!

Thank you again, just this small amount of info is far more than he has found out in more than 4 years of visiting his GP.

I guess that would all make sense if the original thyroid function was normal. The prescribed thyroxine would have suppressed your dad's natural thyroid funcion so that when he stopped taking the thyroxine he'd have had very little function at all. That would have caused symptoms of weight gain, fluid retention, depression etc.

Over time his natural thyroid function will have recovered but it still doesn't explain what the original problem was.

I'd agree, push for a referral. What would be helpful for the specialist, I think, would be a "blow by blow" account of what symptoms he had when, what test results there were at that time and what treament he was on.

HTH & hope this all gets sorted out.