Further thyroid testing "an internet fad"

[Saucery]

Just been told this by my GP. All testing beyond the basic single baseline blood test is something some people on the internet have turned into a craze, apparently.

OP raised cholesterol is a sign of hypothyroidism.

Also, never accept that a blood test result is ' normal'. For most GPs that just means it has come back within the reference range. It certainly doesn't mean it's optimal and anyway, some NHS reference ranges are a bit 'off'.

You're entitled to a copy of your results and you can very easily see which ones have been flagged by the lab or are right at one end or other of the reference range.

I certainly wouldn't want anyone to be consigned to a life of chronic fatigue in their thirties, or at any other time come to that. There's usually an underlying explanation. It just needs to be found.

Please the trouble with nhs reference ranges being off is as others say is that it is hard to be treated unless you can go private (I work in Europe but soon to be back in nhs and we definitely have different parameters for ranges such as thyroid. It is frustrating, but as other pp have said it hard to get a referral when this is how the system works.

User cf is the pits, I suffered from this in my early 20s after viral meningitis and my GP use to say that he could almost start to believe it was a real thing based on my case
Other possibilities are fibromyalgia bit this is ime equally poorly understood.

I have a friend who is a cpn who has done work on mindfulness that has had really positive feed back from patients with chronic physical conditions. Maybe this would be worth exploring? I have also seen improvements in pain and sleep patterns with patients who take low dose amitriptline. The doses are not therapeutic for depressions but seem to confer benefits for other problems.

I gave up with my GP, buy natural desiccated thyroid pills instead of taking thyroxine, and have never felt better.

I completely understand that pov, Idefix, but I would like to know what the underlying chronic condition is before I treat the symptoms therapeutically. I would be more amenable to CBT than ADs if it came to that. "We don't know what's wrong with you so here are some tablets to take your mind off it" isn't good enough for me. I have seen people on a downward spiral of untreated underlying conditions masked by ADs and they ended up in a terrible state.
I will try to get over the message about it all being in my head as I know our body/mind interface is more complicated than that. However, I am certain depression is not the cause, it is a side effect.

I'm probably coming across a bit demanding of the NHS. What I mean is, depression isn't stopping me walking up a fell. I can do it, slowly and painfully, because I still love doing it. The physical payback is being unable to move the next day, awake all night with pain and pain and fatigue that lasts a week. I've pushed myself physically in the past and what is happening now is far removed from the muscle pain you get from pushing yourself up a notch.
I wrenched my arm at work 4 months ago. It still hurts as if I havejust done it. Something is missing from my body chemistry.

Crunchy I am hugely affected by brand changes in my meds. So much so, my GP has specifically prescribed certain brands which I have to travel to different chemists for.

100% get a copy. You know I posted about neutropenia up thread and how I was diagnosed in 2015? Have a look at the date on these tests....

Sorry Saucery my last post was more for user rather than a general edict

It is awful feeling like you are going against the tide both physically and with your gp. Other useful tactics in my experience are trying different hcp. We all have different PoV and different approaches to problems.

You are not being difficult or awkward trying to find answers for how you are currently feeling.

No need to apologise, Idefix, you've been enormously helpful on this thread, as has everyone. Still haven't a scooby what's wrong with me but a lot less alone in feeling dismissed and ignored.
Changing hcp will have to be the next step if the next bloods come back within normal range. I will certainly remember to ask for print outs there and then and keep them as a record, hollinhurst.

@PrimalLass I'm another self treater. Levothyroxine works well for me, butI could never get enough off my GP who was dosing by TSH only. Two years later I have a normal BMI for my height, my cholesterol,is spot on and I probably feel better than I have done since I had glandular fever in my teens.

I'm probably too scared to self treat.

Saucery I know exactly what you mean by having to pay the price for activity, I'm exactly the same. I can push myself to do things when absolutely necessary but I damn well suffer the consequences afterwards. I took my kids for a day out - nothing strenuous, and I had my in laws with me to help as well and I then couldn't get off the sofa for the next two days. Told the GP, her solution was that I should do more exercise.
I have pernicious anaemia btw, which the doctors know about and (slightly) treat but they just are not interested in hearing that I'm STILL exhausted.
I paid for a private blood test which showed up a potential issue which I've got to go and speak to them about, I haven't taken private results in before, it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is.

ad's do not mask the physical symptoms of depression - god I wish this nonsense would get knocked out of peoples miseducated brains asap.

I'm on NHS prescribed Armour thyroid - been on it about 7 years but
I still feel rubbish. I have Fibromyalgia and CFS and can barely
function on some days.
I went down the route of checking test results and taking every supplement going. I also joined quite a few thyroid forums but
I never could find the thing that would turn the situation around.

@Pleasemrstweedie - I had glandular fever in my teens too. And some form of CFS.

Who do you mean, lubeybooby? Me or the GP? It's unclear.

Okite, it's ridiculous, isn't it? I can't see why ADs would make me any more likely to exercise because I do exercise!

It's just the ability to do so is slightly impaired by the fact my joints give way under me, my balance is fucked and I have to sleep for 12 hours.

I know, I tried to explain that I have a limited 'pot' of energy and actually, I need to keep that for looking after my children.

Having glandular fever in your youth appears, possibly only anecdotally, to be a risk factor for developing hypothyroidism in later life.

Oh, and e sry one is afraid to self treat until they realise the only alternative is to stay ill. I've seen it transform lives.

Glandular fever? Jolly good.
My worry about self medicating is I read somewhere that if you do medicate, your thyroid can stop functioning even more. That worries me.
If you're buying it online and for some reason the supply has a problem (if it became illegal or manufacturing hitch) what would happen?

If I can be absolutely sure I am making a correct and safe decision I would self treat, pleasemrstweedie. All the links posted will help with that.
I've just remembered that this is the same GP I saw about 10 years ago when I did genuinely feel 'down' and thought I'd better get checked out. She refused ADs and recommended St Johns Wort! I didn't want something off a supermarket shelf so I didn't take it and it was circumstantial depression anyway so it passed, if it was even that.

Thanks, Idefix.

For those who have self-treated - how do you go about it?

It's truly scandalous the way thyroid is treated in this country.