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Hypothyroid with normal TSH?

Posted , 7 users are following.

liauq
liauq

Hi;

I'm a 54 year old woman and have recently been to my gp with symptoms of menopause; night sweats,insomnia,loss of libido etc. but I am now coming to the conclusion that it could be hypothyroidism but I have had a lot of standard blood tests including tsh (1.68) and they have all come back normal except for low white blood cell count and high cholesterol, but both good and bad are high and the gp isn't worried about any of these results.

So why do I think it's hypothyroid? I've started to get extreme muscle weakness in my legs and the feeling that I'm going to fall over.I'm ok pottering around a bit but if I try to do too much I "crash".I've had this before but this time it's much worse and going on longer.I know that these are symptoms of other things like depressionand cfs and ibs and I'm sure that I get all of these things but that they are symptoms! In addition, my eyebrows are disappearing,my sense of taste has changed, my eyes are gritty and weepy and I look like a ghost, I'm so pale..but tests say I'm not anaemic or vitamin deficient.

14 years ago I had hyperthyroid and took tablets for 6 months, I have raynards syndrome and vitiligo and am allergic to too much sunlight (like bad prickly heat), certain cosmetics and some hayfever.

My mother had really bad hyperthyroidism, my sister has had nodules on her thyroid and another sister is borderline hypothyroid.When my mother was about my age she stopped using escalators going downstairs, which sounds weird but I'm wondering if she'd flipped from hyper to hypo but never got treated and I'm going the same way.

My gp has agreed to refer me to an endocrinologist ,his letter has said that "I am a well read woman" which could be interpreted as "a bit of a pain who's looked up too much of the internet for her own good" but if it gets me the tests to rule out hypothyroid and gets me up and out again, I'll live with that!

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  • kristi63
    kristi63 liauq

    Posted

    You need to have them check your antibodies for Hashimoto's.  It's hereditary.  If your sister has nodules,  and your mother had hyper then you most likely have Hashi's or hyothyroid, which they can't get from just a TSH test.  They need to do TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, TPO, TgAB.  They should also test your Ferritin, Vit D, B-12, RBC (not serum) magnesium.  They probably won't do all of these, unfortunately, but you should press them on it as "a well-read woman" - of course that's what they meant (PIA); my PCP felt the same way, so.... i fired her.  But it's still hard to get a conventional doctor to order the right tests so that you can feel better.  They only go by the way they were trained... which wasn't to our benefit, just theirs and big pharma.  sad   good luck. 
    • kristi63
      kristi63

      Posted

      don't forget that "normal" is a setting on the hair dryer.  there is a difference between what the lab considers normal and what you FEEL.  your ferritin (for example) may be "normal", but optimal is 90. 
    • liauq
      liauq kristi63

      Posted

      hi,kristi; visiting gp today, waiting to be told that my vanishing hairline,eyebrows ans eyelashes are because i'm at a certain age so like the comment re. hairdryers!
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