Ongoing Symptoms Despite Levothyroxine Treatment

Hello I just read your reply to elizebeth. What are you taking now?

Hi, I have been taken off all thyroid medication as my bloods say I am in the" normal range" but in the low end of normal. I can honestly say I am not right but far better than I was when i was on T4 ! Having now tried both T4 and T3 I strongly suspect I cannot take Levothyroxide When I was on thyroid medication I was under active!. I have been back to my doctor giving him all of my symptoms but he will not give me anything.

Thank you, mags- I have taken the plunge and purchased some Natural Thyroid , so we'll see how things go on that. Thanks, all, for your helpful advice and supportive comments. It's good to know there's such a wonderful community here!

Thank you once again. I was aware that nutrients and vitamins were important so I take iron, Accrete D3 and a good multivitamin everyday. I also had my bloods checked at the docs and all my levels are fine. I think the problem with me lies with Radioactive iodine treatment I had some 3 years ago and the fact my blood levels are still in the "normal range" but on the low side, I don't think this is right for me.

I do know that I can't eat nightshades.

Barbara, thank you for the useful information re. vitamins- my doctor has never mentioned any vitamin deficiency causing symptoms to me before (!!!) but my last blood test showed up low Folic Acid levels, so I've been taking a supplement. I've also  only recently started  taking thyroid support multivitamins and selenium and magnesium supplements, after reading the Mary Shomon book. I guess it'll take some time for any depleted levels to come back to normal. Does anyone have any idea how long it might take? I've been told not to eat anything like brocolli, cauliflower etc., but didn't know about the nightshade veg. prohiibition. Seems like our veggie options are pretty much limited to greens and salad, then? Still I guess it's worth giving it a try.

Elizabeth, you can eat brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower as long as it's cooked. Broccoli in particular is a good source of nutrients.

Barbara, that's interesting- according to the ntritionist whose diet I've been following for the past month, the brassicas are a no-no, even when cooked. Oh, dear, so much conflicting information- it's hard to know what to do, so I guess the only thing is, to expereiemnt a little and see how things go. I do know that, since I've been following a Gluten free approach, my IBS and other tummy problems, like bloating, have been greatly imporoved, even though, when I did a home gluten allergy test, it came up negative. I'm thinking of appraoching a nutritionist in this country, to give me a more "tailor made" diet to suit my particular issues- mainly pain, fatigue and depression/anxiety, now the tummy problems seem to have been sorted out somewhat- oh, and difficulty losing weight, despite following a pretty strict diet- or so it seems to me, as I aim to consume less than 1,500 cals a day.  Mind you, because of my pain and fatigue problems, I know I don't exercise nearly enough, so maybe I need to cut the calories back even further. Aargh!

 Have any of you seen a nutritionist? If so, how did you get on with it?

Hi Elizabeth, yes I've seen a nutritionist and was told I was too complicatef and beyond her expertise! I'm due to see another one on the NHS in May. I've already spoken to her and sent

her a list of foods I can't eat and asked for some suggestions about other foods I can try she thinks I might be ok with. So fingers crossed.

The other things that a lot of hashimotos people suffer a reaction to is soy (aka soya if you're in the UK) and dairy.

I come up as negative on the Coeliac test and positive on the RAST test for wheat

My wheat RAST result was 0.36 (range = 0-0.34) however I get itchy spots if I eat wheat and my fingers swell up slightly and become stiff. These symptoms go away if I don't eat wheat.

Re diet, my weight decreased rapidly when I stopped eating carbohydrates. I eat porridge made with oat milk and roast chicken with vegetables (not potatoes). Try it for two weeks and see how you get on. I wouldn't try it long term as there isn't a wide enough range of foods for a balanced diet (I take a comprehensive multivitaminto compensate for all the foods I can't eat).

I also lost weight when I switched to NDT. TAs my T3 results were always towards the bottom of the range even though my T4 was at the top, so I conclude that I wasn't converting T4 to T3 properly, hence the reason taking NDT helps as I'm getting all 5 of the thyroid hormones (T1, T2, T3, T4 and calcitonin) not just T4.

Allergy skin prick tests all come up negative. I've done an exclusion diet over many ywars to find out whqt I react to.

Thank you for all that information, Barbara. I'll try to stick to thhe diet you've suggested for a week or so and see if it helps. Also, I'm pleased to hear you lost weight on NDT, as I've bought some, but will have to wait a couple of weeks to get it as I couldn't source it in the UK without a prescription. I'm also planning to try to see another GP in the practice I attend who might be more approachable re. alternatives to Levothyroxine. Here's hoping!

 

Sorry, I think it went to be moderated because of dodgy punctuation that made the software think I'd included a link.

Good luck, I hope the diet works for you. To give you some variety, here's some ideas. Buy chicken drumsticks or thighs. I roast a grillpan of about 25 at a time for 2 hours at 190C (you may need to tip some juice off after an hour or so - though keep the juice). When cooked remove bones and freeze meat in single portion sizes (I use 85g). Make bone broth by putting bones in slow cooker with 2 bayleaves, 1 bouquet garni, topped up with water, for 24 hours. (If you haven't got a slow cooker you can boil in a pan for 8 hours - keep topping up with water so doesn't boil dry). Drain and freeze liquid in portion sizes (approx 300ml). You can use this chicken bone broth as a base for soups - just add cooked vegetables and blend until smooth. Turmeric and black pepper make it tasty and help reduce inflammation. I eat the oat milk porridge for breakfast (unsweetened), roast chicken and big plateful of vegetables for lunch, and 1-2 bowlfuls of vegetable soup for teatime. I snack on raw carrots or roast chicken. I drink only water. If I'm going out I take a couple of portions of frozen chicken (it's thawed by the time I need to eat it), a flaskful of hot vegetable soup, and a vegetable and chicken casserole (and a spoon).

I also take an extensive multivitamin - the ones for age 50+ are good. I've had to do this because of allergies and intolerances but I've lost weight - 1 stone in 6 months before I started NDT and 2 stone more since. I'm on ThyroGold as it's an OTC NDT that hasn't got fillers in (you've guessed it, I'm allergic to fillers!) I also went swimming 2-3 times a week doing 30 lengths each time.