Hmm......I missed subscribing to this thread so didn't remember to follow it up to see who posted next . My brain doesn't connect too well these days......I need to subscribe to a thread & have new posts immediately posted in my home email, as I don't read many PR threads these days.
I have had many
TSH tests over the last 4 years (the normal test) which were & still are normal.
I've had
T3 & T4 (which were, and still are, normal).
I asked for a list I found on the internet -
Reverse T3 (often not done by a doctor). Hope to get results next Tuesday.
Thyroid Peroxidase antibodies (often not done by your doctor). Like Mya, mine was outside the normal range with the note by the technician "
anti-thyroid peroxicdase and thyroglobulin antibodies are markers of ahtoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's disease and Graves' disease), although they may be detected in many healthy people as well. Treatment should be guided by symptoms and thyroid function tests rather than by antibody concentrations."
I wondered several years ago if I had Hashimoto's disease as I seemed to fit the symptoms, but this was brushed off as I had normal thyroid tests each time.
Thyroid -stimulating antibodies (often not done by a doctor)
Iodine (often not done by a doctor).
May I suggest you read Dr Lowe's website
http://www.drlowe.com who I read of many years ago when I was following up with the theory that almost all FM patients have disfunctional thyroid & my GP kept saying my eyes were protruding & kept feeling my thyroid/throat. At my request, my GP sent me to an Endocrinologist (who did many, many tests, but ultimately only found I had high blood sugar & low Vit D).
My Endocrinologist totally brushed me away when I queried why my Pituitary function test was outside normal range & we had a heated discussion on diet, when she couldn't accept that I don't do well on dairy & grains (stupid twit), so I don't want to go back to her. I'm still not satisfied with the abnormal pituitary function tests done in Nov 2006.
Extensive reading on the net & books back in 2006, suggested that us FM patient's thyroid
disfunction does not show up on tests due to
pituitary disfunction (hence my query about the abnormal pituitary function test at that time).
I have since read many sites & some books which say that the true way to test for thyroid is
to take your temperature (
before you get out of bed) 5 days in a row & take into account your
symptoms.
I've had low body temp 36.4-36.7 for years, but I found taking my temp before getting out of bed for a week was only
36.00 degrees each day.
I found a helpful site (when assessing my own symptoms) to be
http://www.mydr.com.au/first-aid-self-care/thyroid-gland-disorders
But Dr Lowe's site is excellent. He treats FM (my muscular skeletal specialist's diagnosis in May 2006) as basically, that
FM is just another name for Thyroid disfunction. Interesting theory. Almost all FM symptoms are exactly the same as Thyroid disfunction symptoms.
Taking your temp early morning (before getting out of bed), is the old fashioned way to check for Thyroid disfunction (before TSH tests etc) I understand, & some of the more enlightened Dr's still swear by this old-fashioned method.
On the site I mentioned above, it seems I do have a few hyp
erthyroid symptoms, but I certainly have
many HYPOthyroid symptoms.
As an example, I list my own "symptoms", or observations, over recent years.
- Weight gain (back in 2003 I used to do 30-40 mins stretching & toning exercises most mornings & about 10 hours of power walking a week. I power walked everywhere. I ate a healthy. organic, fresh food diet -low in caloriesl and still kept gaining weight. I weigh nearly double (what I weighed in my twenties).
- chronic constipation resolved mainly with diet but several weeks ago, I went back to be chronically constipated despite plenty of soluable fibre & water consumption. This is really weird, because I am an expert on this subject (& chronic diarrheoa which I had for 2+ years back in 2004.
- feeling cold my hands & feet (& knees, funnily enough) are freezing cold. I haven't felt the cold in my adult life & particularly not when I used to get so much exercise.
- Low basal temperature - discussed above
- fatigue, exhaustion & low energy - I've improved in the last couple of months, but I had to drink 3 strong mugs of black coffee prior to Feb 2010 when I was working - before I even started work for the day.
- slow reflexes - gosh, how many times have I dropped things & burned myself in the last year or two. (years ago, I could drop a glass & catch it 3 inches before it hit the floor - I used to have phenomonal reflexes & manual dexterity).
- slow, weak pulse - chinese acupuncturist, earlier this year, said I have a very faint, weak pulse - very fragile constitution. (after 8 sessions of acupuncture & quitting work, my pulse is much better, although sometimes lying in bed at night , I feel light & "floaty" sort of, can't feel my pulse at all. I am trained in herbal medicine so am used to taking my pulse & checking other body signs).
- slowness of thought, brain fog - had this for the last few years, got to the stage where I couldn't do my accounts job & to this day, I cannot multi-task. I have to do one thing at the time. If I get distracted, I totally "lose the plot".
- indecisiveness - take me a few minutes to pull my thoughts together & decide "what's next". (I was an decisive person in my job most of my adult life. I have (or had) the ability to think outside the square. I could speed read a pile of documents & within minutes, prioritise, and process accounts work that would take other people 4-5 times as long. I have been like this all my life).
- Poor memory & concentration - this contributed to my quiting my job. My short term memory is appalling.
- Sluggishness - very, very lethargic (up until a few months ago, then I started doing alot of slow walking & using my creative right side brain. I have improved in the last couple of months.
- Muscle weakness - have gone through periods of dropping things - last time I picked up the kettle full of boiling water off the stove & it promptly slipped through my fingers & fell on my foot. (I used to have very strong hands, arms & shoulders).
- Pain & stiffness in muscles & joints - when I get out of bed, I'm like a 100 yr old woman, but have improved a little since I've been walking more in the last couple of months.
- Deepening, hoarse voice - for 3 months duration now - people are starting to notice. Initially thought to be my MCS & mould allergy, but now we're not so sure.
- Depression, mood swings and severe PMS - yes, but much better since I had an endometrial ablation Dec 2009 & I'm much happier since I quit work.
- Thick, dry, coarse skin - being fair & blond & staying out of the sun, I've had soft, good skin for years, so I can't say this is a symptom at all.
- Creviced, cracking skin on heels, elbows & knee caps - my elbows, knees & heels ARE starting to get rough & scaley. Odd, as my consumption of salmon, avocado, olive oil - good fats - pure salmon oil capsules, vit E etc used to ensure beautiful soft skin ALL the time.
- Enlarged thyroid gland - not that I'm aware of, but my neck is getting much thicker & when I curl up in bed or lie in the bath, putting my head on my chest makes it hard to breath & swallow.
- High cholesterol - yes it was, but I've now got that much, much better - but i have to work hard at this reduction.
- Menstrual cycle irregularities (prolonged & heavy) - that's why, at the age of 56, I had an endometrial ablation in Dec 2009. At the rate I was going, each month, I was getting bloodless & despairing whether menopause would ever come.
- Infertility - who knows, I've never tried to get pregnant LOL.
- Numbness & tingling - this has been a very big problem for me for some time.
- Fluid retention (swelling of face & feet) - not recently since my Dr took me off my second BP med. There was a stage when I could not tie my lace up walking shoes, but we put this down to the second BP med.
- Brittle hair & nails - well I've not really got much in the way of nails, they are very soft. My hair has gone from beautiful, fine, ash blond silk, to curly, frizzy, straw they would make a wire scrubbing brush pale into insignificance. I'm fed up with telling people, no, I haven't had a bad perm hair job.
- Hair loss - my hairdresser refuses to layer or cut my hair short, she says I would look like I'm going bald without these frizzy curls. My crown is very thin & my forehead hair is receding.
I could go on & on with all the other symptoms - the common & less common. I've sort of got 97% of the "symptoms" which could belong to several health conditions if it comes to that.
In fact I did write for a couple of hours, & seemed to have lost it all when I tried to post it. Luckily I pressed "preview Post" at this point & recaptured up to this point.
So when I see the Dr/acupuncturtist at the clinic on Tuesday (who my regular GP referred me to when I asked about alternative thyroid treatment), I should get the last results of the thyroid tests & can discuss with her what alternatives there are to regulating/balance my thyroid function.
On the basis of low body temp & symptoms, I'm willing to bet Hashimoto's might be next on my
health problem to solve list.
! None of it has made sense. I wonder what explains hypo and hyper simultaneously. 
