Need more friends for motivation blood work came back
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »So, that's odd...they ran a Total T4, but not a free T4. They ran a Free T3, but not a Reverse T3 - but a total T3, which is an outdated test, to my understand. Did you get a TSH with those numbers, @microwoman999 ? Those numbers are hard to interpret, but my T3 is close to yours, and my Endo changed my meds because I was still symptomatic...but without the other numbers for context, it could be okay, though Free T3 should be in the upper 75% of the range for optimal, to my understanding.
I'm not sure what TSH is but I will look at my paperwork when I get home. I never thought I would have issues with thyroid or T2D. Here I am over 30 and it's starting. I am due to retest Feb 1st since I've been on the thyroid meds. I don't know if he is retesting everything though1 -
cstehansen wrote: »
Given an A1c indicates an average BG reading of 114 over the previous 3 months or so, if the fasting is 89, then there has to be a significant rise PP, a significant rise at some other time (stress induced perhaps?) or very slow reduction in from spikes. Clearly, there is some point in time where the BG is elevated and/or it never really gets down as low as it should for as long as it should during fasting periods.
I don't find the calculated average for an A1c very close. I don't have a CGM, but during the period when I was testing 5-10 times a day, at times when I expected high readings, the A1c was about 7% higher than my measured average. My measured average should have been higher, based on when I was taking the readings (at 1 hour and 2 hours after eating, as well as fasting).
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I don't see anything for TSH. I do know being on the thyroid medicine I feel a little better but in the afternoons I get sleepy. I even got up at 8:30 this morning and felt tired after sleeping for 9 hrs. I took a 30 minute nap before work and I had to be there at 11. It is just strange. I'm hoping my energy level will increase.1
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You are headed down the right path. Lower the carbs and your A1c should get better, you fasting BS level is good.
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microwoman999 wrote: »I don't see anything for TSH. I do know being on the thyroid medicine I feel a little better but in the afternoons I get sleepy. I even got up at 8:30 this morning and felt tired after sleeping for 9 hrs. I took a 30 minute nap before work and I had to be there at 11. It is just strange. I'm hoping my energy level will increase.
@microwoman999 - In my experience, I had to space out my T3 medication (I take T4 medication, aka Levothyroxine, first thing in the am...it's a long acting one. I take T3 medication first thing, ~2 hours after breakfast, and about 2 hours after lunch... It's a fast acting one, and can trigger crashes if not aware...because it doesn't have to be converted.)...to get more level.
However, getting the afternoon sleepies can be as much about circadian rhythm. It is recommended to get 15-30 minutes of natural or brightest light upon waking, and then again around the midpoint of your day. For me, this is 5-6 am, and 1-2 pm, with goal bedtime of 10 pm. So, to get level here, I had to get bright light first thing, at the peak of the day, and also take D3/K2 at those times, to allow my cortisol levels (wakeful stuff) to taper naturally, and allow the melatonin levels to rise naturally as cortisol falls - which is why we need a boost of the mid-day light, too. But since we have access to light 24/7 nowadays, it's why so many folks get these rhythms distorted... I have blue light filters on my phone, settle down TV's, lights, and electronics at night, etc., set up a routine, use a sleep tracker that wakes me gently during lightest sleep, etc.
I had to combine these things, and if I have too much carbs or WAY TOO MANY calories at once, I still get sleepy...
TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone, which is actually released by the pituitary, and is generally what most doctors use to determine thyroid needs. The fact that you didn't have that test but had some of the other better tests indicates your doctor may be somewhat ahead of the curve...
And they actually say that with thyroid medications, it can take 90 days or so to really level out good. I could tell the same day or day two on the medications! Guess mine was really deficient.
There are also a number of nutrient deficiencies that worsen these conditions - or are needed for proper functioning. A big one I discovered was that with low thyroid function, your body doesn't trigger the proper production and release of bile to digest and absorb nutrients properly, which just worsened everything and became a self-fulfilling and self-fueling spiral out of control. So I would definitely make sure to notice if D3 is low, B12 (other B vitamins, too), iron, etc. These are very likely indicators of needing co-factors and/or additional help digesting and absorbing the nutrients...1 -
Knitormiss thank you for your response. I am only on 1 pill right now. He said it could take a couple of months to get it right. So right now I am trying to be aware of anyway I feel. I have more energy taking this pill for sure. I will be sure to tell him in the afternoons I get sleepy. I will look into my b12 is low I also know that runs in my family along with vitamin D deficiency. I am usually in an office that gets light and I run around outside often at work. I usually don't sit at work and am on the go most of the day.1
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This may be TMI, @microwoman999, but if you ever have flatulence or burping with meals, a light color or weird texture to your solid waste, solid waste that floats, pieces of not fully digested food (aside from corn, sadly) in your solid waste, heartburn/indigestion/sour stomach, nausea, the urge to go immediately after eating, constipation/diarrhea, or any other level of digestive drama, I would seriously look into the stomach acid factor.
It can take 10 years or more for stomach acid issues to develop enough to where we identify them easily. Since I had my gallbladder out in 2000, I should have been told to include bile salts and other digestive aids to my dietary intake. Because I wasn't told to do that, and until I went keto and identified underlying previously undiagnosed issues, I reached a level of ridiculously dramatic nutrient deficiencies. D3 deficiency, particularly for anyone with glucose management/insulin management issues, can have far reaching consequences. Low B12 can actually cause permanent nerve damage. I have one spot of neuropathy in my left thumb that hasn't eased up, despite resolving that deficiency, and it was triggered or amplified by a massive B12 deficiency that resulted from the addition of Metformin to my daily intake without knowing I needed to add additional B12 due to absorption interference.
I'd also look into the iron numbers, if you haven't yet, being Iron Level, Iron Saturation, Iron Binding Capacity, and Ferritin, with ferritin being the easiest number to track. If you are less than half into the range, you likely have digestion issues, as iron is one of the nutrients that is hardest to break down and process for proper absorption...
Try getting out on your lunch break to get some direct sunlight on as much skin as you can bear (weather and all)... Fluorescent lights are common in office buildings, and can actually cause more problems than help. I actually got a daylight lamp to use IN MY OFFICE since I often come to work in the dark, and leave in the dwindling light.
Oh, and look at when your energy drops. If it is 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes after your meal, you might want to adjust that meal. We often have impacts to our energy based on food choices, and those changes can happen so slowly that we don't even realize them until someone else points it out. I have to constantly evaluate and change up my meals. Too much of any one macronutrient or calories, and I'm taking a food coma nap, whether I want to or not...
Still, no matter what, try not to let all of this overwhelm you, and hopefully be less of a worry and more of a curiosity. I'm wishing you improvements. To me, not much more stinks that being perpetually exhausted!0 -
I was listening to one of the presentations from the autoimmune summit last night and heard something that I thought may be helpful here. Dr. Osborne was talking about the 5 triggers for autoimmune - food being one of them, and gluten being the most studied. He said that there are actually many different glutens but that when foods talk about gluten, they are only talking about the one that is in wheat, barley and rye. However, he said many people have a reaction to other glutens or even all of them. Gluten is essentially a protein from grass (grain).
Anyway, thyroid issues are one of the main manifestations of gluten intolerance - and, again, not just the ones in wheat, barley and rye. They are in ALL grains.
Here is the part that I think @microwoman999 and @KnitOrMiss need to know: most of the thyroid medication uses corn starch (which contains a type of gluten) as a filler. So in essence, you could be taking a pill to correct an issue which contains a filler that is exacerbating that same issue.1 -
cstehansen wrote: »I was listening to one of the presentations from the autoimmune summit last night and heard something that I thought may be helpful here. Dr. Osborne was talking about the 5 triggers for autoimmune - food being one of them, and gluten being the most studied. He said that there are actually many different glutens but that when foods talk about gluten, they are only talking about the one that is in wheat, barley and rye. However, he said many people have a reaction to other glutens or even all of them. Gluten is essentially a protein from grass (grain).
Anyway, thyroid issues are one of the main manifestations of gluten intolerance - and, again, not just the ones in wheat, barley and rye. They are in ALL grains.
Here is the part that I think @microwoman999 and @KnitOrMiss need to know: most of the thyroid medication uses corn starch (which contains a type of gluten) as a filler. So in essence, you could be taking a pill to correct an issue which contains a filler that is exacerbating that same issue.
That doesn't make any sense. The auto-immune trigger is what starts the immune response. Once it is started, then, it is somewhat of a moot point as to what caused it to start. Hashimoto's is similar to type 1 diabetes in this regard (I have both), as are other auto-immune responses. Once a trigger occurs and your immune system "learns" that a particular cell is foreign and must be attacked (despite that it isn't), your immune system doesn't "un-learn" that just because you get rid of the trigger. The damage is done at that point.1 -
cstehansen wrote: »I was listening to one of the presentations from the autoimmune summit last night and heard something that I thought may be helpful here. Dr. Osborne was talking about the 5 triggers for autoimmune - food being one of them, and gluten being the most studied. He said that there are actually many different glutens but that when foods talk about gluten, they are only talking about the one that is in wheat, barley and rye. However, he said many people have a reaction to other glutens or even all of them. Gluten is essentially a protein from grass (grain).
Anyway, thyroid issues are one of the main manifestations of gluten intolerance - and, again, not just the ones in wheat, barley and rye. They are in ALL grains.
Here is the part that I think @microwoman999 and @KnitOrMiss need to know: most of the thyroid medication uses corn starch (which contains a type of gluten) as a filler. So in essence, you could be taking a pill to correct an issue which contains a filler that is exacerbating that same issue.
@cstehansen - the reason gluten and autoimmune thyroiditis are linked is because apparently the gluten molecule and the thyroid look very similarly to white blood cells...so once the body is overwhelmed by gluten and begins to attack the gluten itself, it also starts attacking the thyroid in the confusion.
Luckily, I have been tested to show that I am not auto-immune, that I don't have Hashi's, and that for the most part I don't react abnormally to gluten (I tested negative for Celiac but lowest side of mild for inflammation). I'll have to go check specific ingredients on my formularies, but I've not noticed an issue, to date...0 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »cstehansen wrote: »I was listening to one of the presentations from the autoimmune summit last night and heard something that I thought may be helpful here. Dr. Osborne was talking about the 5 triggers for autoimmune - food being one of them, and gluten being the most studied. He said that there are actually many different glutens but that when foods talk about gluten, they are only talking about the one that is in wheat, barley and rye. However, he said many people have a reaction to other glutens or even all of them. Gluten is essentially a protein from grass (grain).
Anyway, thyroid issues are one of the main manifestations of gluten intolerance - and, again, not just the ones in wheat, barley and rye. They are in ALL grains.
Here is the part that I think @microwoman999 and @KnitOrMiss need to know: most of the thyroid medication uses corn starch (which contains a type of gluten) as a filler. So in essence, you could be taking a pill to correct an issue which contains a filler that is exacerbating that same issue.
That doesn't make any sense. The auto-immune trigger is what starts the immune response. Once it is started, then, it is somewhat of a moot point as to what caused it to start. Hashimoto's is similar to type 1 diabetes in this regard (I have both), as are other auto-immune responses. Once a trigger occurs and your immune system "learns" that a particular cell is foreign and must be attacked (despite that it isn't), your immune system doesn't "un-learn" that just because you get rid of the trigger. The damage is done at that point.
@midwesterner85 - I think @cstehansen was mainly warning that taking a medication with gluten IN IT to treat a condition worsened by gluten was counterproductive and asinine. I don't think he was implying that the medication is what triggered the autoimmune response, which I think is how you read that, based on your response.1 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »cstehansen wrote: »I was listening to one of the presentations from the autoimmune summit last night and heard something that I thought may be helpful here. Dr. Osborne was talking about the 5 triggers for autoimmune - food being one of them, and gluten being the most studied. He said that there are actually many different glutens but that when foods talk about gluten, they are only talking about the one that is in wheat, barley and rye. However, he said many people have a reaction to other glutens or even all of them. Gluten is essentially a protein from grass (grain).
Anyway, thyroid issues are one of the main manifestations of gluten intolerance - and, again, not just the ones in wheat, barley and rye. They are in ALL grains.
Here is the part that I think @microwoman999 and @KnitOrMiss need to know: most of the thyroid medication uses corn starch (which contains a type of gluten) as a filler. So in essence, you could be taking a pill to correct an issue which contains a filler that is exacerbating that same issue.
That doesn't make any sense. The auto-immune trigger is what starts the immune response. Once it is started, then, it is somewhat of a moot point as to what caused it to start. Hashimoto's is similar to type 1 diabetes in this regard (I have both), as are other auto-immune responses. Once a trigger occurs and your immune system "learns" that a particular cell is foreign and must be attacked (despite that it isn't), your immune system doesn't "un-learn" that just because you get rid of the trigger. The damage is done at that point.
@midwesterner85 - I think @cstehansen was mainly warning that taking a medication with gluten IN IT to treat a condition worsened by gluten was counterproductive and asinine. I don't think he was implying that the medication is what triggered the autoimmune response, which I think is how you read that, based on your response.
correct - it just sounded to me like adding a virus to an antibiotic. You may already be sick from the virus, but adding more along with the medication seems kind of stupid. I really never understood putting in fillers. Why does a pill need to be any bigger than it has to be in order to contain the medication. I like when a pill is super small.
I have no autoimmune issues personally (to the best of my knowledge). I am listening to this because my wife has fibromyalgia and arthritis, and from what I can tell there seems to be strong relation between all of the autoimmune diseases. My wife is one of those who will way above and beyond to help others but doesn't do what she should for herself. I am trying to take care of her at least somewhat like she takes care of others.1
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