Normal TSH but many of the symptoms?

mudmonkeyonwheels

Hi Everyone,

I stumbled across this group when I was browsing the forums and I wanted to ask you all a question.

I have virtually all the symptoms of hypothyroidism but TSH well within the normal range (at the last test). I have been looking through my blood test results and it doesn't look like I have been tested more thoroughly (No T3 T4 or antibody tests). The doctors at my university are fairly shocking and have spent their time trying to offer me therapy and anti-depressants. In fact, I got the feeling I really wasn't welcome last time I went.

Anyway, my question is do you think it is worth me asking them to send me for tests for hypothyroidism/hashimotos? I have listed my symptoms below. What do you think I should do?

My symptoms include: Extreme fatigue, dizzyness/vertigo, nausea, muscle weakness/ choking on my own saliva at least once a day, swelling in legs and hands, menstrual irregularities, frequently feeling cold when everyone else is feeling hot or feeling hot when everyone else is cold, Raynauds syndrome, really brittle hair -breaks and falls out quite a lot, itchy eyes, blurry vision, difficulty focussing, terrible skin, depressed and irritable, stomach issues etc etc. I know right a lot of vague annoying symptoms which is why I think my doctors have been dismissing me so quickly.

soupandlettuce

All my labs were within normal too, my primary care doc only tested TSH. Only because I insisted, she sent me to an Endo who tested T3 and T4, they were normal too.

But I didn't feel normal.

I was constantly exhausted, I mean falling asleep at the wheel! And also gaining 10 pounds in 3 months when i had never in my adult life had a weight problem (even after having kids my weight would melt off). So I thought I was going crazy, went to another doc, who gave antidepressants, my mood lifted but I was still so very tired, dry skin, hair falling out etc.

I went to another doc who suggested a brain MRI. I didn't do it. Finally, after some reading around about hashimotos, and realizing some other problems I was having were all autoimmune related, I went to another endo who tested the autoimmune antibodies. Mine were over 700 when normal range is about 1-20 (not sure but about that range, but something like that). He sent me for a thyroid scan and they found a lot of nodules and it is also quite enlarged suggesting autoimmune thyroid disease.

So I was declared to have subclinical thyroiditis ( which means that signs and symptoms are there but cantbe detected in most regular bloodwork), so I took meds for a time. My symptoms wax and wane, and I was feeling good for a time without meds but I am gaining weight again and that's why I came on mfp and also am feeling exhausted so may have to go find another endo ( my one retired!)

I have to say I felt like an idiot going to so many docs and not believing them. They told me a lot of things, like: you are getting older, it is stressful raising young children, hormones do change, go on vacation etc etc. But only YOU know that you don't feel normal, and you will have to keep looking for a good primary care doc and an understanding endocrinologist. Good luck!

RoseTears143

I would say yes it would be worth it to get your levels checked out because there is more to the story than just TSH, such as total T4, free T4, total T3, free T3, antibodies (for both hashi's and graves - and yes you can actually have both of those at the same time).

When I was a teen (around 16) when I first started to complain about feeling really run down and I was having more migraines, my doc told my mom I was just a lazy teen and to eat chocolate and drink coke for my migraines. It wasn't until about 3 years later I found a doc to take me seriously and at the least test my TSH and got my hypo Dx. 4 years later to where I got fed up with BS docs and demanded an endo referral and found out I had Hashi's.

Sometimes you have to go through several doctors to find one that will listen. It sucks, but stories like this are SUPER common among us thyroid patients.