Poor concentration and tingling could be a sign of low iron. How low is "somewhat low"?

Probably thyroid problems are one of the most infuriating health problems there can be simply because it can impact on so many different aspect of one's health. I have read a list of some 300 possible health impacts a sufferer might have in any combination. Most doctors are only able to go by "the dreaded numbers".

I think I first found evidence of the numbers actually not being reliable on the "Stop the Thyroid Madness", web site. They hold the view the original research is floored. Personal information was not given with the Blood test. Knowing if the person or family members were or weren't patients could have helped better define the normal range.

My symptoms are life long and in parallel with salicylate sensitivity, the latter being a form of toxicity which causes extra pressure on the thyroid systems requiring greater hormone production. (Salicylate is present in many vegetative foods and generally in the environment from pollen to smells in cleaning product and perfumes which society thinks it needs creating ever increasing allergy problems. We all have our own comfortable level. You just don't expect toxins to be permitted in general products, or do you. No one could associate washing their hands with some liquid soap with the bout of desperate indigestion it prompted in me and I am aware and should have been more careful).

I am trying to get help for my multifaceted symptoms but I have to research for my self. I read on many thyroid support sites and general dietary advice gives an RDA for iodine as 150 mcg. Thyroid UK gave 150 mcg as a lower requirement with 300 as upper and anything over 600 as probably too much. When we also consider STTM, says up to 80% of the US female population is probably deficient in iodine we have a frightening picture. For some their normal diet may be deficient because the soils are deficient. Their diet could also be deficient because they like me have lived with dietary restrictions for years avoiding foods richer than most in minerals and iodine because full fat milk and dairy was bad for health. Skimmed milk is considered better but it holds less iodine and other healthy minerals. Eggs were criticised because of the cholesterol but now we read for most cholesterol is made within us and our direct intake may not be so great an issue. Returning to the cultivation availability, I am unable to eat most of the high iodine fruits and veg because they are also high in salicylate which had my waistline bloating along with everything else.

Many natural therapists particularly US based ones where they also use blood tests they have now see good results in their thyroid patients when iodine and selenium are taken preferably as foods but as supplements if necessary. Even those with antibody's present have seen a reduction in numbers of antibody's.

One thing is certain the thyroid and its many relationships with other organs and glands within ourselves are far from the simplistic process which many medically trained people believe where our TSH levels (here in the UK) dictate how well we are. We are all compelled to find our own personal answeres

Here, in the UK we're up against what "NICE" says is cost effective and what pills can be available in general. From my angle they seem to have us all "hog tied". Paths to endocrinology seem to be blocked to the many. I see thyroid health as being personal. There are so many influences on thyroid effectiveness not least the impact of what is described as the triad of glands, the hypocanthus, hypothalamus and the adrenals, then dietary shortfalls etc. They, NICE don't seem to understand the personal pain and abject misery thyroid problems can cause and the foreseeable consequences of unfulfilled personal lives and more widely the working hours lost both to the person and our nation. They, NICE are briefed to assess the impacts of illnesses and project the cost effectiveness of any treatment on offer. I fear they see any thyroid problems in simplistic terms not seeing the wider picture, the over 300 associated symptoms which are displayed differently in every patient, depression being high on the list. We have the highest number of depressed patents anywhere in Europe here in the UK? (why?)

One member in NI, did go private, for consultations and this also came with issues. I think it took her a couple of months to get somewhere, she needed both t3 and 4, I have not seen her input for a while. I hope she is doing well now.

I wish I could advise you how to go private. You still need to find an endocrinologist who is knowledgeable and sympathetic to thyroid problems. There are London centric clinics which have branches in the wider population centres.

My only encounter with our NHS endocrinology system tacked onto the Diabetic Clinic at the local hospital was next to useless. The only thing I got out of it was levo without maize starch, a straight GP could not do this for me. It is a start. The endo considers salicylate issues as allergy not toxicity (salicylate sensitivity comes from the same root as an aspirin overdose only from food and the environment, this is the same toxicity) The NHS testing I received was so restricted, no background testing of minerals and hormones as we see performed for those more fortunate elsewhere that they or their insurance company's pay for. Anyone who pays or has ever paid National Insurance and then pays more to go private is forced to pay twice. The issue then is to see if a better service is available.

All the very best making your decision.

Agree wholeheartedly with lindsey1979. After going through 7 doctors who only wanted to look at my TSH after surgically induced hypothyroidism, no one ever paid attention to antibodies OR the actual thyroid hormones (TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone) to assess my thyroid hormone levels. Crazy how that works right? Now that I'm seeing a renowned Integrative medicine doctor (I pay out of pocket since insurance doesn't cover it - and I thought it was going to cost a lot but its really affordable especially since labs and whatnot ARE covered by my insurance) I've seen dramatic results! I feel alive again, and have no joint pain whatsover after basically being bedridden for a couple years!

Things that he changed was getting me off of synthetic T4 only (thyroid storage hormone) to Naturethroid which is a Natural Desiccated thyroid hormone which contains all the hormones your thyroid is supposed to make, making sure my Free T3 (the actual active thyroid hormone) is at the top of the range, and the addition of vitamins and minerals I was very depleted on. I also take Selenium on a daily basis to keep my antibody levels in check.

Funny, last conventional doc I saw couldn't care less what my thyroid hormones looked like, wanted to put me on all sorts of medicine for fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, diabetes, when all I needed was to get my levels raised. My new doctor has never checked my TSH levels as its pointless.

I have tried looking for functional medicine over here, UK, may be its just me, but we don't seem to be up there yet. Those I found on a list seemed to be looking into other problems Thyroid did not get a look in, then also many seemed to be dietitians, good though they are they, I don't think have the ability to do blood tests, I did not see that offered as a service. (I do have, "who to trust" issues though, a life time of being fobbed off).

I agree STTM is brilliant. The information is naturally US orientated and as such it is often difficult to find/do what is suggested or is relevant in the US here in the UK. NICE controls what otherwise, thinking medics might offer. NICE, is the national institute for something and something, cost and effectiveness? When it comes to UK thyroid problems it is a dinosaur.

Just so you know, yirara, they switched the TSH guidelines to 0.3 to 3.0 about 10 years ago (in 2002 or so). Docs who specialize in thyroid made this change a long time ago. If your doc is still adhering to the old 5.0 standards, it seems that he/she is not that specialized or up to date on thyroid.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroid/a/newrange.htm

That is super frustrating, Yirara. I have to say that it's sadly not an uncommon experience in the US. Many, many of us have gone through this. It seems to be hugely common with thyroid disorders in particular. Best of luck to you.

Sadly none of the endos I have seen was interested in the FT3/FT4 values. They checked them but since it was in the lower end of the norm they concluded that I was "fine". Lol.