Am somewhat lost
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Thank you @amelialoveshersnacks, the wait time to see the Doctor has been nearly a month. So much has happened in that time and what I originally wanted to discuss at time of making the appointment is totally different from what'll I will be!
@Fuzzypeg, I rode down to the BMI hospital over the weekend to see where it was - easy enough to get to and can see the bus problem, it does do the return route but the stop is further down the road!
Three nurses were sitting outside on their break and I did get a 'stare' from them - maybe because of the leather but more likely wondering who on earth is this idiot who just rode in, went around the car park and has left!
I'm not sure if it's just the Potassium which is helping or also the Selenium which is supposed to aid the thyroid in the T3 conversion. Some days I'm OK and others I feel a bit out of it, but there are good days, so am treasuring them.0 -
Damn that waiting game! I hope you're writing a list of questions?
To be honest, I'm monitoring my health according to my nails. Sounds vain but I think I'm on to something. I used to have beautiful moons and very strong nails. My moons had disappeared from all my nails and almost my thumbs. They've started growing again with a purply black line above them - I don't know if that's a lack of oxygen or a part of the recovery process. I use them as a reminder to stay steady after-all it took me a long time to lose them and it'll take me a long time to get them back.
I mostly do meatless and had asked in a group forum about protein deficiency and woooo that was a discussion not worth having lol. I don't do alot of grains or meat or animal by products. I'm not vegan though.
I'm certain I have a protein deficiency amongst others.
I've added brazil nuts to my diet for the selenium. And taking b12 has been my godsend. It's the only supplement I take now (was taking iron) as I'd prefer to eat food...... I'm too lazy to get another blood test done just yet but I suppose I should since I'm on holiday.
I think when a series of good choices are being made it's hard to pinpoint the one thing.... I suppose as long as you are progressing well for you, that's the only thing you should be certain of and of course it goes without saying there are always bumps in the road of good progress..... Mine are nails.
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That would get you noticed. Driving in and round the carpark. Its probably quiet at the weekend, no clinics and you were the high spot of the day. giggle. May be the bus company likes to play games well done finding the return stop.
Possibly you could look into the amount of selenium one can have daily. Its possible you could increase the dose or how about a Brazil nut or two, might be a more interesting way of increasing conversion. How is the pack of peanuts going down? Have you needed to replace it, yet. I looked into potassium, hypothyroid mom, was saying potassium supports the adrenals. You could look at not too ripe bananas, giggle. (At this point general medicine says no one has a problem till they have Cushing's. Its probable your doctor might think similarly. If you have some leeway in the doses in either of these supplements, you could increase one for several days to see if that levels out your symptoms, then after say a week if nothing is improved with that one try increasing the other, it pays to know what is working.
As Amelia says, vitamin b 12 can be a good addition, it was for me too. A, b complex might be better because general b deficiency can cause wider issues. There are a couple of b12 supplements on the market with the digestive enzyme to help in its absorption. People who have digestive problems may have lost the required enzymes.
All the best.0 -
I don't think there is any vanity in using your nails as a barometer, I do too in so far as their growth - then I know the calcium intake is right. I'm sure there are many 'signs' our bodies are putting out which we don't know how to read.
I can just imagine the 'outrage' when asking about protein and one can set an oil refinery ablaze at the mere mention of adrenal fatigue, as far as the 'purists' or ideologists are concerned there is no such thing, nor do they believe a thyroid problem is a reason to say you can't lose weight and as for wasting your time with getting the right vitamins. I foolishly waded into one of their lion dens and must have secured a site record for the most woo's in a thread. I'm sure you've seen them, 'CICO is the only thing which matters fanatics club'
I've finished the peanuts @Fuzzypeg and haven't bought anymore. The past couple of nights I've taken a second selenium tablet for the day as well as 1 potassium (four in the morning) and find I'm less likely to be 'out of it' when I wake up.
I take a multivitamin, which until recently I took in the morning till I realised it had iron in it, couldn't see iron in the list of 'chemical sounding ingredients' but MFP displays me having iron and I traced it to the tab. There mere fact it comprises so many terrifying sounding ingredients has prompted me to look for the more expensive versions offered via one of the Thyroid UK sites. Hopefully they'll contain more 'natural' ingredients than what I have which seem to have been made in a fireworks factory
My weight loss has stalled a bit of late not really surprising seeing I'm not back on my rower, however I do walk a good few miles a day. Last night I loosened my jeans belt and they fell off me. I thought I was indulging in wishful thinking believing the rolly poly bits were diminishing and for thinking there was a bit of muscle growth in my legs.
The inability to gain any muscle during my workouts was an item on my original Dr talk list, but it seems getting some balance in my body is doing the trick.
Clothes shopping doesn't appear on my pleasurable activity list, but I dragged myself into a store at lunch time and after a fair deal of difficulty found a new pair of jeans which are 4" smaller than what I had on yesterday - so the changes made over the past few weeks are definitely helping.
I am no longer Somewhat Lost 0 -
Its so good you are finding your feet, no longer Somewhat Lost. I congratulate you on your loss of inches. Your shop visit might have been a needs must, I hope you enjoy your purchase for a fair few weeks to come.
You could still mention the problem you have had with loosing muscle and your efforts to regain some there may be other ideas to try. Sometimes a body preferrs one kind of exercise to another and walking is second nature to most of us. If you can find a tape measure you could take your measurements every so often. Sometimes when the scales will not move the tape finds a difference.
More expensive supliments in most situations as in those promoted by Thyroid UK will have the various componants in forms which are more easily absorbed which would make them more cost effective.
Keep up your good work, please let us know how you get on.1 -
Blood taken for testing this morning, wasn't the full test again as I thought but just the ones which were never released for me to see. Not sure if there had been a problem with the first test or it was being held back for querying. Won't have to wait as long for the results, see the Snr Partner on Thursday and try and get as full a thyroid test as is permissible and see if I can't start getting off my BP tablets.0
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I was thinking of wishing you all the best for Thursday.
Somewhere on Thyroid UK I'm sure it gives our right to know what our permitted thyroid test numbers are, tsh/t4. they can be a starting point. tsh says if the system is trying to make t3, available t4, if its is low would indicate also low t3, if there is not enough t4 even if the system is converting well the t3 is going to be diminished. If its high and you still feel off, conversion can be the issue, some are genetically less or unable to convert easily.
If your bp is steady for now, please do not be in too much of a rush to reduce too quickly if you are looking to change other thing
I've several functional practitioners on my e.mail list. An interesting item came in from Niklas Hedberg over the weekend I think it was. He was saying among so much more, thyroid and hashi related, the selenium content of brazil nuts is unsafe to rely on. The content is dependant on where they are gown, like so much else, but where as half a dozen from one place could be good from another they can also put one into an over dose. Selenium and iodine need to be in balance too.0 -
I have also read about the Selenium content in Brazil nuts being soil dependant (which could be Selenium poor), however the info was a bit 3rd hand so didn't mention it, your source does confirm that to be the case though. In a way that's why I decided on the tablets - they just so happened to be next to the Potassium so took them, if they weren't I doubt I'd have gone looking for them! I'm glad I did, do feel all the better for taking them.
I am pretty sure all I am being tested for is the TSH, I've not seen a T4 reading in any of my results. It is a bit one dimensional, but it seems it's all the Dr - and now that I am privy to my results online - and I have to go on.
Over the past few years the TSH has been around 1.5 but the last test it was 0.9. The supplementation seems to be helping, so there could be something going on with the T3 conversion, but that is pure speculation based on zero information!
I don't know if the antibody test was done and if it had been what the outcome was. This, as you know, is the criteria to be treated here and is the most likely reason I'm classed as having acquired hypothyroidism. There may be no merit in testing now having been on levo for 20 years, I may have to be weened off it and then tested - with all the risks that could entail.
This is going to be my primary discussion point as I agree with you not putting too many issues on the table at once.
My concern over the BP tablet is my perception of the side effects which seem to becoming more prominent, however they could well be due to other causes. The BP problem was caused by my being overweight but now being 4st lighter could have naturally reversed. Having found out one of the two tabs was causing more harm than good, I'm a bit suspicious of the other one too.
A huge amount of speculation on my part but with some of the 'experimentation' I've done the past month could be of help to the Dr or could be dismissed. At least I'm not going there saying I don't know whats wrong - I'm lost - which is what I'd have done a few weeks ago.
Thanks for your wishes, I am most likely heading off for my weekend away to Scotland straight after the consultation so might not get a chance to let you know till next week.0 -
I envy you off to Scotland. Have fun. (Its still too cold for me to travel, its been so much worse this last winter, why is being investigated.) Please if you pass, Lauder, please wave to the C and C camp site for me, its too long since we have been there and I doubt we will be back.
I hope you feel well served when you have your results. My experience is to have my observation totally dismissed at the local practice, even by endocrinology at the local hospital but when I got to regeonal immunology (Southampton) it was totally different. I'm not allowed back because the local endo knew best!!!! Having to do it another way.
I hope you do not need to used your back up plan. I'm so glad there is one available to you.1 -
We'll be based near Selkirk - if we go up that way I'll be sure to wave. Thanks
I am hoping I'm not going to get too badly dissed during my Dr visit. I mentioned to the nurse who I was seeing regarding the results, her reply was good luck. She meant I'd have to wait a long time for him because he's so good - well lets hope so, he took 15 seconds to diagnose my shingles a few years ago.
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That went better than expected, it was almost as if the Dr had seen my discussion list. Within seconds he spoke to me about my Thyroid antibodies, my last blood test included the test and it is negative, 9 ku/L - 50 being the positive marker.
However he wants to tackle my BP first, I've been prescribed half the dose I have been on and go back and see him in 3 weeks. If my BP is still good, then I'm off it altogether. Once that is out of the way he'll look at halving my levo and monitor for a few months.
A few visits and tests in store for me this year!2 -
This all sounds good. So, very well done. Its good news to start a holiday. hope the weather is good up there.0
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Thank you, weather got better as the weekend wore on - had an absolute blast, batteries fully charged.1
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Its so good to totally get away from everything sometimes.
Another piece of reading from a similar place to the above, amounts to, eating more for nutrition, providing for a bodies needs opens the opportunity for the body to require less t3 because the body is not having to keep its insulin levels up. Its a nice thought.
All the very best. Very well done. Please let us know how you continue to get on.0
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