Posted by BarbaraCat on August 4, 2002, at 15:27:43
In reply to Re: Bipolar, chocolate thyroid, posted by cybercafe on August 4, 2002, at 6:42:29
Your symptoms sure do sound like low thyroid, however, your TSH is borderline hyperthyroid, not even close to hypo. But TSH is not the last word in thyroid testing. TSH measures the pituitary's signal for more or less thyroid as part of the feedback loop between the pituitary and thyroid. If you have a cellular resistance, even though the lab tests come back normal, you're still not able to use the hormone. Some additional things to test would be your free T3 and T4, reverse T3, and most definitely thyroid antibodies to rule out Hashimoto's thyroiditis which is an autoimmune disorder. Most doctors don't order these tests because the TSH is considered the gold standard. Most endocrinologists also don't check beyond the lab data. But the 'alternative' medical literature is full of cases of people who test normal but who clearly had low thyroid symptoms and who improved on natural thryoid supplementation. Another path to look down is your adrenal function which, if compromised, can adversely affect thyroid metabolism.
If you have access to a good naturopath, by all means go to them. They're trained in looking beyond the tests. One way to home test for hypothyroidism is the basal thermometer test. Shake down a mercury thermometer before going to sleep. When you first wake, before going to the bathroom or moving around put it in your armpit for ten minutes. Do this for 4 days and average the scores. Anything below 97.5 degrees is suspicious. The fact that you're always chilly, constipated and dry scalp screams thyroid to me and some of the other symptoms are suspect as well. The runny nose isn't a typical symptom.
My thyroid tested normal/high at 1.9, but I was continuously dragging, constipated, muscle pains. Fibromyalgia symptoms share similarities with hypothyroidism and I have both. So just as a let's see test, 5 weeks ago I started increasing my thyroid dose and within 1 week I was feeling amazingly better. If you've been constipated, you know of what I speak. You just have to trust your body's wisdom. Please let me know what you find out. - BarbaraCat
> Hi barbaracat ... i wondered if i might ask you a question...
>
> i have very noticable feelings of coldness, constipation, dry skin, wounds that take a long time to heal, dry scalp, lethargy, depression, a constant runny nose, and eyes sensitive to light.....
>
> i have read these are all symptoms of a thyroid disorder (hypo?) however my TSH has been around .89 - 1.42 and my T4 also came back normal...
> is it possible to have thyroid problems somewhere else up the line?
>
> cheers ;)
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:111115
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020731/msgs/115180.html