Okay so I'm looking for some advice, basically I got diagnosed with an underactive thyroid three weeks ago and now im having problems controlling my diabetes and having problems with the side effects of levothyroxine now I went to see a diabetic nurse yesterday because my doctor is too far for me to travel at the moment with my daughter who's disabled and I dont drive, now I was telling her I need another blood test of ts3 and ferritin etc just so I could know my hormone levels ans see what needed to be improved, now I'm no stranger to nasty comments over my weight, however this nurse doctor whatever you want to call her, turned around and said "you're fat because you eat too many carbs" To my face and my daughter and sister were there! It had nothing to do with my thyroid and so I walked our of the appointment and went to the front desk, to request my extra bloods be done, to which this nurse doctor, came our of her room and denied me the extra bloods because I dont need them, which I do I'm not sure what I can do now? I was just wanting help and it got shoved back in my face, so I need help from people with diabetes and thyroid problems thanks
Hello there. That's a very nasty experience you had there. What an unpleasant and unkind thing to say?!!
Many of those diagnosed as hypothyroid are diagnosed, based on TSH alone, which blows my mind, bearing in mind it's a signalling hormone and tells us nothing about how the thyroid responds to the requests it makes, but it seems like you probably have done some reading into that already. Well done.
I'll spare you my story to diagnosis, but in my experience, it is common for NHS labs only Tom test TSH, and if in range, nothing else. If out of range also test FT4. You might be lucky to have FT3 tested if your FT4 is out of range, of if you GP is on-side and literally writes the instruction in big letters. I kid you not.
Unfortunately, al lot of people resort to private testing, with the likes of Medichecks, Blue Horizon or MonitorMyHealth. I have used Medichecks and Monitor my health, at different times, for different reasons.
As you already have one AI condition, have your thyroid antibodies been checked? They usually only need to be checked once or twice at max, but they do need to be done.
Starting Levothyroxine is an interesting time. Often our bodies get all excited about having some help a time last, and go into what I describe as being the puppy party phase. By that I mean, I had so much energy, but only for a short while, then it ran out again.
It takes about 6-8 weeks to see how we're doing on Levothyroxine and the same for each increase, so it can take a while to be the dosing right. Most hypothyroid adults end up on doses of 100-200mcgr a day, so starting at 25-50, you can see what I mean.
Some people lose weight when's they start on Levo, and some don't until they get close to their optimum dose, so don't be too discouraged if things don't start to improve straight away. I can't comment on that's personally, as I was quite slight at diagnosis, and not much has happened to me, weight wise.
Try asking your GP to order up the tests you need? They'd should have a report from whoever diagnosed you to corroborate the diagnosis. The tests are cheap to the NHS, but more costly to us, obviously.
I need terms of your blood glucose, not being T1, anything that happened to me, I need that regard, wouldn't stack up for you, as I still seem to have plenty of mŷ own insulin.
If your numbers have gone higher, which you're suggesting, Metformin might help you out a bit, even if over the shorter term. Metformin itself doesn't drive the blood sugars down, but it helps our bodies handle whatever insulin we have onboard (our own, or injected) a bit better, so it can help a bit. Many people have also found it does help them trim up a bit too.
I'm not sure if I've helped at all, but if I can help in any way, just let me know.
Do you know of the thyroid forum on HealthUnlocked? I learned oodles and oodles on there when initially diagnosed.
https://healthunlocked.com/ If not, it is definitely worth a look and signing up.