# I need help urgently!! THANKS GUYS



## izzy (Jan 16, 2017)

My hypothyroidism has been all over the place for the past 3 years and I can't seem to get a straightforwards answer as to why. This'll probably be a long post but I would really appreciate hearing from other sufferers who can maybe pass on some information to me from their specialists.

So I got my blood test done for the first time in like 5 months and the TSH has come back with a reading of 3.3. Five months earlier it was 2.7. It says 3.3 is in the normal range but I am aware that is quite high in the range. My T4 is 13 now compared to 15 five months ago. So it looks to me as if my symptoms are coming back. I've become extremely paranoid about my health because I lost all my hair a few years ago due to thyroid issues. Does all this sound abnormal to anyone else?

Now, there are a few factors that might be contributing to this and I would love to know if there is anything that I am doing that I should stop immediately. Like I said, I've become very paranoid about my health. Because of this, I have started taking multiple supplements. I'll delve into further detail. 5 months ago I was taking fish oil and a hair skin and nails vitamin with no iodine in it. At this time my reading was 2.7 which the doctor said was great. The doctor told me that Iodine was something I had to look out for so that is always in the back of my mind when I'm buying. Now, even longer ago before I knew about the iodine, I was taking multivitamins with high iodine content. I'm talking like maybe 500mcg a day. During that time my TSH was incredibly low almost at the point of hyperthyroidism. 01/01/16 my TSH read at 0.56, then on the 18/04 it read 0.74. So i concluded that the iodine might have lowered my TSH. So when the doctor told me to watch for iodine I believed him, but I concluded that iodine lowered my TSH rather than rose it.

Fast forward to now, and I'm taking way more vitamins. I've done my research pretty thoroughly but I did make a few mistakes earlier. When I consider talking a multivitamin my first instinct is to research wether it affects my thyroid or if it has iodine in it. I'll list everything I'm taking now with links to the ingredients.

- Fish oil

- hair and nail vitamin

- multi vitamin

- 4000iu of vitamin d

- 400iu of vitamin e

- 2000mg of vitamin c

-20000iu of vitamin a

- Niacinamide

- Magnesium

-Iron every 4 days

-Zinc every 2 days

-Calcium

-Vitamin B complex

-150mcg of Selenium every 4 days

Now that I type it out I realise I seem a bit mental talking all these tablets. Basically, I have moderate acne, and I did lots of research and decided to give supplements a go. It has helped tremendously and I've come to the conclusion that it is probably the Vitamin A that is doing all the work. I have been on accutane before, so taking supplements of vitamin a is kind of like a homemade accutane for me that doesn't require a prescription. I am aware of the general risks it involves.

Now, the only thing in that list that contains iodine is the multivitamin. There is literally not one multivitamin in the store that doesn't have iodine in it. The tablets I take now have 50mcg of iodine and it is one a day. Others had like 150mcg of iodine each pill and it was recommended to take like two tablets a day so I knew I couldn't. Now the iodine is something I'm really worried about. I've done tonnes of research and came to this conclusion:

- I don't eat seaweed/sea vegetables/seafood

- the only sources of iodine that I get are probably eggs and sometimes tuna

- the daily recommended dose of iodine for a normal person is 150mcg so im getting a third of that and chances are that is pretty much all i'd be getting each day

So with all that I decided I'd take them. I read that a low iodine diet is 100mcg. Please correct me if this is wrong. But I don't know if it's the iodine that is causing increased TSH. IS THERE ANYTHING THING ELSE THAT I HAVE LISTED THAT I SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT AND STOP TAKING IMMEDIATELY??? Also are there any like vegetable or herbs in the supplements that have iodine or are bad for thyroid?? I'm aware that I can't avoid iodine completely as I'm sure to eat foods containing it. Now before all this I took spirulina and kale. I now know they are bad for thyroid because they contain iodine. I pretty much went off them the same time I had my last blood test so could they have been the reason for a spike in my TSH?

My dosage is 125mcg of thyroxin at the moment. I remember my doctor saying that there was no way I could become hypothyroid again with the amount that I am taking. Is this true?? UGH I hate this dang disease it has been the bane of my existence for too long!!! I need help and some answers. All your feedback is so welcome, I would love to get some information from lots of people about this. If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them quickly. I'm so worried because I think my hair is starting to shed more and my eyebrow hairs are falling off quite regularly now... I want to get this fixed as soon as possible.

I'm kinda embarrassed to go back to my gp as I literally just got a blood test a month ago. So I might go to a public doctor and have them test it for me quickly. Doctors in real life can be really brief and not give much detail or insight so I'm hoping there is someone on here with some answers.

THANK YOU GUYS I REALLY APPRECIATE IT AND I HOPE ALL YOUR THYROIDS ARE IN CHECK!!! <333


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Could you please list the reference ranges for your thyroid labs?

Do you test your free t3? If you don't and that's low you can absolutely be hypo, supplements aside.

If you are living in a westernized country, you are very, very unlikely to have low iodine. What kind of doctor are you seeing?


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## izzy (Jan 16, 2017)

joplin1975 said:


> Could you please list the reference ranges for your thyroid labs?
> 
> Do you test your free t3? If you don't and that's low you can absolutely be hypo, supplements aside.
> 
> If you are living in a westernized country, you are very, very unlikely to have low iodine. What kind of doctor are you seeing?


Okay so reference ranges are

TSH (1.50-4.00) mine is currently 3.3

Free T4 (10-25) mine is currently 13

Free T3 (3.1-5.4) mine is currently 3.8

so both the t3 and t4 are on the lower side now. like i said my dosage is125mcg at the moment. Do you think an increase might be necessary? I just don't understand why my results have fluctuated so much over this past year.

I'm seeing an endo. He told me to look out for iodine so I don't know if he meant cut it completely or to get a multivitamin with low iodine. I've been reading other posts and it seems as though other people have taken multivitamins with iodine. I just want to know if anything I'm taking is interfering. If not i'll see a doctor right away and get them to check again. Are there any reasons as to why thyroid results fluctuate and change so regularly? Diet perhaps or is there nothing I can do to prevent it?

Thanks


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Do you have antibodies? If yes, then that is your reason. Antibodies make stabilizing on thyroid meds very difficult.

You are QUITE hypo at the moment. If I were in your shoes, I'd stop focusing on supplements so much and focus instead on getting to 1/2-3/4 of the range on both frees. I doubt iodine is your issue.


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## izzy (Jan 16, 2017)

joplin1975 said:


> Do you have antibodies? If yes, then that is your reason. Antibodies make stabilizing on thyroid meds very difficult.
> 
> You are QUITE hypo at the moment. If I were in your shoes, I'd stop focusing on supplements so much and focus instead on getting to 1/2-3/4 of the range on both frees. I doubt iodine is your issue.


The last test I can find with antibodies on it is from 2015.

antithyroglobulin (<115) was 543

anti-thyroid peroxidase (<35) was 180

so yeah that's an issue lol

Now that I know that I will ask a doctor immediately.

I'll email my endo and ask his opinion. Do you think I should get a blood test to check my thyroid antibodies and thyroid functions?

If all comes back the same what do you think the endo would recommend I do? What would you recommend I do? I don't know if you are a doctor or not but I'd like to hear what other people think because sometimes doctors can forget to say things

Also, in regards to the antibodies, is there anything that changes them or is that just part of the disease?

Thanks again


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Have you had a thyroid ultrasound?


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## izzy (Jan 16, 2017)

I recall having one a while ago like maybe 3 years ago and nothing unusual was found. Would it be worth while to do it again?


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Yes, it would be. Especially with that TgAB number.

RE: more blood work, were those thyroid labs from your first post recent? If so, there's no real need to re-do them.


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## izzy (Jan 16, 2017)

Yes they are my most recent lab tests. They're like a month old. I haven't had my antibodies checked in 2 years.

Unfortuntely my endo is hard to get into, it might take months. I really don't want to let this go on any longer. None of my doctors picked up on my worrying results but I could feel something was wrong. I don't know if a gp will send me to have an ultrasound but I can try.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Its certainly worth asking. Try your primary care physician. Endos can be very difficult. Don't be afraid to look for a second opinion from an endo, ENT, or integrative medicine doc.


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