Positive Things for Thursday

[tamaranth]

1. Appointment with GP much better* than expected. (Given how worked up I'd got myself about it, it could hardly have been worse ...)
2. A series of empty cashpoints meant a nice wander around Horsham in the sunshine this morning. Werk? Pah.
3. Limits of sunburn / suntan more or less match neckline of frock purchased for annual company party, tomorrow.

*The blood tests showed everything OK except for thyroid function. Further tests needed to establish whether temporary or ongoing, but either way it could well explain the way I'm feeling ... and it's treatable.

Comments

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Appointment with GP much better* than expected.

Very good news; maybe she was having an off-day last time, which is not an excuse, but (some) doctors are only human too, I suppose.

it's treatable.

Which is always a comfort. I do not mind having things so long as they are treatable.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

After last time I wrote her a letter: I was very impressed that, without referring to it directly, she had taken various things on board (like the difficulties I'm having with writing).

[ajshepherd.livejournal.com]

That is good news.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Fingers crosssed for some drugs that a) work and b) have no nasty side-effects.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

the nice thing about underactive thyroid, at least when it's mild and generic, is that they seem to just give you artificial thyroxine -- the thing you are missing.

[ajshepherd.livejournal.com]

Indeed, Thyroxine is one of the things I've been on since 1977 and it's just one or two small tablets per day and you're sorted!

[gummitch.livejournal.com]

My mother had exactly the same thing. It can take a little while to get the dosage just right, but wow, the difference.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Seems daft to say 'I hope you do have a thyroid problem' but you know what I mean...

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I do know what you mean! And am very appreciative of the thought. It may sound odd, but it's almost a dream diagnosis -- it would explain so much (weight gain, constant lethargy ...)

[dalmeny]

I can only echo lamentables. I do hope it turns out to be something easily treated.

[asynje.livejournal.com]

Oh. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

also, it looks like I might be successful in talking Morten into a trip Abroad this summer :)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for crossed fingers -- and yay for travel plans! Tell him Abroad is Fun ...

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased the doctor's appointment went well. And I'm glad they haven't just thrown thyroid treatment at you, too, because it's a condition that needs more analysis than one blood test.

How is the sunburn doing, by the way? I burned worst on the back of my left hand, and it's still quite sore when I touch it.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

It was very nice to be treated like a sensible person rather than a hypochondriac -- though it doesn't make any difference to the actual symptoms! They don't seem to be the kind of practise who throw prescriptions at people: quite the opposite in fact, which is fine by me, though she did say that if I felt I couldn't cope (e.g. condition worsens) she would put me on thryoxine short-term. Nice to know I have that option.

Maggy has a similar problem (I'm not sure how severe), and getting that diagnosed and medicated really improved things for her. I'll talk to her to get some idea of how it all went.

Sunburn fine except for one small round patch which is white and lizard-like. None of it's sore, though -- I'm lucky to have skin that doesn't burn too badly, even though it does make a point of burning once a year.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

They only just tested your thyroid function? ugh.

Be warned that doctors think that underactive thyroid is totally treatable with one pill every day - it's a little more complicated than that. I've got Hashimoto's autoimmune hypothyroid.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Presumably it affects various people differently (I have a friend who's doing very well on the one-pill-a-day-for-life regime). Am hoping mine's minor, and ideally temporary -- though to be honest I would rather have it controlled all the time, whether the underlying state was bad or not, than risk recurrences of the way I'm feeling now!

GP was surprised that previous practise had not tested for thyroid, not even once -- but she and I do share a certain dismay at their methods.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I'm on the one pill thing. But the standard blood tests for thyroid function are wrong, and not all GPs realise this. Also, I put on 15 kg before I was diagnosed, and no way does it 'just drop off' when you're treated!

I didn't realised that there were temporary thyroid problems. What I have is the most common form, especially in women, and it's progressive.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

As far as I can recall from what she said (higher brain function mostly absent at the moment!) there are two things that are tested for. When one goes down, the other one should go up, attempting (but failing) to compensate. In my case the first one is very low, but the second one not as high as might be expected -- so it's possible that the problem is only just starting, and ?might regulate itself. She certainly seemed to feel that it wasn't that bad yet and might get better or worse: further tests needed to establish whether it was a blip or not. ... Does that make any sense?

And sympathies with the weight gain -- I'm two dress sizes larger than I was this time last year, and sulking and refusing to buy anything new! (On the other hand, my friend Maggy lost weight pretty quickly after she went onto thyroxine, possibly because she was doing more, and doing it more energetically.)

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) goes up as your thyroxine (T4) levels fall, because the body is 'flogging' the thyroid to produce more vital T4. But the standard test for TSH was developed on a sample of 40 people of which half later went on to full thyroid disease. So what used to be considered average should now be treated as the highest normal level. You also need to have your antithyroid peroxidase (APO) tested - that is the key indicator of Hashimoto's, which is much more common in younger women than generally realised by GPs! If your APO is elevated, it's progressive.

My other early symptoms were: exhaustion, depression, mental confusion, hair falling out and nails spliting.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

'younger', oh you are so sweet. <g>

hair and nails fine but all the rest there. Plus dizziness / nausea.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

'Younger' in this context means 'under 60' :-)

I'd definitely check for Hashimoto's.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I have the qualitative details - you are entitled to get your measurements from your GP. Let's compare, and I can document the progression of my condition to you.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

one of them was 9.5 (fairly sure) and the other, the one that should have been going up, 2.5 or 4.5 (less sure).

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

That would be T4 9.5 and TSH 4.5, I think. Definitely consistent with early stages of hypothyroid in that case. But TSH = 5 used to be the old maximum - 2.5 is near new maximum 'normal'.

Your GP should be able to give you a print-out of your test results. Ideally, you need to know both the measurement units, and the 'reference range' for the laboratory which did the tests. Do ask :-)

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Appointment with GP much better* than expected.

Oh good.

Best of luck with the thyroid function tests.