New member - Tara

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I have been a member for some time now but have not actually thrown my hat into

the ring until now...

I have recently been diagnosed hypothyroidic and am currently taking

Levothyroxine at 50mcg per day; I have been on this does for the last eight

weeks, for the eight weeks prior to that I was on 25mcg daily. So far,

absolutely nothing has changed; I'm still knackered, still cold, still got skin

like the Sahara, still tubby, blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum... I'm sure you've

heard it all before!

They have checked me for thyroid antibodies and Hashimoto's but both have drawn

a blank; the theory now being subscribed to is that viral meningitis last autumn

(hospitalised for a fortnight and anti-virals for a while afterwards - I don't

like to do things by half!) may have pushed an undiagnosed failing thyroid into

free fall. I must admit though that the meningitis may have been a good thing

as they realised that someone who barely ate for two weeks should really have

lost some weight! I'd been moaning for some time to my doctors that I didn't

seem to be able to slim but until the hospital picked up on the lack of weight

loss I don't think anyone actually took it seriously as I'm not particularly

large by modern standards (size 14) but am very large for 'me' (I'm 'usually' a

size 8-10 and had ballooned very quickly).

So... I had my latest blood test this morning and I'll be getting the results

towards the end of this week.

To be honest, I'm struggling with what I should actually be asking my doctor and

what the numbers actually mean to me; the 'normal' levels in the US seem to be

so much lower than the UK for instance. Any advice as to what questions I

should be asking about my results would be fantastic! At the moment all they

seem to tell me is the count has 'gone up', that's pretty much it. There has

been no mention of sending me to an endocrinologist, should there have been...??

Although I would LOVE any general information / files anyone could throw my way

(as a new sufferer I'm struggling with a lot of the information online as it's

so 'technical' and just full of numbers I don't understand) my main opening

question would be regarding natural v synthetic thyroid replacement. I've been

pottering through " Your Thyroid and How to Keep it Healthy: The Great Thyroid

Scandal and How to Survive it " by Barry Durrant-Peatfield and he seems very much

geared towards taking a natural replacement which, to be frank, I'd be more

inclinded towards as well but my doctor seems adamant that Levothyroxine is the

ONLY choice for me... any advice would be very very gratefully received.

Good grief, this has turned into a novel... I'll sign off!

Tara