Do you have Graves Disease or Hashimotos Thyroiditis, or both?
They are pretty opposite of each other, but as I understand it the Hashimotos can masquerade as a hyperactive thyroid (including Graves Disease), then go to euthyroid, and hypothyroid.

I would actually see another doctor if I were in your position. Your doctor completely ignored your concerns by telling you that you shouldn't feel bad because your "counts" are relatively normal. He did nothing to attempt to ascertain what was wrong, and did the equivalency of telling you that it was all in your mind. That is what we call in the world of psychology---invalidation.

Get thee to a different doctor--- and make sure it's an endocrinologist.
Best Wishes.

I am 41 years old and I have hypothyroidism. And with this I have Goiter's as well that they are keep a eye on. I have problems losing weight it vary's and boy I get very frustrated with it......minimouse

Hello:

I'm new to NeuroTalk and this is my first time posting in this forum.

I have a number of Autoimmune related disorders and Hasimoto's is one of them. I've been diagnosed with it for some time and have been on thyroid replacement therapy for some time. I was recently hospitalized because of a huge chemical imbalance in my system where my thyroid levels bottomed out, potassium ( most of the electrolytes, etc had just run amok ). Found out when a different endocrinologist was assigned to me in the hospital that I've been on the wrong thryroid replacement for a lifetime now. Apparently while most individuals are deficient in T4 I'm also extremely deficient in the less common T3 ( which doesn't respond well to long term oral replacement apparently ). Since they added the replacement for the T3 to my daily medications I've done a lot better in that respect. Although it really frustrates me that while I've had to put up with doctors claiming I must not have been taking my meds appropriately for all these years ... those professionals that took the time to berate me for my alleged neglegence never once considered that there might be another reason for my constant struggle to maintain the thyroid replacement in my system ... It's been one of those situations where I knew something else was wrong but ... as the professionals love to quote "When one hears hoof beats one looks for horses, not zebras." ... well, while the zebras are definitely less common, the fact remains they're out there and mine have been running awry for a lifetime!

We're glad to meet you all and hope to be able to share information, support and encouragement with you all.

Take care, be safe and well: kefrin

I actually came on this site for my own Neuro problems but, saw the Autoimmune Forum and Hashimoto's.

Approx 10 yrs ago, my son then 24 yo, my son suddenly started having chills then hot flashes, extreme fatigue falling asleep in his college classes and unable to run (he had been running up to 10 miles a day) he also had huge mood swings. Our Internist worked him up for everything from flu to Mono....after many test, he was diagnoised with Hashimoto's. Ironically enough, across the country my 27 yo nephew (a Marine) was being worked up for Gulf War Syndrome and low and behold, he too was diagnoised with Hashimoto's. It has become my understanding that the condition is very uncommon and even more so in men. Neither of these guys "looked" or acted the part of someone with thyroid problems....my son a distances runner and my nephew a Marine sargent. Neither had goiters.

My son currently takes 250 mcg of Synthroid and has been all over with his dosing. I read the post about T4 and T3. For the past year+ my son has been having joint pain, sleeplessness and is now being treated for depression. This is a kid who prior to diagnoises was a very laid back kid and then after being put on Synthroid would have periods of same. It has always been very obvious if he needs dose adjustments or has forgotten to take his Synthroid for a couple of days. I guess now I'm just wandering if he might actually have a T3 problem.

He has primarily been treated by the family Internist except when he was going to The Ohio State University when he was followed by the medical college Endocronologist professor (yeah he was excited about caring for my unusual son, lol). I am wondering if he would not fare better to be followed by an Endo once again.

I'm new here, signed up tonight. Just wanted to add to the Hashimoto folks who have all of my love and support. I started have symptoms and low blood counts when I was 15. I was officially diagnosed when I was 25 and was so bloated I felt like if you stuck a pin in me I would explode! This doctor was right out of med school and knew to check for ANA levels and the like. Mine was through the roof. I am soon to be 54 and last year I went to a new encrinologist who preformed an ultra sound on me. I had never had one. There is no thyroid!!Nothing's left! No tissue, which means my antibodies have feasted on my thyroid all these years and there is nothing left.

I do want to caution some of you if you have Hashi's and Sjogren's Syndrome, you are at a greater risk of developing Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I had both the thyroid disease and the Sjorgren's and developed a mean case of Non-Hodgkin's with a prognosis of 6-8 months to live.

I just want these folks to be on top of that. I'm not sure why they follow in three's like that but that is what my rhuematologist told me.

Now I don't have to worry about getting cancer on my thyroid nodules, since I have no signs of a thyroid anymore. And also to alert experts, doctors, know-it-alls that yes, autoimmune diseases can be serious and I am still showing thyroid antibodies in my blood. I'm not sure what that means. Are they looking for their next organ victim? I don't mean to scare anyone, just trying to have a sense of humor, but I am going to ask that question, even if I get laughed at. I don't care, it's my body that's gone astray, not theirs!

Hello everyone i am 19 with hashimotos thyroiditis as well.

Guys whatever you do DONT see a endocrinologist all are useless and to be honest dont have a clue what they are doing in treating you.

Anti-aging specialists are where its at they know how to help you. They know the exact dose of thyroid you should be on and then adjust results accordingly to how you feel.

Blood tests can be misleading. But its ideal to be at the high normal range for both Free T4 and Free T3 levels.

My labs are: Free T4 - 9 to 22, Free T3 - 3.0 - 6.0. so in this case youd want your Free T4 at 17-22 and Free T3 at 5.0 and above.

Their is also the issue of wilsons temperature syndrome. If your temperature is constantly lower than 36.5 Celcius you likely have it. Low body temperature will cause serious problems. This can be corrected with moderate to high dose T3 therapy for a month or so and then all symptoms will be allieviated without you having to continue the medications.

Hashimotos is linked to gluten intolerance yes. hashimotos can also happen from low iodine intake for long periods of time.

B12 deficiency can also cause hypothyroid like symptoms and hypothyroidism itself. So its always good to be persistant and find out the underlying cause. Even people with pure depression and nothing else (which is rare) have problems with neurotransmitters and once they can get those neurotransmitters up through supplements say 5-HTP for serotonin, L-Dopa for Dopamine their depression might improve significantly without SSRI medications.


Their is also Helminthic therapy this is used to treat autoimmune diseases ranging from MS, Hashimotos, Chron's disease, Ulcerative Colitis etc.

Helminthic therapy is the treatment of autoimmune diseases and immune disorders by means of deliberate infestation with a helminth or with the ova of a helminth. Helminths are parasitic worms such as hookworms. Helminthic therapy is currently being studied as a treatment for several auto-immune diseases including Crohn's diseasemultiple sclerosis, asthma, and ulcerative colitis. Autoimmune liver disease has also been demonstrated to be modulated by active helminth infections.

Their is more information at wikipedia. A friend of mine cured his Multiple Sclerosis with this helminthic therapy.

Also everyone thyroid therapy will have a negative effect on your adrenal glands and their is always the issue of balacning thyroid and adrenals. The thyroid controls the metabolic rate and the adrenals have to handle the stress of the extra metabolic function. If thyroid doses are high and adrenals are stressed or burnt out you end up feeling like crap again.

So i would use some adaptogenic herbs with my thyroid meds. Particularly - Siberian Gingseng, Panax Gingseng, Astralagus Membrecanus, Licorice Root, schizandra chinesis. You can usually get all these in a tonic.

Finally Zinc, Selenium and Iodine are the most imporant minerals for the thyroid gland. So levels of these should be checked via blood and urine in anyone with hashimoto's.

Selenium has been proven to reduce Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies at 200mcg per day for a couple of months.

Hope this helps. If anyone needs any more info feel free to PM me, i would love to help.