Hi!
I will try to give a brief overview of my situation. I am not sure which board to post in.
I have been suffering from fatigue/exhaustion for a long, long time. It's hard to pinpoint how long but more than 14 years (I am 34 years old). I have always been prone to infections (tonsillitis, ear, lung) and once had a kidney infection. I have always had slight anemia (between 10.3 and 11.8 g\dL hemoglobin). I am also prone to headaches and sharp pain in my large joins (elbows, wrists mainly). And bursitis (both hips and wrist, diagnosed via ultrasound). I was always constipated as a child (could go 3 or 4 days without nº2) but 3 years ago my intestines shut down. I went 15 days without going to the toilet and was very bloated, has severe nausea and decided to take a laxative, I have had to rely on laxatives since then (I have tried fiber, increase hydration, lactulose, senna, glycerin suppositories, figs, prunes and so on) I can only go if I take 2 Dulcolax (sometimes even that doesn’t work and I have to take 1 more). I cannot burp or pass gas and I do not feel or hear any intestinal movement. I put on 10 pounds in the last year (first weight gain ever) and feel huge and bloated (BMI is 22). I have really bad brain fog, memory lapses and generally feel dull and as if I am shutting down at the same time I feel jittery and have very light sleep.
I gave up gluten 7 years ago (reduced my headaches and infections and cleared up my eczema).
After trying to get help from 3 general practitioners and 1 gynecologist (they all said drink more, take more fiber) I decided to see an Endocrinologist.
The Endocrinologist is wonderful, she listened to me! She first suspected PCOS (I have excess facial hair and was suffering from swollen breasts, plus the weight gain etc.). An ultrasound failed to find any cysts.
I have negative tests for arthritis, Lupus (my mom has Lupus), my ferritin is slightly elevated 160ng/mL (range 15-150) and my iron level is OK at 94 ug/dL (range 35-140), Vit D, Magnesium and B12 are all in middle of normal range).
She is quite certain I have what she calls “Resistance to Thyroid Hormone”. Even though my bloodwork looks normal:
Free T3 3.1pg/mL range 1.9 to 4.4
Free T4 1.1 ng/dL range 0.6 to 2.0
TSH 2.1 uUI/mL range 0.01 to 5.0
(no thyroid antibodies)
She asked whether I would like to trial Levothyroxine and see if it improved my health, I said yes I’ll try anything.
She started me off on 25mcg then 50 then 75. My levels changed slightly, 6 week blood test:
Free T3 3.0 (slight decrease)
Free T4 1.5 (slight increase)
TSH 0.60 (suppressed)

With the Levothyroxine I have been sleeping better, feel calmer and had 1 bowel movement 4 days after the increase to 50 to 75 and to 113.
As we determined I don’t seem hyper she has increased me again 88mcg, 100 and now 113 mcg.
I had one spontaneous bowel movement with my last increase (113mcg Levothyroxine) and like before, nothing more. My energy has improved but only slightly. I do feel calmer. In a couple of months she is going to trial me on T3, if I don’t improve further from this Levothyroxine trial.

I am especially bothered by my fatigue, constipation and my brain, I have a hard time concentrating, my memory is really bad (my husband has to remind me again and again about things) and today I forgot how to turn the hot water on, I thought the water heater was broken but I had turned the tap the wrong way, proceeded to try all taps in the house but only figured out my mistake when my husband showed me).
Now, has anyone ever heard of this?
What do you think of the diagnosis?
Any tips, suggestions?

Thank-you!!!

Forgot to add:
Itchy skin (mostly limbs but also everywhere else).
Pain in legs and feet if standing (even a couple minutes can make them hurt)
Feel arms are heavy and muscles are weak.
Slow digestion (feel full for a long time after eating)
Regular periods (plus or minus 1 day, heavier since taking Levothyroxine)
Breasts less swollen and painful since taking Levothyroxine.
Skin and hair dry, hair coarse (no hair loss)
Normal glucose and bloodpressure
Low total cholesterol 149 mg/dL

Hi, looks like a lot of issues to address. I see only integrative MD's so you might want to think about that. I've been in alternative/holistic healing for about 25 yrs and spent a lot of years with a sluggish thyroid...long story. Don't have the energy to go over it.

The thyroid group I follow from Stop The Thyroid Madness book believe T3 and T4 need to be a higher end of range and TSH low low end. We all mostly use desiccated thyroid support. NT, Armour, NP (generic to Armour) but conventional doctors don't work with these supports.

I post a lot in the vitamin/supp area here. To me your cholesterol is too low. I've posted a lot about this cholesterol issue too. There are a lot of informative posts here, so do some research ..

I take Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics. Magnesium is critical and there is info about mag deficiency ... actually lot of deficiency info out there....And conventional doctors don't go near these. We have to learn so much on our own...I sure have.... I just posted new info on Iodine Deficiency...on the vit/supp group. Hope you can get to feeling better.

Are you taking your thyroid on an empty stomach? If not, this could explain your slow response.

Keep in mind that if you take too much (and some doctors don't go over 100mcg a day.), you may develop osteopenia/osteoporosis. Thyroid hormone tears down bone. Elevated thyroid levels also deplete carnitine in muscles.

What I like about desiccated thyroid support they have added forms of calcium. I have not started my NP yet as I still am finishing up my Armour, which contains some calcium form as well, so I've not worried about the osteo issues and these supports.

http://www.npthyroid.com/information.html

Thank you for taking the time to help me!
I have been on the highest dose for 1 week now, I take the pill on an empty stomach with 1/2 a glass of water and then l wait 1 hour till eating or drinking anything.
Some days, like yesterday I feel like a zombie... like I am walking around and getting my work done but only 1/2 awake. I start to slur my words a bit and mix up words when I get really tired after work.
I live in Portugal and here Armour isnt available, from what I have read it sounds amazing.
My endocrinologist has asked me to get 3 bone scans to monitor my bone density. I only go back to her at the end of September.

Thank you ALL again!!!

I also wondered about the low cholesterol, it's weird because I eat healthy but I do ingest fat, I don't restict anything besides gluten.

Sorry to hear you don't have other thyroid med options. I've heard this many times that many do not convert the T4 to T3 in their bodies...the desiccated supports contain both.

At one point I did take the T4 and doc added T3 synthetic, but I found over trial and error I do best with armour types. Look at magnesium to help with your chronic constipation. I went thru nasty constipation for a lot of my life and make sure I get Enough mag, dosing thru the day. Best forms are citrate or glycinate....

Just had a thought on your cholesterol...it may be fine for your age. When I was your age, the MD's didn't do any of the labs that are done today. My folks lived into 90's and I don't even recall them ever talking about cholesterol. The major lab testing got really going strong in the 1970's.... I'm 77 and my MD just started looking at the chol issue maybe 10 yrs ago. I have theories on the cholesterol fear anyway.

Thyroid hormone lowers cholesterol levels. Were you low before you started treatment?