25 Year Battle with Autoimmune Symptoms - What's wrong with me?

Dear Dr Nicholson,

Do you think I have Hashimotos? Female, 42yrs. TPOab 200 (<60), FT4 11 (10-20), TSH 1.0 (0.3 - 4.00). Negative ANA. So far I have been dx with Fibro, CFS, IBS, Food Allergies, Alopecia, Henoch Scholen Purpura, Diverticulitis, Mild Mega Colon, Urticaria, Photosensitivity. I dont take any medications.

I have been searching for answers for 25 years and had so many different dx's, I feel there is an underlying problem being overlooked & the TPOab seems to indicate Hashimoto's.  However since my labs are euthyroid Dr's state my symptoms are not thyroid related.

I suffer from hair loss and thinning eyebrows & eyelashes, muscle wasting, fatigue, depression, sleeplessness, dry, crepey, thinning skin, rashes, slight fever on & off. Aching joints & muscles and generaly feel unwell most of the time.

I have seen a Rheumatologist as my GP thought maybe Lupus which he ruled out and gave me a dx of Fibro & CFS. Thyroid ultrasound was normal & thyroid uptake scan was 1.4% ( up to 4%) stating low end of normal.

Can you suggest further testing & your opinion on Hashimoto's please, I would be very grateful for any suggestions or opinions. Thanks so much Dr Nicolson.

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

Please see my comments to other recent posts from patients with Hashimoto's diagnosis.  I won't go back and repeat the information contained in those recent posts.

Essentually all of your many signs/symptoms could be explained by one or more chronic, systemic (system-wide) intracellular infections.  We often find that patients who have been sick for decades with 20-40 different chronic signs and symptoms have systemic intracellular bacterial infections that could explain their various clinical problems.  

In such complex cases we usually find multiple infections that have probably been present for years.  Examples are Mycoplasma species, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Borrelia b., Brucella species, etc., among other less common possibilities.

The good news is that if you have one or more of these infections, you can be sucessfully treated.  Unfortunately, if you have been sick for decades, it will be much more difficult to irradicate the infections that are usually present.  You can read more about this on our website, www.immed.org.  There are over 100 publications that can be downloaded from the site as PDF or RTF documents.

Prof. Garth Nicolson

[Deelited]

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my question, I appreciate your input and insight. I have never thought of systemic intracellular infections and the many Dr's I have seen have never suggested testing.

Thanks also for the link to immed.org, there certainly is a lot of very informative information.

Thanks again Dr.