Never ending thyroid issues!

[Erica1121]

For 3 years I had all the classic signs of hypothyroidism, and in March I was finally diagnosed.  My doctor started me off at 75 mcg.  A month later my TSH came back normal and then re- tested me 3 months later and this time my TSH was high again and he bumped me up to 100 mcg.  He re- tested me last month and he said it was normal at 3.0.  I still feel SO tired and achey all the time.  In August he told my my thyroid gland is now enlarged. He had an ultrasound taken and it said I have a heterogenous thyroid gland with enlarged  cervial nodes.. Now for the last 2 months I have had a low grade fever with extreme nausea and fatigue. He told me that I have sub actue thyroiditis and he put me on Naproxen 500mg BID. He also drew blood for thyroid antibodies, ANA and WBC. When the labs came back he said they were all normal and told me its probably just a virus causing the thyrpoditis. I feel like I am not ever going to get better and I feel like something else should be done.  I haven't felt normal in over 3 years! I thought when you have subacute thyroiditis you become hyperactive? I am still on the verge of being underactive according to how I feel and what my labs show. I feel as if my fatigue is affecting my health because I cannot get the energy to exercise like I used to. If you could maybe give me some advice on how to understand this I would really appreciate it.  

[898]

The elevcated ESR and very low RAI uptake are indicators of subacute thyroiditis.

[gimel]

Sounds like yet another case where a doctor tests and regulates dosage of thyroid meds. by TSH alone.  Just getting your TSH into the top end of the range  is totally ineffective in taking care of your symptoms.  The most important test is free T3, then free T4 and then TSH.  Once you convince your current doctor to check free T3, then you likely will need to get enough of the right kind of med. to get your free T3 in the upper part of its range, and TSH in the lowest part of its range.  Those are good targets to alleviate hypo symptoms.  If your current doc does not understand this and can't accept the idea of it, then time to find a good thyroid doctor.  You can feel a lot better, believe me.