I have no words of wisdom - just joining in with you on the discussed symptoms...
I experience the flashes in my peripheral vision, HAVE experienced the puffy face and eyes - currently I don't look puffy, occasional ringing of the ears - but not so I associate them with my Thyroid (MP3 and radio may be too loud... :) )
The thinning hair, fatigue, constipation, cold extremities all sound like Thyroid.
Also - my Opthalmologist said the dry eyes are symtom of Thyroid disease. Here's what he and I discovered - because your eyes are "puffy" you probably can't close your eyes all the way when you are asleep. (You don't know this - because you are asleep. Ask someone to watch you when you nap.) This allows your eyes to dry out and become red and irritated (he treated me for conjunctivitis twice before we figured this out...) which then maked them feel, tired, achy, itchy, watery, sometimes crusty - and BLURRY! I had to quit wearing my contact lens. ( I had an eye procedure done for the vision.)
What I do now is sleep with a "sleeping mask" on at night. Especially if you sleep with a ceiling fan or any other fan that blows on you during the night. It helps a LOT! (bought it at Walmart - if you live in the States.) Also, he put little "stents" in my lower tear ducts.
You have two sets of tear ducts. The lower ones - because of gravity - drain more tears out of your eyes. By putting the stents in the lower ducts it "slows" the drainage process of the lower ducts and causes the upper ducts to do all the drainage - thus letting more fluids stay on the surface of the eye. I have noticed the improvement! It can be done in his office in less than 30 seconds and didn't hurt a bit!
I have Hashi's and am not taking any Thyroid Meds at this time. I see a new Endo on Friday.
Just for info's sake - I have a picture on my fridge I took last year when I was on .50 of Synthroid. My face is round as a moon and my eyes look like I have been on a 3-day crying jag - so swollen with bags! I was feeling more fatigue on the .50 of Synthroid. On .25 I have less fatigue - but my hair is falling out. The hair problems became more noticeable when I was on .50.
I am experiencing most of the same symptoms. Eye flashes that are like flashbulbs going off around the edges of my eyes. These have gotten worse when taking methimazole (I am mildly hyperthyroid and taking lose doses of methimazole). I have been to the opthalmologist and they say there is nothing wrong with my retina.
I also have cold hands and feet, tingly feelings and pain in my fingers and toes, ringing in my ears, puffy eyelids. My TSH is low. Does anyone know what is going on here?
Did she check your electrolytes---a test called a BMP or CMP----an electrolyte imbalance can cause the cramping, tinnuitis and the flashing lights. Just a thought.
Good Luck
I know how you feel - do you get migraine headaches? I suffered those for years and they were always preceded by flashes of light - I would definitely be very proactive about this issue - has your doctor been interested in doing MRI or anything of head or referring to eye doctor or trying any other avenue to check into? Your symptoms sure sound like thyroid but then we on this forum all think thyroid when we hear those symptoms - hope your doctor checks into this for your own peace of mind - your tsh levels seem great but symptoms are not great- hope you can find an answer :)
Hi Terri,
I am not receving any medication as my GP here in the UK says my TSH is in the normal lab ranges its 3.15 (range 0.5 - 4.50) and warrents no further investigation.
According to the GP my symptoms are either due to depression (which she can give me anti D' for)
or my weight (I'm around 13.5 stone) and issued me with diet pills.
Feels like I'm banging my head up a brick wall with all this.
I get all the symptoms you mention when I'm on too high a dose of thyroid med - I stay at a much higher tsh to avoid the symptoms you mention because otherwise I go from hypo to hyper which makes me feel worse than hypo - hope this helps - my doctor goes by how I feel not the labs because I know it's crazy but if I try to match other peoples level of "normal" tsh range and "normal" t3 & t4 I'm so sick and hyper so I stay 10 and even higher lately tsh and feel much better - good luck to you and talk to doc about adjusting dose to see how you feel :)
Your TSH is a tad high by AACE standards but so little a tad that it doesn't seem high enough to cause all those symptoms mentioned.
You can request antibody testing ( expensive, not always exactly necessary and they may not do it, I don't know the system there) to see if you may be trending hypothyoid, but there is no medical necessity to treat before a TSH of 10.
I had TSH between 6-7 ( high by lab range) last sping on two consecutive tests, 1238 TPO antibody score ( normal 0-34) a nodular thyroid with lymphocytic changes on ultra sound ( I mean holes everywhere) and fatigue. They deicded to put me on replacement hormone, gave me the right amount for my weight and I am now quite hyperthyroid and feel worse then I did before. I am physically "fading away". "Fading away" were my endocrinologist's words yesterday.
So, do you need meds? No.
Could a trial of meds maybe make you feel a bit better? Yes, possibly
Could they also make you feel hyper and sick? Yes, possibly.
Could they cure every symptom you have mentioned in your post? Not likely.
Thyoid symptoms are non specific, lots of problems cause some of the same feelings.
If you want to get a trial dose of meds, try posting to Dr. Lupo on the doctor's forum. He may give you some ammunition to prnt out and show to your GP.
I won't say trying them out at a low dose can't hurt, because actuallyit can,usually they won't. They think I may have "flipped" (every regular on the board knows I did that ages ago and they are too polite to say so LOL). Flipped meaning my condition switched from hypo to hyper and it's not the med alone.
I do hope you feel better soon. Good luck.