How can doc say thyroid is fine when I have symptoms that it's not

[Linda1068]

Please, can someone help me.  I have gained about 50 lbs over that last 3 yrs. Most of the weight gain (about 25 lbs) in the last year alone.  It's not from overeating. I feel tired all the time. My normal temp is always below 98.6 F. I feel achy all over, especially my back.   My memory is up and down.  
I am 39 yrs old. Had left thyroid removed because I had a nodule and cancer could not be ruled out by tests. Thank God it was not cancer. The nodule measured 2.3 cm ( about 1 inch).  Endo and even the surgeon had told me I had it for years. I never felt it internally or externally.
When I told my doc and even the Endo about my weight gain and the other symptoms mentioned above, they said it wasn't  because of my thyroid.  
The only test I have had for thyroid, is TSH which was 0.6 back in May. I am due for blood work next week, to recheck since Endo put me on 25 mcg Synthroid after the PT.
Am I crazy or are the doctors?  

[Berni704]

Hi Linda, I have a an underactive thyroid and pcos and for years since I was 12 years old, I went to the doctors begging them to please tell me why I kept putting weight on.  At one point in my life I lost a lot of weight real quick I find out later this was because I went overactive first because of hashimotos, which is where my immunity system was killing off my t4 and my thyroid worked overtime to make more and burnt itself out so now it is underactive.  The trouble with testing thyroid through blood testing is that the t4 levels shown are not always correct, it does not always show a true picture. Mine only showed because it was rock bottom and was not functioning at all.  Classic signs of underactive thyroid inclue lid lag, where your top eyelid droops at the edges, your eyebrows may fall out easily, I still have to pencil mine in, weight gain, which is hard to stop, I didnt eat for a month and put a stone on, so starving doesnt work, and patching oin the skin, which can look like dirt.  And of course you feel like you could sleep standing up, and cannot concentrate, reading becomes an impossibility.  Of course there are many other things that have the same symtoms as thyroid, like fibromyalgia also an auto immume disesae.  There is a book I had, called the blood type diet where you can check yourself for thyroid disorders, it tells you how to do it with a thermometer, maybe you can check this out.  Also thyroid is very common, 1 in 10 women have thyroid disoredrs and 1 in 4 have pcos, also associated with this disorder.  If you don't get joy with one doctor see another one until you get a response and get tested for everything.   I went to them since I was a child and all i got was do more excercise, dont eat much, I was on a 600 calorie diet at one point, and theres nothing wrong with you and now I have so many problems because i was left untreated for so long.  Don't give up.

[Linda1068]

Thanks so much. I am moving at the end of next month and will have to get new doctors.  So, maybe I can find one that can help me.  

[Linda1068]

If anybody else has experienced my symptoms and has had their doctor confirm thyroid issues, please post a comment.
What are the correct tests to be done if anybody knows, that way I can have some knowledge when I go see the doctor.

[DMFischer]

I just returned from my poor GP.  He is simply at a loss of what to do with me.  I suffered all the symptoms you mentioned and then some and only when I had breast cancer and they were getting me ready for chemo that the node's in my thyroid lit up on a PET.  You really are not alone.  My T3-T4 and TSH antibodies everything came up normal until recently.  Hang in there and keep pushing for them to look close at your thyroid.  If you have part of your thyroid left you might want to think about having an ultrasound done, just to rule out new noids.  

We are with you on this!  You are not alone.

[Linda1068]

Thanks for responding.   No other symptoms come to mind right now, but then my mind is not very sharp these days.  Regarding that, I will start to talk to my husband about something, when all of a sudden I pause, then tell him, I have no idea what is the next thing to say.  It's like I literally get speechless. it's quite frustrating for me.
About doctors,  I am sure there are many wonderful doctors who take their job very seriously. It just seems like the ones I am dealing with now, unfortunately are not.

[DMFischer]

Yea unfortunately, doc's are human. (heh)  When all their training and the many years of study and training do not yeild an answer they get a bit pissy I think.  Can't blame them all that much, but still, its their professional obligation to not just jump to the simplest answer...that its our imagination, drama, ect.

[peggy64]

you what amazes me is these drs tell you what it is not, and then that is the end of it, as far as they are concerned. Ask him to find out what it IS then. See what happens.

let us know....

[Linda1068]

I sometimes have to laugh at all of this, if not I will have a crying/screaming fit.
When I told my  doctor (my reg doc) when I first saw her back in Dec for a physical (which was the 1st in about 3 yrs). I mentioned to her about the weight gain and how I felt it was too much weight to gain in what I thought was a short period of time, she didn't even flinch. Not even ask me my weight history and how I felt healthwise at different weights.  Very,very frustrating when docs don't want to hear it. I don't think we're complaining.  Everybody knows their own bodies and as we get older we know when something is not right.

[Cindy40]

Does anyone else ever feel that the response we get from some Drs. may be because we are mostly women?  Thyroid disease effects more women than men.  I sometimes think if it effected more men, then more would be known about it.  There would be more research done and it would be taken more seriously than it seems to be taken now.

I don't think it even matters if your Dr. is a woman or a man.  I think it is the attutude of medicene.

[estrelinha]

I agree with all of you, when I felt tired , with some kind of panic attacks, couldn't do things I always did all my life (sports), because I felt so tired and sick, I run to the hospital and they looked at me and said it was just stress. Last 3 months I did lots of exams and I went to the right doctors (ENDO, internal medicine, family doctor) and they found out that I have Hashimoto and high positive ANA's. Stress really didn't help my thyroid and also I had anemia (ferritin was 9). I think this problems happens in all world, I don't live in America and I can see that problems with doctors are the same everywhere. And if you know the right doctor it helps alot (my ENDO is a cousin of a friend and a good doctor, worked with thyroid problems last 30 years). About thyroid , as was already said some other autoimmune diseases mimmic thyroid