I've been reading this forum for about a month now, trying to absorb the information from the many helpful posters. Many of my symptoms are very similar to others: heart palpitations, fatigue, dry skin, hair loss (like almost half!), weight gain (>30lb) , eyebrow hair loss, avg 97.8 waking temp, brain fog, memory loss, panic attacks, joint and muscle pains. This has been happening for 3 years - I still drag myself through workouts and walking my dogs. The primary care and gynecologist all said "welcome to menopause and getting older". deal with it.
I finally convinced my gyno to test my vitD after a papsmear came up at a grade 4 from being absolutely clear along with my other complaints. That was a 16 in late 2012. Supplementation helped a little, but did not resolve symptoms. During that time, I also broke my ankle - which looking back, should have been a sign to someone.
My primary care dr has been very unhelpful and spent more time telling me about her similar problems. She agreed to some blood tests this past December: vitD= 29. VitB12=471 (200-1100 pg/ML) and iron tested normal and the gluten intolerance test was negative.
I had my own hormones tested April 2013 after the VitD supplementation was not very helpful. those results:
estradiol .5 1.3-3.3 range
prog 7 75-270
testosterone 15 16-55
DHEAS 2.2 2-23
The gyn was shocked at these values (I wasn't) and am now on estrogen and progesterone from a compounding pharmacy. My last 2 papsmears are now back to normal. My periods have returned.
I've had my own thyroid tests done last month:
Thyroxine (T4) 7.1 4.5-12.0 ug/dL
T3 Uptake 25 24-39 %
Free Thyroxine Index 1.8 1.2-4.9
TSH 1.93 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 3.1 2.0-4.4 pg/mL
T4,Free(Direct) 1.14 0.82-1.77 ng/dL
Thyroglobulin, Antibody <1.0 0.0-0.9 IU/mL
Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) <6 0-34 IU/mL
They appear to be "normal" - but symptoms persist. Will the estrogen/prog supplementation impact these tests? I am taking VitD, calcium and vitB12 supplements as well. The fatigue is not as bad and the panic attacks have completed disappeared, so some things are getting better. I am alarmed by my ever increasing weight as diabetes runs very strongly in my family and I have been so vigilant the past 25 years.
At 51, I don't think I should feel like an 80+ year old woman. I have spent an enormous amount of money out-of-pocket on blood tests, even acupuncture (that guy told me something was wrong with my liver???) Somehow, it appears that a lot of things got out of whack - not sure what started it, maybe the VitD being so low.
I'd appreciate any feedback. At this point, I'm not sure who to go see - the gyn or find another primary care dr.
Thank you - reading these posts have confirmed that I am not nuts, that alone has been a relief. My apologies for such a long post.