Severe Symptoms - "Normal" Test Results?

[HitNRun]

Hi, I stumbled upon this website while trying to find some kind of help, in the hopes that someone will relate, or even have experienced what I'm going thru right now.

After giving birth to my son 18 years ago, I just never felt right... Symptoms were not too bad really, I was feeling Anxious, was having shortness of breath, tiredness and occassional dizziness. This went on for a couple of years and I put it down to stress or maybe Anxiety/Panic Attacks. I went to the doctor and described all my symptoms, she told me I was stressed and told me a needed to take time for myself and learn to relax!!

A year went by and my symptoms were getting worse and I also started to become cold intolerant... My hands and feet are always cold even during the summer. Again, I went to the doctor, this time she said i needed to talk to a councellor so it could be established what was on my mind causing me to be so Anxious. I went for 3 sessions then was told i didn't need to come back.

Another year passed, I was still getting all my symptoms, I was unbelievably tired all the time, I could sleep 12 hours and still wake up exhausted. I started to get full blown panic attacks, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, aches and pains...etc... I went back to the doctors, this time she wanted to check my Thyroid as my grandma, my Aunt and my Mom all suffer with Thyroid Disfunction. The TSH results came back as "Normal" and i was sent away!!!

Another few years passed, my symptoms were getting a lot worse, it was effecting my job, I was taking days off work due to dizziness, feeling brain fog and feeling totally exhausted. Another trip to the doctors came, this time I used a different doctor, this doctor then ran another Thyroid test, again, the TSH came back as "Normal", I was then told there was nothing wrong with my Thyroid and that I was just suffering with stress!! I was given a prescription for anti-depressants (which i flushed down the toilet)... I knew I wasn't suffering with depression, I had nothing to be depressed about, I always considered myself to be a happy person and happy with life!!

I came to the conclusion that this illness must have been all in my head, if there was anything wrong with me the doctors would find it right? I exersized, kept myself mentally stimulated and kept myself physically busy.

Another few years later, my symptoms have got so bad I find it increasingly difficult to function on a daily basis, my fingers are tingling, my joints and muscles are aching, I have no strength, feel weak, my hair falls out in clumps leaving little bald patches on my head (they do grow back), I can't concentrate, I get confused, I sometimes can't put a sentence together without messing the words up, I can't remember things, my skin is dry, I'm clumsy, my periods are heavy, I get PMS bad, my vision is sometimes jumpy and my heart races, I feel like I'm living in a different world than everyone else. It's got so bad that I get nervous leaving the house, i certainly don't trust myself to drive!!
So, I go back to the doctor, again, I choose a different doctor, I sat in her office and told her every symptom i was having... She told me I was text book Hypothyroid, she put me on 50mg of Levothyroxin per day. I took the pill every morning without fail, after 6 months there's only one change in my symptoms!! Yippeeeee, my hair wasn't falling out anymore, no more bald patches... I always had a bald patch somewhere on my head previous to taking the pills, as soon as one bald patch started a regrowth of hair, another bald patch would emerge!!
My symptoms got worse after 6 months of taking Levothyroxin, it got to the point where i felt like a burden to my family, I couldn't get another job in this state. I stopped taking the medication.
Another nightmare year has gone by, my symptoms are worse than ever, I go to the doctor again, this time I had TSH, Free T3 and T4 tests done.... I got a phone call this morning saying they all came back as "Normal"!!! I'm at the end of my tether, my doctor keeps insisting there's nothing wrong with me. Is it possible to suffer with a disfunctional Thyroid, or even something related to my Thyroid and have results keep coming back as "normal"?

[gimel]

Our painful experience here is that what the doctors call "normal" covers such a broad range of results as to be almost useless in assessing a potential thyroid problem.  The first thing you should do is get a copy of your lab test results.  The doctor is required to give you a copy upon request.  Then post the actual numbers and reference ranges here so that our many experienced members can help interpret.  Don't despair.  Lots of our members have gone through much the same situation and are now doing much better.  We'll help in any way possible.

[HitNRun]

Thank You gimel, I did call the doctor back this morning requesting my numbers on the results, the office is now closed and they never bothered calling. I just got off the phone with an office in the area that specializes in Thyroid disfunction, when I told them what test's I'd already had done they told me they would do a lot more, costing me $2000... At this point I would pay any amount of money to feel "Normal" again.
I will go into my doctors office in the morning and get a copy of my results and put them on here...

Thanks so much for replying.

[gimel]

I would be very cautious about a place that wants to do $2000 worth of testing before they have ever seen you as a patient.  Before you do something like that, I suggest that our members have a look at your test results and try to help find you a good endocrinologist who also specializes in thyroid problems.

[HitNRun]

Ok, here goes.. The doctors office just called with the numbers. I'll put my results and then what they told me was Normal Range.

TSH - 2.01  (Normal Range 0.35 to 5.50)

T3 - 3.31  (Normal Range 2.20 to 4.20)

T4 - 0.92  (Normal Range 0.70 to 1.70)

These results are all "Normal"... But why am I getting symptoms?

The doctor I mentioned isn't going to charge me $2000, his receptionist got it wrong, he has sent me a lengthy email stating that all my symptoms and family history indicates I do suffer with a thyroid problem. He says the test's are basically guidelines, just because they come back within "normal range" doesn't mean it's "normal" for me. He wants to investigate further.

[gimel]

In my opinion TSH should never be used as a diagnostic for thyroid problems, since it is affected by so many variables, including the time of day when blood was drawn for the test.  At best it is only an indicator, to be considered along with the more important indicators which are symptoms, and FT3 and FT4 levels.  Symptoms are most important.  That is what we are all trying to relieve.  I

Not saying that there isn't a possibility of other issues, but from your last blood test, and from your symptoms, your FT3 and FT4 are still too low in their ranges.  Many doctors think that just getting the "Frees" somewhere within their reference ranges makes you "normal".  This is not the case because in my opinion the reference ranges need to be adjusted, like TSH was, and for the same basic reasons.

Ranges were originally established from a large data base of patients.  The limits for TSH and the "Frees" were established originally so that 95 % of results fell within these limits.  Over 6 years ago, the AACE finally decided that there were far too many people who fell within the range for TSH, yet had hypo symptoms.  So they carefully purged suspect hypo and hyper patients from the data base and reestablished new limits.  The range changed from .5-5.0 down to .3-3.0, which was a huge change.  Unfortunately most labs and doctors have yet to adopt the new range.  

Although logic says it should be done, the ranges for the "Frees" have never been revised like for TSH.  In one of my past lives (LOL) I had a lot of training in statistical analysis.  If I had to estimate where the ranges would be if the data bases for the "Frees" were purged similar to TSH, I think the range for FT3 would go from 2.3-4.2 pg/ml to approx. 3.2-4.3.  Similarly the range for FT4 would go from .60-1.50 ng/dl to approx. 1.0-1.55.  I think this gives us a logical reason why so many patients report having continuing hypo symptoms, even when their FT3 and FT4 levels are within the low limit of their ranges.  For this reason my opinion is that the best way to treat a thyroid patient is to test and adjust FT3 and FT4 with meds as required to alleviate symptoms.  Following is a good link that recommends this type approach.

http://www.hormonerestoration.com/Thyroid.html

Hopefully the new doctor that you have contacted will treat you by adjusting FT3 and FT4 levels and monitoring the effect on your symptoms.