latest labs

[flyingfool]

I had dome blood work done.  I have very mild hypo symptoms.  I can live with them but I wonder why I should have to.  And I've had most of them my entire life so for me this is "normal".

8/2012

TSH 0.903
FT4 0.89 (0.78-2.19) = 7.8% of range

Cholesterol (on statin 10 mcg Crestor)
Total cholesterol 164 (115-200)
HDL 43 (40-60)
LDL 92  (50-130)
Triglycerides 144 (10-149)


7/8/14

TSH 1.51
FT4 0.95 (0.78-2.19) = 12.1% of range

Cholesterol (No longer on Statin)
Total cholesterol 222 (H) (115-200)
HDL 33 (L)  (40-60)
LDL 157 (H)  (50-130)
Triglycerides 161 (H) (10-149)

I have been unable to convince the Dr's to test FT3 and had to demand and in one case virtually beg to have FT4 tested.  

Primary hypo symptoms.  Colder hands and feet than others, consitpation, higher cholesterol, ringing of ears, family hstory as my mom is Hypo.  

I take multi-vitamin, 2,000 IU of D3 in addition in summer and 4,000 IU in winter, Fishoil, Selenium.  I also swim 3 times a week pretty aggressively for past several years.

I had more joint issues prior to me starting to supplment with Selenium.  After which the joint pain has subsided and I no longer have to take Glucosimine to relieve joint pain.  I also had some PVC heart palps but they have seemed to almost completely go away since I'm almost 100% caffine free.

I personally would rather try a small starter dose of T4 rathe than going back on a statin (Crestor) to see if some of my other symptoms will be reduced and also lower my cholesterol.

So far the Dr's have completely ignored my request for a starter dose with such a low if not "perfect" TSH and the FT4 in range although very low in the range.

What say you guru's?

[Red_Star]

I would add that my appetite increased somewhat when I started exercising though which is great for me as my appetite isn't crash hot. I guess it depends on the person. :)

[Red_Star]

I used to have to eat a few crackers and cheese before exercising or suffer the symptoms of low blood sugar. That doesn't happen now thankfully but I don't like exercising on a full stomach.  Dr Lustig talks about the benefits of exercise on his video Sugar The Bitter Truth and Dr Hirani has posted the highlights which is great as I don't have to lol...

"The real benefits of exercise: Exercise improves skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity.  Your body will produce less insulin which is a good thing.  Exercise reduces stress and the resultant cortisol release, thereby reducing your appetite and also conversion of sugar to fat.

Exercise “speeds your metabolism”.  By this we mean the sucrose or fructose is burned before it hits the liver and is converted to fat. Exercise may lead to increased muscle mass which then increases the number of calories you burn at rest! The calories burned at the time of exercise is trivial.  For example, you would need to run 20 minutes to burn the calories from one chocolate chip cookie."

[flyingfool]

Intersting about eating before work out. I thought I read just the opposite that a person should eat something although not too much.

Took my first 12.5 mcg last night.

[Barb135]

You're right about changing only one thing at a time, so I, too would hold off on the red yeast rice for a bit.  

I've also been told that eating before working out isn't good, because your body uses what you've just eaten, for energy, rather than burning stored body fat, so you have to work out longer/harder to work off, both, what you ate and some stored body fat.

I have other meds that I have to take in the morning, on an empty stomach, so I've never considered taking thyroid med any other time.. let us know how it works.

[flyingfool]

I'm actually thinking of taking the T4 prior to bed.  it will force me to not snack at night which is something that I shouldn't do anyhow but do all too often.

I wake up early and work out 3 of the days a week and I usually want to eat something before working out so the morning's really won't work out as well.  I then also try to take my vitamins with Breakfast so another reason to not take the T4 in AM.  I usually have a mid-morning snack of like some nuts and/or yogurt at about 10AM and of course lunch around noon.  

So before bed seems about the best time to take it and I'm in a routine of taking niacine before bed now anyhow which is supposed to help lower cholesterol although I now hear that has proven to not be true.  So I think I will just sub the T4 instead of the niacine at night before bed.

I will have to think about the red yeast rice.  But I think I will hold off so that if the cholesterol comes down I will know it was the T4.  If I do both I won't know which one caused the reduction.  Change only one thing at a time.

[Barb135]

I guess you're saying the doctor "did" agree with a starter dose?  The smallest levothyroxine comes in, is 25 mcg, so he'll have to write the script to split a 25 mcg pill.  Tirosint comes in 13 mcg strength, if you want to pay the extra price.

Can't imagine you'd go hyper, but then we don't have an FT3, so you'll have to watch symptoms and see how it goes.

As with other supplements, take red yeast rice away from thyroid medication.  I take it at night.

[flyingfool]

I live in WI so of course I love cheese too!

red yeast rice is a consideration. But it is really just a natural statin rather than a prescribed manufactured pharma drug.  But certainly in most cases natural is better.

I forgot to mention that I also had my testosterone checked.  Pretty inconclusive as it was not correlated to age and simply had ranges for the different measurements.  It did I guess show that I'm not way low by any means. I might be a touch low but the side effects and risks associated with adding testosterone is not worth it unless really a problem.  But it is at least nice to get a baseline test done and to rule out that as being a problem at least for the time being.

I just got an e-mail and the Dr. dis agree to Rx a starter dose.  Either one 13 mcg a day if the pharmacy has it or split a 25 mcg T4 tablet a day.

So we will see if this clinical trial works out.  I sure hope I don't go hyper. but with such low in range FT4 I can't believe that will occur with only 13 mcg of T4.

[Red_Star]

Well you might see some improvements with a diet change even with thyroid issues affecting the liver. I'm just guessing honestly. :) My full lipid panel is excellent. 1% risk of a heart attack in the next 10 years from the AHA heart attack calculator. I think I'm half french as I adore cheese. :)

[Barb135]

Forgot to mention that a starter dose might be in order.   Would be good to see an FT3, but I remember this doctor doesn't believe in it.  You might want to think about going through healthcheckusa (or some other - I understand there are some less expensive ones, now), at some point, even though it's out of pocket, if symptoms continue to get worse and doctor won't budge.  

[Barb135]

The fat in coconut oil is a medium chain saturated fat, which is not the same as the saturated fat found in meat, dairy, etc.  The fat in avocados and nuts is monounsaturated fat (MUFA) and is the best kind for you.  

While studies are finding that fat is not the demon it's been purported to be, the jury is still out on the "high fat" diet.  Whenever we jump on a bandwagon like that, we find, down the road that there are other drawbacks - moderation seems to be the key.

Cutting back on sugar and processed simple carbs (those that break down quickly and spike the blood sugar levels) can go a long way toward cutting inflammation in the body.  Check out low glycemic diet.

As for the cholesterol and triglyceride levels, we know that hypothyroid can cause high cholesterol, but that's not the only thing.  You might try red yeast rice.  That and regular exercise helps keep my cholesterol levels in check.  I do find, though, that exercise using weight, either body or hand weights, works better (for me) than cardio.  

[dgmootry]

Just want to say, when I became hypo thyroid my cholesterol jumped way up, prior to going hypo my cholesterol was great what should be high was high and what should be low was low, I ate alot of flax seed and good oils and fruit vegies, did the same after I went hypo but that didn't matter and it still went out of wack. Now I'm on meds and my levels are almost where they should be and my Cholesterol has gone way down, theres a link between hypo thyroid and cholesterol.

[flyingfool]

I've been reading a lot about the particle size of LDL.

I may ask the Dr to see if he can run a partical size on the LDL.

I recently saw a hour long documentary on the web of a 41 year old who had family history of heart problems etc.  Highly athletic guy yet the numbers didn't look good.

he went on a HIGH fat diet.  Saturated fats.  he LOST weight and felt great.  everythign looked great except his LDL went up pretty high. However when they looked at the particle size of the LDL it was almost exclusively the large size particle which means that despite the high number he had a VERY low risk of heart issues or plaque build up!

So everything that we've been taught about low fat and staying away from saturated fats (the good kind like coconut oil and avacado's and from tree nuts etc) was hog wash.  Also the total look at demonozing the number of LDL as being "BAD" is also hogwash depending upon the particle size of the LDL make up.  If mostly small as you say it is truly bad. But if it is mostly large size then a high LDL by itself means nothing.  Sort of like having an "in range" FT4 level but being at the bottom of the range means nothing.

Other information I'm reading and learning says that cholesterol is the body's natural response to "paint over" inflamation.  So if we are experiencing generalized inflamation which the USA diet typically will result in, the body's response is to crank up production of cholesterol to paint over the veins that are inflamed.  So it is NOT the cholesterol that is the proble at the root. Rather it is the inflamation. If you stopped the inflamation the body would down regulate the production of cholesterol as it no longer needs to produce the "band aid" of cholesterol to heal the inflamation.

The fact that the American diet keeps a perpetual state of inflamation may be the reason why cholesterol is being produced at such large rates which is why the plaque is building up.  

So we need to stop the inflamation.  So that is also an area that I'm looking into as well.
Given the mild symptoms of low thyroid and probably the very low dose i will probably need to solve them, may not be enough to totally lower the cholesterol and triglycerides enough. But I'd sure like to give it a try.  

Other diet modifications not so much to decrease dietary ingestion of cholesterol but rather attempts to stop eating things that cause inflamation may also be a good thing to do no matter what.

[Red_Star]

My mother has elevated triglycerides from Hashi's; I've already told her to go and get treated for this symptom alone! High triglycerides correlates strongly to small dense LDL.  Small dense LDL particles penetrate the endothelial layer and contribute to plaque formation.  

Saturated fat raises HDL and moves small dense LDL to large buoyant LDL btw. But I'd say nothing would improve your lipid panel but thyroid medication if those results are due to not enough thyroid hormone in the blood.

[flyingfool]

Like I said my symptoms are pretty mild.  But even as a child I remember my hands and feet being cold. I would put say my foot on someone sitting on the beach and they would jump at how cold my feet were.  Always during the winter my hands and feet almost immediately get cold.  While others seem to be able to operate without gloves and not bother them, my hands are nearly won't work they are so cold.

Right now in the middle of summer by hands are OK. But still on the cool side compared to most other men.  I also tend to want to put on a sweater or a light jacket before other men my age etc.

I've never lived a day that I can remember were my ears do not ring in the background.  It is a constant drone.  I know nothing else.  Maybe I'm just hypersensitive to it.  What I hear many people my age or older may recall.  What it sounds like is an older "tube type" Television.  Remember when you could hear the high pitch noise in the background when the TV was on?  What I hear in the background 100% of the time is very similar to that.

I just sent my new Dr. an email with a similar history of my first post and asked him to consider a small starter dose of say 12.5 mcg of T4 a day to see what clinical response I have with symptoms and in particular my cholesterol.

I eat pretty decently although I could stand to cut back on some sugar and processed carbs.  I excercise regularly and pretty aggresively with swimming 3 times a week.  Last year I swam over 100 miles so a touch over 2 miles a week.  Excercise they say should raise the "good" HDL cholesterol but I have seen absolutely no improvement to prove that theory.  I may be literally a couple pounds over my optimum weight. I have recently lost 5 lbs and I think another 5 lbs and I'd be at about my optimum weight.

Pretty much all of the things they say to do to lower cholesterol and tryglicerides I'm doing already.  So it would appear that going on a Statin or trying the low dose of T4 is all that remains.  

Like I said, I'd personally rather replace a natural hormone that already exists in my body, rather than ingest a foreign man made chemical designed to prevent my liver from producing cholesterol.

[Red_Star]

Yeah you sound like you need a trial of thyroid hormone. I know how difficult it is however and had to suffer for a very long time until I was literally gasping for medication. One of my ex doctors was shocked when he felt my hand it was freezing cold. My symptoms didn't remotely match my lab results!