Lee Jordan – Midlands Web Developer Web Development, Photography, Media Production, Social Media Collaboration and Marketing
There are three life long conditions that I’m managing at the moment, the least troublesome of the lot is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditus which I had diagnosed in November 2009. It means my metabolic rate can swing on a daily basis, affecting my energy levels, memory and my weight.
Once again it’s my body turning on itself, this time antibodies attack my Thyroid gland and gradually degrade its function and ability to regulate all of my bodily processes. From turning food into energy, to regulating digestion, skin, hair growth, eye function, mood and memory, this butterfly shaped gland in the throat is often the engine of the body.
“Recently a Thyroid Function Test showed that I’m having too much man made T4 hormone (Thryoxine), leading to effects of an overactive thyroid”
My Thyroid Is Actually Underactive
So my body thinks this gland is invading my body and is basically trying to destroy it. When It starts to fail the brain sends signals to it asking it to work harder to produce more T4, this level is the TSH level. Back in October 2009 my TSH was 56, which is dangerously high, it showed a thyroid that was failing. A normal range is between about 3 and 9.
Gradually with Thyroxine replacement, we’ve got my TSH down and now it’s at 0.5 which is too low. It either indicates that my Thyroid has recovered some of its function, or that my dose of Thyroxine is too high. Right now we believe the latter and not the former, my T4 level is too high at 19 and it should be no higher than 12 (that’s the upper limit).
“We are reducing my Throxine replacement to see if we can get the T4 level back to normal, while maintaining the TSH level at a safe level too”
Has My Body Finished Its War Against My Thyroid?
Personally I don’t know if my immune system is relaxing its assault on my Thyroid or that we are simply replacing too much hormone synthetically and at this stage of my disease I just need less than 100mg of Thyroxine. It stands to reason that the older I get and the more my Thyroid fails, that I will need more T4 treatment. The treatment itself is a handful of tablets that you take in the morning and nothing troublesome at all.
“However its the nature of Thyroiditus itself that all these levels will never be stable and will always need adjusting”
There’s another blood test coming for August 11th to see if we’ve got the T4 down from 19 and to see if the TSH has risen from 0.5. I guess the Narcolepsy treatment I’m getting at the moment will stimulate just the part of my brain that affects sleep, it just so happens this part of the brain (The Hypothalamus) also regulates the Thyroid.
Feel free to help us figure this out, LOL!
Lee has been involved with the web for over 10 years, working on a wide range of web projects and coming from a media background, a digital native with huge ideas of how each project can benefit from an online presence. Learn more about him and his work on the about page.
Doesn’t it take a little while before thyroxine goes down after making us feel of overactive thyroid? I am on 175mcg and sometimes I get hyper symptoms but mostly it’s hypo symptoms. No matter how much I take, I keep getting hypo symptoms.
Yeah it can take a good few months to flush out an unintended overdose, symptoms of over active thyroid continue in that time, but do get better. You could talk to your doctor about T3 levels, because sometimes, even though we have the right level of thyroxine, the body can fail to convert T4 to T3. Take a look at stopthethyroidmadness.com.
In my case my hypothyroidism (in fact hashimotos thyroidisim) was controlled but my tiredness was getting worse and it turns out even my Thyroid specialist suggested Narcolepsy as a possible reason. So there could be another underlying reason for your under-active symptoms. Take a look at adrenal gland discussion, diabetes and even sexually transmitted infections. These are all the things I had to go through for everyone to admit that indeed my thyroid symptoms were highly likely to be a sleep disorder instead.
I hope that helps. Hang in there, it does get better. Try not to blame anyone or anything for this, sometimes these things just happen and in some cases they can’t be fixed, just lived with and that takes some getting used to.
All the best
Lee