Things you wish you knew before your first blood test.

Piglette · 01-16-2005, 07:59 PM

Hi,

I live in the Uk. I am 45 and female.

I went to my doctor on Friday because I have had problem with menstrual bleeding for the last 2 months. In November I bled for 22 days. I sweated so badly through November that it used to wake me up at night. In December I started bleeding on the 27th and have not stopped although it has been variable in the extent. Don't want to be gross but hopefully I am with friends here.

I have a history of period problems if I eat soya or wheat it prolongs my cycle to 15 very painful days. I don't eat them and have used natural progeterone for the last 5 years as It was suspected I had endometriosis although nothing was shown through the laparoscopy. Actually the laparosopy mad things worse and I was ill for 12 weeks afterwards, terrible periods, IBS and muscle shaking. The area around my tummy button becomes swollen and inflamed.

For the last six months I have been helping to care for my beloved mother who was has mantle cell lymphoma. Thankfully she is in remission now.

It has been a very stressful time and I have worked really hard caring for her.

I have managed to keep going through my periods when normally I would go to bed for 3 days.

My doctor's first thought was that the level of anxiety could have totally mixed up my system.

He also thought thyroid problems might be the root of the trouble. I am having a blood test on Tuesday.

Now the only thing I knew about thyroids was from school.

When I got home I looked it up on the net and was amazed by how many of the symptoms I had for hypothyroidism. The main ones being the sucepibility to cold, the mentsrual problems, the depression... anxiety and crying for me with evil PMT, the muscle problems and cramping etc etc. AND Tiredness and mental confusion And fogetfulness....I forgot those! I have worried that I was going mad.

I have also had trouble with my eyes does anyone have that?

Sorry for the long preamble but what I would like help with is if you have any experience of weird menstrual bleeding can you let me know. It's scarry when it's happening and while I am trying not to worry it would be nice to hear if others have shared this experience.

Also any experience or observation you think would be valuable to a novice. Whether it is to do with symptoms, diagnosis, medication etc etc. Things which with hindsight you wish you knew.

I have felt very poorly this week and it has cheered me up to think there might be someone out there who understands what I have been going through.

Best wishes

Piglette.

midwest1 · 01-16-2005, 10:40 PM

Hello Piglette...
If you haven't had thyroid testing yet, it is the time to do it. It sounds very much like you may have hypoT. Lots of the signs and symptoms. Before I was in treatment, I had lots of those same ones.... and I had burning, dry eyes that were especially sensitive to bright sunlight.

I hope some of our UK members will pop in here to give you advice about navigating your health system, which is quite different from that in the US.
I'll just encourage you to get those tests. TSH, free T4, free T3, and TPO and Tg antibodies are the best ones... but you may have trouble getting your doctor to do them. Do try, though! If hypoT is indeed what you have, it'll be worth the fight to get treated.

jinglebts · 01-17-2005, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piglette

... the only thing I knew about thyroids was from school.

When I got home I looked it up on the net and was amazed by how many of the symptoms I had for hypothyroidism. The main ones being the sucepibility to cold, the mentsrual problems, the depression... anxiety and crying for me with evil PMT, the muscle problems and cramping etc etc. AND Tiredness and mental confusion And fogetfulness....I forgot those! I have worried that I was going mad.

I have also had trouble with my eyes does anyone have that?

Sorry for the long preamble but what I would like help with is if you have any experience of weird menstrual bleeding can you let me know. It's scarry when it's happening and while I am trying not to worry it would be nice to hear if others have shared this experience.

Also any experience or observation you think would be valuable to a novice. Whether it is to do with symptoms, diagnosis, medication etc etc. Things which with hindsight you wish you knew.

I have felt very poorly this week and it has cheered me up to think there might be someone out there who understands what I have been going through.

Best wishes

Piglette.

i just wanted to let you know that you were not the only one in complete ignorance ... i'm 59, and when dx'd, i'd not heard of a thyroid before; after two endocrinologists and three GPs, i now i go to a naturopath, and i've learned that everything's related ... the medical community divides the body up into:

bone stuff
digestive probems
gynecological stuff
neurological thingies
ear, nose, and throat stuff

you are not going mad

i've had decreased vision since my dx (presbyopia -- "aged eyesight" -- ain't that a treat!), and i've also gotten osteoporosis (i broke my hip, and i hold my GP completely to blame b/c my bone scan plummetted and he said the equivalent of "ho hum"; you may want to check into that also) ...

and as usual, midwest is absolutely right ...

good luck

jb

~~ glad your mum's in remission; i'm sure you had a lot to do with that

... while my mum was ill, i developed symptoms (i now know tha pancreatitis can be one), and after she died, i really crashed ...

patience 50 · 01-17-2005, 10:14 AM

I'm a little late getting to this as I have not been on thyroid boards for a while. For the most part I have been staying on the lupus boards as I was recently dxed with a form of that.

I'm jumping in here because my Rheumatologist said something really interesting last week. He said that loss of estrogen in many women can be like low thyroid. Estrogen, like thyroxine, effects all of us as our bodies are uniquely created for this special mix of hormones.

He specifically mentioned that many women develope thyroid problems as they enter perimenopause and their estrogen begins to slowly drop off. I only mention this because you said you were 45 and therefore in the prine age for perimenopause. It seems there is a school of thought that believes that our unique combination of hormones, with high levels of estrogen, protect us for many years from some things like Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. When these levels begin to decline, here come the problems. After that it can become a nasty circle, of high estrogen, low estrogen, high thyroxine, low thyroxine, like that. He said the list of symptoms associated with these highs and lows can be never ending.

I have never heard it put like that before but I suppose it makes some sort of sense. Good luck to you and I hope you get some answers soon.

May God Bless and Keep Us All
Patience 50

kiya · 01-17-2005, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midwest1

I hope some of our UK members will pop in here to give you advice about navigating your health system, which is quite different from that in the US.

Usually in the UK an NHS doctor will send you for the following test if they suspect thyroid problems - TSH. The lab will only do the TSH test unless it is outside of normal range (varies from place to place). If it's outside normal range, then they will also do a free T4. Apparently they used to do both routinely, but now don't. I don't really get the NHS and I work for them!!!

When a GP decides other tests aren't needed, it can be hard to find somewhere which will do them for you - as even private practitioners need referrals from NHS GPs.

There are private practitioners out there however, which will order the test for you and give you a list of places you can have the test taken.

Good luck with the test Piglette.