Do you think i'm hypothyroid?, or possibly another illness? -dry irritated eyes!
*LONG POST*
Hello again everyone, thanks for all the help in my past posts.
After no help from my current doctor, I got a refferal to Dr Skinner in Birmingham. I'll be phoning to see if they've got the refferal and to make an appointment soon.
I decided to type up all my problems for when I go so I don't miss anything out. I wanted to post it here to see what you guys think, does it seem likely I have a thyroid issue?, or adrenal issue?, or anything else? any opinions would be great. Like I say in the type-up, my eyes are my big current problem, but because of unsuccessful diagnoses/treatment, and all my past problems, I suspect an underline cause.
"About 5 and a half years ago I suddenly became extremely fatigued. I was soon unable to go to school and spent all of my time resting and sleeping long hours. The symptoms included:
Constant physical and mental fatigue.
Inability to fall asleep, un-refreshing sleep, incredibly easily disturbed whilst asleep.
Extremely poor immune system (I continually got long colds despite rarely going outside)
Intolerance to heat, I had always been abnormally intolerant to heat, and comfortable in far colder conditions then others. But I became FAR more intolerant when I became fatigued, which has led me to believe I may have had an underline medical problem from a young age.
I developed dark purple colouration on the skin under my eyes.
(I am unsure if this is significant, but I also noticed at some point during the illness that urination and bowel movements increased dramatically and continues to this day.)
I think this happened shortly after a virus; however I am unsure as it was quite some time ago. My Doctor did some tests for various causes, when examining I was told multiple times I had swollen glands under my chin. I was also told my white blood cell count was slightly below normal. Nothing serious was found and I was told I had Chronic Fatigue.
This chronic fatigue continued for 4 and a half years, the entire time the illness was severely dehabilitating, I was constantly physically and mentally exhausted at all times. I found it impossible to fall asleep, when I finally did I found it very hard to get up the next day and spent most of the day in bed. I really feel my problems weren’t taken seriously enough were not looked into deeply.
The fatigue slowly began to improve in the later year. 4 and a half years later I had began going to go to college. Mental fatigue/physical fatigue/sleep problems/virus’s still seem to hit me harder than the average person, but nothing major now.
However during the last year of severe fatigue my eyes became incredibly irritated, again after a virus. Prominent red veins formed, the eyes felt dry, tired, burning and were exacerbated by anything such as PC use, reading etc. When they were badly exacerbated they became slightly blurry and I often felt pulsating behind my eyes. The Doctor and eye specialists could not find any big problems with my vision or eyes themselves.
This eye problem has been going on for 18 months now, all the above symptoms are completely persistent and still showing no signs of improvement. My eyes are the big problem now.
Nothing wrong with my eyes themselves has been found. Sometimes I’d be treated for allergic conjunctivitis and other times blepharitis, although my symptoms do not include the most common allergy/blepharitis symptoms such as itching, nor do they water, have discharge, crusting, etc. I even had steroid drops for a period. None of these treatments had any positive effect whatsoever.
Whilst trying to find answers about my eyes, I came across many illnesses’s that could cause dry, irritated eyes. And to my surprise many had other symptoms I had suffered from in the past. None of which I was told about by my doctor or eye specialist. I feel the chance of an underline cause to my eye irritation and/or chronic fatigue has been overlooked by my Doctor.
Recently, I requested thyroid blood tests, my TSH came back at 3.5 which I was told is normal and no further testing is needed. However much thyroid research I have read states 3.5 is abnormal and that I could be Hypothyroid. I’ve spoken to a few Hypothyroid sufferers who stated similar eye and fatigue symptoms to my own. I also asked about a possible dust mite allergy or nutritional deficiency’s but this has not been looked into by my doctor.
(Also, I’m unsure if this is relevant, but for years before my fatigue problems, along with heat intolerance, and slight fatigue, I had a bad chronic cough. I went to the doctor multiple times as it was a big problem, but no cause was found. It eventually faded away a few months before my chronic fatigue began.) "
Re: Do you think i'm hypothyroid?, or possibly another illness? -dry irritated eyes!
A TSH of 3.5 is WAY too high!
What time of day was your blood drawn for this test?
Optimal TSH is low, around 1.0 (or at least BELOW 2.0).
TSH is a pitutary hormone. The higher it is the more your pititary gland is trying to prompt your thyroid gland to make more thyroid hormones (FreeT3 & Free T4).
I bet if they had tested your FREE T3 & FREE T4 they would be at the bottom of the 'normal range' or below.
Optimal for the FREE T's is in the middle to UPPER part of the 'normal range', NOT the lower part.
You need to find a new, better doctor!
__________________
25 years feeling worse every year on Synthroid & 13 months feel good on Armour Thyroid.
Re: Do you think i'm hypothyroid?, or possibly another illness? -dry irritated eyes!
Hey, thanks for the replies.
Yeah I haven't seen Dr Skinner yet and i've heard great things about him, so i'm hoping hes gonna be a great help! Glad I don't have to return to my terrible old doc.
Aswell as the TSH tested, the "Serum free T4 level" was tested with a result of 19 (Range 10-25) pmol/L. So it is in the upper half, however the T3 has not been tested, so i'm suspecting a possible problem converting T4 to T3, I read this is common in "Chronic Fatigue" sufferers who are really Hypothyroid. I haven't included all that in the letter as I hear Dr Skinner is one of the best thyroid doctors in the UK, so I'm sure he'll know what to think of my thyroid results.
And yeah thanks for the help about TSH, I've heard from so many people now that my TSH is too high. I just hope its the cause of my eye problems, so that I can get rid of them!
Re: Do you think i'm hypothyroid?, or possibly another illness? -dry irritated eyes! 
while you have so many Hypo-Thy symptoms ??
