Hi~
I have had a slight bulge on the front/right side of my neck for some time. Various doctors have said my thyroid feels "fluffy" but whenever they got blood tests back they always said NORMAL. Most of the time the range for my TSH was on the high side of normal, but normal nevertheless.
Recently, I had some blood work done at my new endos office and my TSH level came back at 6.1 with the upper limit being 4.5. My endo was not in office the day the results came in and I was having blood pressure regulation issues and they advised me to try to see my GP. He helped with the blood pressure but also felt of my neck and went ahead and put me on Synthroid 50. My vitamin D level also came back super low at a 9. GP told me to take 5000 units until my endo could put me on the weekly mega dose.
Several things have me quite confused. Namely my thyroid hurts--BAD. I had a low grade fever tonight and generally feel ill. I just feel awful. I'm confused about whether I have Hashi which comes on gradually (like my neck bulge) but doesn't usually cause pain. Or do I have acute thyroiditis which tends to cause pain.
I see my endo in a week (it was a regularly scheduled appt. 2 weeks from the first) and he had me come in today for a more extensive thyroid panel--repeating some of the same and a couple more for antibodies, etc. At that time, he himself is going to do an ultra sound of my thyroid.
My problem is, I am so uncomfortable, I'm not sure I can wait. I felt so awful and was having so much pain, I almost felt like going to the ER tonight.
Does anyone have an opinion about whether this could be Hashimoto's thyroiditis based on the borderline results and development of the bulge over the years? Or does this sound like acute thyroiditis given the pain, fever, etc? Can you have both?
Thanks for any input. I don't want to over-react or self diagnose, but this pain and ill-feeling have me impatient for answers and curious for opinions.
Your labs most definitely indicate hypothyroidism and, quite frankly, based upon the other information you provided, you were hypothyroid a long while before starting meds.
(by the time TSH rises to even the high side of normal (and high side is too high), the patient has often been hypothyroid for quite some time - possibly years....much better for doctors to be looking at the actual thyroid hormone levels - FreeT4 and FreeT3)
Unfortunately, while levels in the normal range are OK for most types of blood work, they are not OK for thyroid blood work. All too many doctors don't realize this.
Each of us has his/her own "normal" within the ranges of normal thyroid blood work - for most of us, this means TSH 1 or lower and FreeT4/FreeT3 levels towards the high end of the range.
Most cases of hypothyroidism are caused by Hashi's.
The pain you are experiencing is common for hypothyroidism - taking the right dose of thyroid hormone replacement meds will help shrink your goiter (enlarged thyroid) and should help ease the pain.
For the short time, maybe you can ask your doctor for something to help with the pain.
Sorry you are going through this - you came to the right place for answers. Hope you keep us posted as you move forward.
__________________
Dx'd Graves' June 2007..used ATD's, achieved remission Nov '09....went hypo Mar '10
Last edited by cd37; 03-23-2011 at 05:27 AM.
The Following User Says Thank You to cd37 For This Useful Post: JulieRF (03-24-2011)
Thanks for the feedback y'all. It helps a lot to get some advice from others who know what I'm going through and can share their wisdom.
My thyroid didn't feel as stabby and horrendous today, but it felt achey and swollen (I could tell when I swallowed food that it was tighter in that area). I also just felt a little run down/unwell....but less than yesterday. Yesterday I was in tears. I hope I continue to feel better and get some of my energy back.
I wish I could tell if the lower dose of vitamin d was working. My doctor wants me to take the mega-dose 2x/week...wow!
I wonder how many of us have had low vit. D and what symptoms they had initially and changes they noticed after treatment?
I wonder how many of us have had low vit. D and what symptoms they had initially and changes they noticed after treatment?
I had a vit D level of 28 (when it should at least double that) and felt horrible (it's now clear to me that our official intake recommendations of 10 µg a day are quite insufficient...) I had fatigue, muscle ache and weakness, bloating, dizziness... After a couple of months on 50-75 µg (2000-3000 IU) of D3 a day my level was at 69 and I felt tons better. This winter I've been on 60 µg since November and my level was recently 78 so I think this is the amount I'm going to take in the future too during the dark winter time.
I had a vit D level of 28 (when it should at least double that) and felt horrible 
(it's now clear to me that our official intake recommendations of 10 µg a day are quite insufficient...) I had fatigue, muscle ache and weakness, bloating, dizziness... After a couple of months on 50-75 µg (2000-3000 IU) of D3 a day my level was at 69 and I felt tons better. This winter I've been on 60 µg since November and my level was recently 78 
so I think this is the amount I'm going to take in the future too during the dark winter time.
