Hi, i'm new here. I was attracted when i saw how much you guys seem to know! I thought, i've got nothing to loose.
Anyway, I'm 18 years old. For the past two years i have suffered with horrible anxiety, it stopped me from doing the things i liked, going out and seeing friends ect. I lost a lot of weight, noticed heart palputations and an irregular heartbeat. In good moments i would get giddy, and i had a lot - Sorry, have a lot of trouble getting to sleep. It took me ages to gather the courage to go see a doctor, but i did on several occasions...
1.) The first doctor, seemed to resent me being there, was less than useful and offered nothing other than the advice "Get over it"
2.) Nice lady, she refereed me to a Cognitive Behavioural Psychologist for my anxiety, this seems to help me when i see him, but hours or days after i flare back up again.
3.) Same lady, several occasions and still nothing.
4.) Last week, i asked to see a new doctor, this lady said she thought it could be hyperthyroidism, there was no beating around the bush and she booked me in for a blood test. The test was 8 days ago and they still don't have my results back yet.
My question is, how likely is it that this is hyperthyroidism? Is it treatable or just manageable? How long should the test results take to come back, should i be worried - I am, i just want to know if it's justified
I've sort of got my heart set on Hyperthyroidism, two years i've been suffering with this, not a day has gone by that couldn't have been better if i'd been well. If this is just anxiety then i think i really need help, because it's affecting my heart and just ruining my life. I also heard this can cause a heat phobia? Because i suffer with a horrible heat phobia (It's hot right now and i feel closed in and sick if i think about it for too long) I try to distract myself... Story of the last two years of my life actually...
Sorry for the reason you're here but, glad you found us.
The only way to know if you're dealing with hyperthyroidism would be to evaluate not only your TSH results but, your FreeT4 and FreeT3 results.
Hopefully, your doctor ran these tests for you (TSH alone is not enough although some doctors would like to believe this).
I'm not sure where you're located but, I often get my results back the day after the blood draw. Some tests can take a little while longer but, not much.
Hyperthyroidism is treatable. Most often, taking anti-thyroid drugs is all that's needed.
Once you get the blood results back, please post the results here and we'll show you how to interpret them. You'll need to post the reference ranges for each result since they vary from lab to lab and your result can only be properly interpreted within the context of your lab's ranges.
Thanks for the reply, I live in Lincolnshire in the UK. As far as i'm aware my doctor only ordered the TSH test, there were a few other routine tests as well, since it was my first blood test. There was a FBC and Kidney and Liver function tests.
I'll be phoning them later to see if my results are through, hoping they should be, it's been 10 days. I've got this nasty feeling they will tell me it's normal. Really hope not, i won't know where to go from there...
If the results come back as normal should i go back and ask for the Free T3 and Free T4 test?
I will tell you this much, TSH is usually below-range when a person is hyper (and it can sometimes be below-range when the person is hypo)
It's usually not "normal" (in-range) when a person is dealing with hyperthyroidism.
But it can be "normal" (in-range) when a person is dealing with hypothyroidism.
Even though your symptoms sound hyper, people have been hypo with similar.
Unfortunately, the NHS doesn't seem to like to run the FreeT3 test so, I hope you're at least able to get a FreeT4 test (and maybe a Total T3 test).
Blood work came back, it was just described as 'normal'. No actual values, and the nice doctor i found who was willing to run the tests i needed has left leaving me with only the "Reassurance squad" It's probably nothing is not a diagnosis.
Hi TD,
Just wanted to jump in here and say that blood tests hardly ever reveal anything. If you feel your symptoms fit a thyroid problem then do not give up. I am not sure how the medical process works in England, but do you have the ability to see someone else?
Hi TD, I'm in a similar position to you so can sympathise. If I was you i'd suggest you go back to the doctors and insist on seeing a print out of your results, they can get a bit funny but your entitled to see them. I was absolutely amazed when I asked to see my results and found my Free T4 level was below "normal" range yet the doctor and apparently an endocrinologist had passed it as all "normal" and no further action need be taken. I've been having symptoms for years and have had tests before and everything has always come back as normal!
A lot of doctors seem to take figures and ranges as gospel and totally disregard the symptoms, is far easier for them to say it's normal than to investigate further and get down to the bottom of things.
From now on if I have any tests taken i insist on seeing the results! Unfortunately you have to really push a lot of doctors these days. As has been said don't give up!
Hi there, I'm at the doctors tomorrow morning, i will ask for a printout of the results and see where that takes me. It's a new doctor tomorrow, not sure how much luck i'll have...
Wish me luck anyway, and i'm sorry to hear you are experiencing the same symptoms as me, you have my sympathy.
The following user gives a hug of support to TD888: sammy64 (07-31-2012)
Hi there! I spoke with my doctor and we agreed that the symptoms matched those of an anxiety disorder, i agreed to take some antidepressants for a while to see if things improved. Today is day 17 of the meds and i'm feeling good, a lot better than i was.
That's the problem with this disorder, the symptoms point you to something physical when it might be something mental. Look into GAD (Generalised anxiety disorder) if your results all come back normal, it causes a lot of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism such as anxiety, depression, irregular heartbeat, palpitations all that for often no apparent reason.
I think we often want it to be something physical such as hyperthyroidism, because if it's physical we can treat it, but it's harder to come to terms with a mental condition like GAD and it's harder to treat, my advice to anyone who thinks they might have it is to just get help with it, the sooner you get help the sooner you can start to feel better! I'm annoyed that i held out for so long before getting help, and i kept looking for a physical problem, the problem was just caused by me, i lead my life in a way which caused me to crash, i was always going to crash and it might just be the best thing to happen to me, because now i know.
"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up" - Cheers Michael Caine
Denise
