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in reply to: symptoms with normal bloods – maybe this will be useful for anyone else in the same situation #1178549

Hi beauty,

I’m really grateful to you for posting this. I’m going through a really hard time right now. I was diagnosed with Graves’ in 2001 and had my thyroid removed surgically. Since then I’ve been on Levothyroxin. In May I began noticing symptoms I associated with hyperthyroidism: moodiness, extreme irritation, uncontrollable rage when I did get angry, “hot flashes”, heart palpitations and heart racing, lots of trouble sleeping. Normally I exercise a lot and was noticing I was feeling weak and didn’t feel up to exercising as much. I was afraid I was getting depressed, but I couldn’t figure out how depression could move that fast. So, in addition to the other symptoms, I figured it was high time to get my thyroid levels checked.

I’m ashamed to say I never did find a specialist I liked and have just been letting my GP check my levels. She only checked TSH and at the time I didn’t think that was so bad. When I called to check, they told me I should decrease my meds. I did, but ended up “crashing”. Within a week of decreasing from 125 mcg to 100 mcg, I was exhausted and my muscles were very weak. I couldn’t even sit up at my desk for longer than an hour at a time. My stomach and back muscles would get really tired and sore and I’d have to lie down.

Since then, I’ve improved but very slowly. I still have to pace myself and cannot do any “real” exercise (nothing really strenuous, the way I did before). I’ve had a lot of probs with muscle pain, some muscle cramping, and twitching. Needless to say, my GP said flat out that it had nothing to do with my thyroid meds. I insisted on seeing an endocrinologist but he, too, said it didn’t sound like thyroid symptoms!

My TSH was (and had been all along) in the “normal” range, but at the very low end. Turns out my FT3 was noticeably low, but the endo didn’t note that this was not ok.

My TSH is still low, my FT3 is now almost in the “normal” range, though still low. FT4 is slightly below mid-range.

I have no idea what’s going on with me, but I’m 100% positive it has to do with my thyroid levels. My GP also wanted to send me to a psychiatrist. I’m very frustrated b/c no one listens to me and they all act like I’m crazy. Meanwhile, I am starting to get pretty down (not yet depressed) just because I can no longer do the things I love to do!

If you have any thoughts on my predicament I’d appreciate it. Meanwhile, thanks for sharing your story. I know what it feels like to have doctors think you’ve just got psychological problems when really, they just have no idea.

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