Dear Diana, I wonder if you are taking other medications (besides thyroxine)? Sometimes they can influence FT3 levels. Thyroxine requirements tend to decline as we get older, so it is not surprising that the dose of your thyroxine required readjustment. The levels of thyroid hormones in people on th...

I don't think your symptoms are directly linked to hypothyroidism. Some forms of arthritis (eg rheumatoid) are commoner in people with autoimmune thyroid disease disease. An even commoner cause is osteoarthritis (wear and tear of joints). If you have not consulted your GP yet, it would be a good nex...

hypothyroidism slows down transit through the large bowel and can cause constipation. Gastroparesis is a dramatic combination of symptoms from failure of the stomach to empty and is not associated with hypothyroidism. It is encountered most frequently in clinical practice in patients with long-stand...

Dear Bonni, the evidence suggests that if there is a history of thyroid cancer, the serum TSH is best kept below 0.1mU/L. Higher levels of serum TSH are associated with a higher risk of recurrence of the cancer over a long period of time. This risk however, needs to be reassessed after 1-2 years fro...

I really do not think so. Every time the dose of thryoxine is changed, it is good practice to repeat the thyroid blood tests 6-8 weeks later to see if the new dose is right. If you have not havd that done, you should bring it up to the attention of your doctor.

I am little unclear as to whether yuor diagnosis was hyper- or hypothryoidism. I cannot think that there is a real link here with the pain in your feet. Both hyper- and hypothyroidism can cause weakness of the muscles of the thighs and shoulders, but this recovers with treatment after a few months. ...

Dear Steve, I was interested to hear your story. It is difficult to comment on what may be a complex problem, but I have to say if a person has unexplained symptoms and the clinical examination is normal and a full thyroid profile (by that I mean serum TSH and FT3/FT4 levels) is entirely normal, it ...

An underactive thyroid in the mother, in the early stages of pregnancy can affect the baby's brain development, though not every baby is affected. There is an association between preeclampsia and an underactive thyroid, but it is not certain that teh thyroid underactivity causes pre-eclampsia. The d...

Dear Carolyn,
I was interested to hear of your experience. I wonder how you decided that your symptoms were due to hypoglycaemia? Hypoglycaemia in non-diabetic people is exceptionally rare.

Dr P Perros