Hi Sue
I most definitely get high water retention from too much oestrogen. Now whether that is because I am also hypo or not I don't know. As you are hypo and have the same effect, it might be linked.
Yes Sue - we are similar in our reaction to oestrogen as regards fluid retention, but I think mine is probably minor in comparison with how yours sounds. On a higher dose of oestrogen I can easily see I retain fluid as my jeans are tighter on thighs & tummy/hips, but that's fine as I'm slight, though I don't like the feeling of sluggishness than comes with fluid retention in hypothyroidism. Also, as it tells me metabolically I'm under par it's a worry. My understanding is that oestrogen can cause even otherwise healthy women to retain fluid, but given you & I are hypothyroid, we know oestrogen raises TBG, effectively reducing our active thyroid hormone & an underactive or under-treated thyroid can give rise to fluid retention, I think we are probably more prone to retain fluid than some, until our thyroid status is corrected to be well balanced with our oestrogen levels.
I am struggling to walk so much at the moment. I'm going to have to do something. Last evening I walked to from my work unit across a yard and over the road to the canal to feed the swans. Then back. On the way back my lower back hurt, my front thighs were hurting and my legs would only move slowly. I could not force them faster. My walking pace is a snails pace. I put that down to thyroid.
I don't have probs walking, in fact I'm lucky to be able to walk briskly for an hour a day, so that you're so fatigued, from what you said earlier your legs & feet are so uncomfortable & swollen & so badly affect what you can do, must be horrible for you, to say the least.
My meds - HRT & thyroid are all at much lower doses than yours, but if I remember rightly from when we've chatted in the past, we're quite different physically as I think you're tall & I'm quite small.
My last blood test came back with 1650 (or similar) pmol/L for oestrogen
Your oestradiol result is also very high compared with mine. Mine was under 300 when last tested, but I don't know your age or stage in menopause - I'm 9 years post & regardless, individual sweet spots as regards HRT can vary so much. But I'm thinking here about the extent of your fluid retention & how that might be related to the high oestrogen, given you're hypothyroid.
Today I am feeling fuzzy, light headed and very tired. So that's not great. Also requiring the fan as I'm too hot.
Imagine you're taking the Utro orally this time, for fear of it being too great a dose for the uterine lining with a Mirena in situ? As with you, Utrogestan makes me far too hot (& horribly hyper feeling). But progesterone is known to raise body temperature.
I was put onto combination Levo and T3 in November last year and so far all that has happened is that my Free T4 and Free T3 have dropped lower! Bonkers.
Yes, it's difficult to know what's going on here isn't it? Other than problems with absorption. That's why I asked what your Endo said about your thyroid levels, given you're on quite a high dose of both hormones. And the reason for asking whether you'd tried GF - to see whether any gastric inflammation could be hindering absorption. But you've already ruled that out with a long GF trial some time ago.
I am experiencing a bit of acid reflux in the evening. This was never the case before the progesterone experiment!
Yes, possibly because progesterone is a smooth muscle relaxant.
Endo looked at thyroid results a couple of weeks ago and said "Oh you need more". He's good. He gives me a few ideas, warns me and gives me the prescriptions I need to experiment. I think I realises I'm well versed in thyroid treatment. He has given me a prescription for 6 months of T3 at 40mcg a day and told me to be careful of heart rate and to keep my eye on things. He knows I do my own regular tests. The heart rate thing is difficult because of the atrial fibrillation. It has given me a high heart rate so I don't have a lot of room in that metric.
No, indeed & that must complicate the clinical picture & management of the various conditions considerably for you. Are you still under Cardiology & are you & they sure the fluid retention isn't related to the AF? It must be a worry that you need T3 with AF, for sure. Also, I wonder has anyone tested your renal function recently?
You say it was only a couple of weeks ago your Endo said you need to up your thyroid replacement - so presumably there's room for improvement in your symptoms as the weeks go by? I don't know about you, but although I can feel a difference after 7-8 days, it takes about 8 weeks before things level off with me.
I have this nagging little voice at the back of my head that says "what if you aren't hypo at all? What if you are making everything worse by taking medication for a disease you don't have?" This is mostly because it was diagnosed by the doctor at the original HRT clinic. But TSH was over range, so it's probably right.
Sue, have you had a heart to heart with your Endo about this? Did you have thyroid antibodies at time of the TFT that led to your being medicated for hypothyroidism?
I hope nothing I've said here is insensitive Sue, I know how clued up you are & I'm not questioning your knowledge of your conditions, but you've been having a protractedly horrible time of it, I
am concerned about you & given we're both hypo (mine goes back 27 years) & on HRT, I hope it might help, if only a little to thrash things out as best we can.
Wx