I checked out the stickie's info about symptoms and I noticed dry hair and scaly skin... I'm just wondering if anyone on here had flaky scalp issues?? I rarely use heating appliances and colorist visits are minimal (and not permanent dyes), but have been having awful problems with dry scalp/dandruff (not sure which one).

I'll be getting some blood work done shortly as I've been having some other symptoms (hair loss, fatigue, sensitivity to cold, forgetfulness, lack of concentration) too.

My last complete blood work was done in late 2003 and my TSH was 1.11, not indicative of hypothyroid. I'm wondering, if I am hypothyroid now, what kinds of things just spark it! (Never been pregnant).

Thanks for putting this info on here!

Sherry

Well, aging seems to play havoc with thyroid in women. But I think the biggy is autoimmune thryoiditis, like Hashimoto's. I still have very dry skin even with good thyroid treatment. That is another symptom of gluten intolerance too though. I wonder if perhaps that'll clear up after a few more months. No issues with dandruff though.

Aging... that seems to be the cause of ALL of my problems!

I stumbled across a post where a woman was describing her daughter's itchy/flaky scalp... in the Candida forum! Great! Yeast...just what I need!! Looked over a few symptoms and found some similarities...not sure about the hair loss though. (Hair loss was recent...possibly stress???)

Some people just lose hair when they lose weight. It hasn't ever happened to me though. You should get your thyroid looked into though, because all your symptoms are kind of suspicious. Be sure to get the Free T3 and Free T4 tested too, you might have to fuss to get them, but sometimes it is the only way to see if there's an issue.

Thanks for the reply! I'll DEMAND the Free T3 and T4 tests!! I'm just getting sick and tired of being sick and tired!!

I've had some bad experiences with giving blood...so I'm wondering (and I know every place is different) but in order to run all these tests, did they take a large amount of blood??

No, just one vial for thyroid. Although if you're getting a bunch of other tests they might pull multiple vials. It's like... a tablespoon of blood I've been told. You won't miss it!

Nancy,

After getting some advice from Nawchem a while back. I bought a new thermometer (digital...I know it's probably not preferred...but I can never read the glass ones and I have a history of breaking them) and took my temp this morning.

For the underarm: 1st attempt - 95.8, 2nd attempt - 96.8
For the mouth: 1st attempt - 97.0, 2nd attempt - 96.9

I'm recording this for my Dr.'s appt on the 19th.

If you're going to a regular doctor they'll probably be pretty uninterested in your temperatures. You might just mention you've been monitoring your body temperature and it is low.

Oddly, my temperature didn't really go up once I switched to Armour, except when I felt distinctly hyper, then it was quite high. But when I got off gluten and switched to mostly T4 meds, with only a little armour, it went up. Actually, I should check again, might have just been post-ovulation.

I'm super vain about my hair, well I used to be after having it fall out so much I've gotten over it. When I first started getting hypo symptoms my hair got really tangly and looked like straw. I bought 35 different conditioners, I couldn't figure out what the deal was. My boyfriend accused me of having a conditioner addiction! My face, scalp and hands became dry and my scalp was flakey. On thyroid the hair fallout, hair quality and my skin dryness are the first things that go away. I'm starting to think its when I'm low on T3 that it affects the fast growing cells and my metabolism, energy levels. It seems like being low on T4 is more of the mental fatigue/depression.