If you can!

In many parts of the UK only TSH is available and even then they won’t act on results unless they are 5 or even 10 or more. A friend with private health insurance can get T3 and T4 but NOT CRP or VLDL, the labs simply do not have the kit for the tests.

Here they are very proactive with thyroid and find hypothyroid regularly (and treat it aggressively) but the GP I asked stated she had no clue if this was related to any local factors (such as extreme longevity or dietary factors) as there were simply no results from many other locations to compare. Said friend actually had to move in order to get her severe hypothyroid fixed. This is appalling but not uncommon. Equally common I suspect with fibro.

It is important to remember that TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone. TSH may help determine pituitary function but it is a lousy test to determine thyroid function. Always test free t4 and free t3…make sure it’s free. You need to always test both antibodies since hashimottos is the most common and fastest growing autoimmune disease. If you have not checked your frees and antibodies and know where you’re in range, then you most certainly have not checked your thyroid levels. In many cases, primary/secondary adrenal insufficiency goes right along with hypothyroidism and that must be checked as well.

Remember, in some doctors minds(ok.. most), “in range” means “normal”. “Normal” does not mean healthy or optimal. Symptoms are more important than labwork, period.

Since “chemical imbalances” are actually hormones, I think it’s a good idea to check, don’t you?

Some of the symptoms of depression relate to reduced levels of certain neurotransmitters. Some of them relate to cortisol. Some “treatment resistant” depression resolves with thyroxine, even if thyroid levels do not *appear* to be far out of range (some hypothyroid patients don’t do well until TSH is around unity, others have TSH in range but T3 or T4 low, yet others can’t control their diabetes until thyroid issues are fixed, etc.)

There’s a whole bunch of interractivity in two adjoining very complex systems. I’m sure fibromyalgia is in there somewhere. Maybe one or several endocrine deficits break the action of the pain and motor nerves, or the other way round, the nerves which control endocrine release are fritzed.

Whatever, I wish you luck in finding someone who is proactive in dealing with it

I understand your feelings, I am suffering too. There is NOTHING simple about thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary problems. I know from personal experience and the experience of many others that the Dx of fibromyalgia is one symptom of low thyroid and either primary or adrenal insufficiency.
I’ve seen quite a few blood tests where the doc. says they are fine, end of story, when clearly thyroid/adrenal tests are not. The proper tests, in most cases, are not ordered or not properly diagnosed. We have a serious problem here and people are suffering.
I don’t know the cause of your illness and I am not in any way trying to offend. I do my best to help others.

Here are a few facts based on my first hand knowledge, my research, and my experience as a support group organizer.

Many of the people in my support group were very fit and active, not suffering from depression, led full lives, worked hard – basically were of sound mind and body when their symptoms began. In fact FM tends to affect more “type A’ personalities than not.

There are so many things that are illogical about the condition which is why it is so hard to diagnose and treat. No two patients exhibit the same symptoms which leads to the ‘murky’ classification.

I personally choose to manage my symptoms without the use of prescription drugs. I hate that Fibromyalgia has become big business, but I am hopeful that in the end all the attention – good and bad – will lead to a clearly defined disease. Progress is being made constantly to that end.

For those of us that suffer daily with the pain and fatigue, we needed the medical community to find a label for what we are experiencing, because without the label there would be no cause to move forward, to research, and to one day uncover the truths to our condition.

Trust me, their is not a Fibromyalgia patient I know that is not constantly looking/researching/trying new things to improve their health. We are not looking for victimization – we are looking for relief! Crystal I wish it were as simple as low thyroid and adrenal function. We have all been tested for that and so much more. But in the ever costly effort to improve my health, I’ll take that last buck of yours!

These “treatment protocols” seem related to symptom control rather than disease control in the same way that hitting a metabolic syndrome patient with statins and ACE/ARB drugs turns down the symptoms and test results without going back and addressing the cause.

Treatment For Life is after all rather profitable (I’m not saying it doesn’t work, but that looking for a factor which could be addressed permanently would probably be a better plan)