What is causing my hair loss and fatigue?

[conseco70]

I am a 26 yr old female, with no prior medical history. I am a vegetarian, although I do get fish/eggs/soy in my diet. I have been battling with extreme fatigue, which has progressively gotten worse over the past year. I have also had moderate hair thinning, which has gotten pretty bad. I finally got some blood work done this week. It appears my ferritin levels are low, and my TSH is a little high. I know that low ferritin and hypothyroidism can cause similar symptoms. Which do you think is causing the hair loss/fatigue and what should I be doing about it?

Here are some of my lab results:
Thyroid:
T3 32%
T4 7.3 UG/DL
T7 2.35
TSH 12 UIU/ML

Ferritin 23 NG/ML
WBC 5.8 K/UL
RBC 4.10 M/UL
Hemoglobin 13 G/DL

[John Kenyon, CNA]

Hello -

While your ferritin level is toward the low end of normal (and so you are more likely to be lower in iron than you may need to be), your TSH is significantly elevated, and strongly indicative of hypothyroidism. Since the symptoms of hypothyroidism are more clearly defined than relative iron defeciency anemia (IDA), it seems extremely likely your hypothyroidism is responsible for the symptoms you describe, and that you would probably see a marked improvement once placed on thyroid replacement therapy. After that is accomplished, your iron levels could be retested and, if necessary, fine-tuned. I have very little doubt, however, that the symptoms are primarily due to low thyroxin levels.

Synthroid or some generic equivalent should probably be instituted at an appropriate level soon.

I hope this is helpful. Please follow up with us.

[conseco70]

I wrote earlier after having my thyroid panel done, and finding my TSH to be at a 12. I tried taking natural supplements for 3 months (Thyroid Complex), and my TSH went down to 8. My T3 and T4 were within the normal range, although my T4 was on the low end of normal.

I took those new lab results to my doctor, and she started me on 100mcg of Levoxyl. I'm hoping that we have the dosage correct right from the start and I'll start regaining my mental clarity, energy, and hair! I'll update if there is any news.

[John Kenyon, CNA]

Hi again -

It sounds as though you've found your culprit. Hopefully the Levoxyl does the trick (it should). We'll look forward to an update once it's had a chance to work. Thanks for the followup.