Questions about Hashimoto's?

I don’t know how he wouldn’t need treatment with Hashimoto’s. He should be in the care of an endocrinologist.
He would need to be on Synthroid to raise his TSh number into the normal range. Without meds he would have a several symptoms, dry skin, depession, lethargic, cold, low heart rate weight gain, hair loss and some others. In women is also causes reproductive issues.
Lifestyle change wouldn’t be much. Blood work regularly. In the beginning till they get his dose correct he would possibly do blood work every 6 weeks. With med adjustments depending on blood work numbers. Once it remains steady it would be every 6 months to a year.

The biggest problem in my area is not enough endocrinologists.  My last one up and closed the practice.  Since things are under control, I haven't gone looking for a new one.  I wouldn't be surprised if there is a wait to get into one. 

I don't have any experience with Hashimoto's but I do have experience with hypothyroid. I have hypothyroid. I got it from my father (it's hereditary) and my grandmother. My sister also has it. Yes, I do agree that instead of just ignoring it your stepdad should have gotten treatment, and maybe meds at the time depending on his condition. 

As far as hypothyroid I must take a thyroid medication every single day. My doctor prefers to treat hypothyroid with a natural form of dissected thyroid like Armour Thyroid or Naturethroid (sp?) rather than using a synthetic version like Synthroid. I agree with this. I was first put on Synthroid and felt no relief but after being treated with Armour Thyroid I felt better. Problem is most insurance companies will only pay for the synthetic versions so I pay out of pocket for Armour Thyroid ($40.00 a month) but to me it is worth it. Without it I feel cold, tired, my hair falls out, I gain weight and I have more brain fog than usual, just like bianca42 although just like she said the symptom range is huge. A great place to learn more about this is stopthethyroidmadness.com  This is a wonderful site with lots of medical and practical information. 

I've seen my share of endocrinologists and I must say that for some reason it is difficult, at least here, to find a good one. So many of them have vast egos and act like it's there way or the highway. They don't listen to their patients. I had one say to me when I complained that my hands are always cold, "Well are they blue? No? Then you are fine." What kind of medical answer is that? I never went back to her as you can imagine. 

What ended up helping me the most is finding an Integrative doctor (this is a doctor who specializes in traditional medicine and also practices alternative approaches). My doctor is a board certified Internist, who happened in the past to study with the writer of the book "Stop The Thyroid Madness" so I lucked out. An Integrative Medicine doctor looks at the body as a whole instead of just looking at the symptom and writing a prescription for that symptom. Mine starts with extensive blood work and then working together (he really listens to his patients) we have a long consultation on how to improve what is bothering me medically. He will use traditional medicine and also prescribe vitamins and herbs in the form of supplements. I've had the best medical care in my life since I found this doctor. For me it works. I went through 10 years of what was diagnosed as "treatment resistant depression" and when finally all of the medication they tried ended up not working my psychiatrist ended up using ECT (electric shock therapy) on me 20 times. It didn't work-nothing worked. My Integrative Medicine doctor did a simple blood test on me and found out I had a genetic disorder called MTHFR that makes it difficult for my body to absorb B12 either from natural sources or from regular vitamins, even shots. If you go on long enough like this your body revolts and eventually you wind up just like I did. Once I started on the correct supplement my "treatment resistant depression" completely disappeared and has never come back. I thank God for this doctor. He literally changed my life. 

I hope your stepfather can find a wonderful doctor to help him too. Good medical help is never cheap in this country. My Integrative Medicine doctor is so in demand he doesn't need to take insurance so he doesn't. I pay out of pocket to see him once a year and it's not easy to fit it into the budget but for me it's worth it. What can be more important than our own health? Good luck to your family and I wish you better health for your stepfather. 

When I was first diagnosed with Hashimotos, my thyroid would swing from high to low on a regular basis. For years. Very often my TSH (thyroid levels) looked quite normal, even though I was exhausted. This is because your thyroid is pumping out a stimulating hormone to increase thyroid function and, for a while, that works. Eventually the whole gland settles into a low function (high TSH). So he should be tested every six months or so to see how his numbers are.

With that said, I never had neuropathy with the hasimotos - not sure if those two things are related.

Mine is monitored by my GP. She sent me to an endocrin dr once when I wanted to be over medicated for my thyroid, which the specialist was more comfortable with. Everyone’s symptoms vary. My dad also has thyroid problems. I heard that if your dad has it then all offspring 100% inherit it but I don’t know if that’s true. In our case, my dad, myself and my only sibling all have it.

My symptoms mostly revolve around fatigue, anxiety, headache type
Pain and sore joints. The last 2 symptoms are why I ended up at the specialist. I couldn’t get rid of the pressure in my head or my join pain. When overmedicated (according to someone’s normal) my pain went away.

Yes, he should be seeing someone about his numbers being out of range. My Endo was a tool, I see a naturopath now who treats my thyroid issues. Yes, you need to find what range is optimal for him, as being in range but not optimal can leave some people still sick.

Also, MANY people who are hypothroid also have low B12. I did have neuropathy from being hypo but starting a mega dose of a sublingual B12 made that go away. Also I told my mother in law that after she was diagnosed hypo and she said it really helped her neuropathy, which she thought was a side effect of her Raynauds and didn’t think would ever improve. I’d suggest trying B12 as it cannot hurt, your body naturally passes any excess you do not need.

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's due to a goiter. I saw an endocrinologist yearly and never received any treatment as my ranges were normal. I never felt I needed any treatment.

5 years later I was diagnosed with Stage 1 thyroid cancer (caught early because of my frequent endocrinolgist visits and ultrasounds). I had a total thyroidectomy and now take synthyroid daily.

I see an endo every 6 mos and take generic Synthroid. My gp was very laissez-faire about my thyroid issues, but my endo is an awesome dr. For many years I had a variety of issues that I feel were misdiagnosed. At 55 I feel much better than I did in my late 40s.

I learned about Graves disease from your posts!
United Healthcare gave us less than six weeks notice they would no longer cover Synthroid. I managed to get a refill before the change, amd will learn what's next this week with my endo appointment. I am so annoyed!

The generic of Synthroid- levothyroxine - has been shown, through research, to NOT be the equivalent of Synthroid and not as effective. It has to be pretty conclusive and indisputable for the military to not prescribe the generic. 

I tried to take levothroxine, but after 6 months and 2 dosage changes, I could not get consistent numbers. I was switched back to synthroid and mg numbers are perfect.

I tried to change to save a few bucks (I pay 10% of prescription costs until we meet deductible). It was not worth the savings.

Synthroid has a discount card that promises your prescription don’t be any more that $25 out of pocket. My endo gave it to me last year when they moved me off generic. Ask yours about it for next time.

Ouch!  That discount card would save you over $600 per year.  👍🏻