I didn't see a place to list out co-morbidities, so I thought I'd make this thread. Just to give you a list of the other conditions I have that, while treated, have not deleted my symptoms of me CFS. 1. I have Hashimoto's hypothyroidism, which requires me to take Levothyroxine to keep the level of thyroid normal. I take this medication religiously, but I never noticed any Improvement in how I felt. Finally, when I actually went to a specialist in thyroid and other endocrine disorders, he was at least honest enough to tell me "it doesn't matter if you feel better, we just need to keep your thyroid level correct." While I certainly appreciated his candor, it would have been great if thyroid would have fixed the problem. 2. Asthma. I wasn't actually diagnosed with asthma until I was in my mid-40s. This, although I did have asthma in my childhood. It's just that our doctor didn't recognize what mild asthma meant apparently. I think at that time it was mostly allergic asthma, but now since my allergies are everywhere, it's still allergic asthma but it doesn't matter. Because when you're allergic to dust, and mold, and certain trees, and cats, and even mildly to dogs, treating the asthma is Paramount. Unfortunately, again this treatment doesn't exactly ensure that "I feel better." However breathing is cool, and I do like air very much. So I take my meds. 3. Osteoarthritis. This was probably the basis of my learning about pain management. I found out about degenerative disc disease, and spondylolisthesis, and Lumbar fusion surgery. I was lucky, the surgery actually helped my back tremendously. However I think my back Dr is a genius. 4. Glaucoma. One of my Christmas presents on the Christmas of my 60th year, was the diagnosis of glaucoma. I had been monitored for elevated pressure for years, but the fight Hammer finally came down. So, I take the eye drops, every night, because I can't work if I can't see. And I need to work as long as I possibly can, even if it means I sleep every other hour of the day that I'm not working. 5. Myofascial pain disorder. This really opened my eyes on some of the pain I was experiencing. And now I can actually locate my fascia. Even though I have also received a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, I truly feel that I have myofascial pain disorder instead. The fact that people with fibromyalgia are tortured when they try to take a shower tells me that I probably don't have it. However, I will soon be taking the blood test for fibromyalgia just to either get a yes, or a no. I guess I just wanted a definitive answer. There are some other things too, but these are the big five.
Hi Sue, regarding your thyroid issues: I didn't improve with T4 intake alone, too. I convinced my doctor to give a try of an addition of T3. I have a conversion problem of ft4 to ft3, and I think this is not so uncommon. Before taking T3 I already took Selen for several years, and iodid for some time. I had some improvements with this approach. (On a quick search I found this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28855267 There was a very good paper I don't find anymore...) I've just read B12, iron (Vit. D, Vit. B6, Vit. B2, zinc, Mg) are also needed for the conversion of ft4 to ft3.