I am cold all the stinking time. I have to wear a thick coat and I am still cold. Could that be due to my thyroid?

It certainly could be. My daughter and my mom both have hyopthyroid and I am flirting with it myself now. Neil had it after the rads were over for a year. I understand that sometimes it takes awhile for the gland to suffer from the radiation. He was put on a low dose synthetic hormone and that seemed to help with the symptoms. His was found during the bloodtests he was having prior to chemo.

Brrr - I remember freezing all the time. My CCC doctors all said it was just a side effect of the TX and would get better. While my CCC doctors were top notch on Cancer, for related issues like Thyroid - "not so much". I froze for two years, even in summer, and kept a winter coat on in air conditioned places yet I was constantly told: "Your TSH levels are normal" and I did not ask for the actual numbers or test results. Turns out however there is controversy over what is the right TSH level with labs having a 5.5, a 4.5 even though endocrinologists who went to Medical school in the 21st Century consider 3.0 as the highest acceptable level. Before TX, I had a TSH of 1.6 and after TX it shot up to 4.3. Now that I am "on the pill", I am finally warm again.
Charm

Angelia: I second what Charm said!! I can't believe how frozen I was and am now on thyroid pills - FINALLY. I believe if it wasn't for a few minutes that an intern spoke with me, this would never have gotten caught. In general conversation she picked up my symptoms and put them together. In Canada, complaining of being "cold" doesn't exactly raise any eyebrows!!

My GP however is one of those that Charm talks about who thinks that they just need to bring the level down within the "normal" range and not back to the pre tx 1.6 level. Thank God I have the baseline. I will be pursuing this with my RO and GP, but I am early in taking medication for this problem and apparently it takes awhile to get the levels correct. I will, thanks to this forum (and Charm of course) pursue this until I feel better.

Definitely look into it.

Donna

My husband complained of always being cold. One of his doctors ran a series of blood tests and determined that he was hypothyroid due to his treatments. Ask your doctor test your thyroid function if he has not done it recently.

Donna,

That was one of my symptoms before I was Dx'ed with hypo. I now take a one a day pill but since I didn't have a pre Tx TSH level to compare my current readings to I still wonder if I am being given the proper dosage.

This is from 2006, but shows the problem:

http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/tshtestwars.htm

Isn't it amazing that 7 years ago the recommendation was to lower it to 3.0 as the high range and that Pete's article was 4 years ago, yet most cancer doctors have not gotten the word. (or if they know about it, just smugly rely upon their medical school training from the last century )
I can't believe that the CCCs do not all take pre-TX TSH blood tests as part of standard practice which then leaves the majority of patients in DavidCPA's situation. I had to leave my CCC and get an endocrinologist who went to medical school in the 21st century to get treatment.
charm

Hows your blood counts? It could be anemia. My blood levels have never returned to normal after getting chemo 3 years ago. That can make you feel lousy and cold.

I was cold the last 2 summers and slept covered with a sheet and lite balnket. Now I just sleep as born and am comfortable. LOL. I thank the workouts I do for the change altho I could be wrong. yes David, I can be wrong. LOL J/K.. Jerry will be on me for that one.

I refuse to discuss your sleeping habits, Jim.

I estimate that it will take weeks of sleepless nights to get that picture out of my head!! Thanks for sharing that Jimbo.

LOL.. but I am so cute when...

Back on topic. Thyroid could be one but IMO weight loss is the biggie. Having a wife that weighs barely 100 lbs and is cold all the time, i didn't appreciate what lack of body fat did until I was cold all of the time. We kept the thermostat at 82 degrees for quite a while.

I agree with Gary that losing that protective layer of fat is big factor in being cold. My wife is also very slender at 104 lbs and 5'4" and like Gary, I never really understood just how cold she found "regular" air conditioning until I had to wear a full winter coat inside AC chilled places. I had never really been cold before the Cancer even though I was slender also.
But it became abundantly clear that weight loss just did not account for how cold and weak I continued to feel until I started on the thyroid pill. I don't weigh even one pound more than when I finally got thyroid medication yet I am now warmer than my wife. If my doctors had not all been so quick to blame weight loss for being cold, I could have started being warm and energetic much earlier.
I think there is a synergistic relationship between weight loss and thyroid damage that amplifies the negative effects of each. Like in Math quizzes, both factors of the equation need to be balanced to solve this problem
Charm

If your white count is 2.8 thats probably why you are cold.

Love the math example. You must of known I teach math to middle school special ed kids. UGH. When I have more blood work done, I will ask them to check the TSH levels if they will. They may not since it was not ordered. I go back to one of my many Drs in May and will ask about it then as well, if I remember. darn chemo brain. I even wrote down a list of questions to ask and forgot that at home too. UGH. Both sides of my equations are not balanced yet. Sometimes I wonder if they ever will again.

Most labs keep the blood samples for a week. If it is less than a week, the doctor's office simply needs to call and request the thyroid test INCLUDING TSH level. They must specify TSH because most thyroid tests do not include it.

Take care,
Eileen

I too had a doctor who thought that getting the TSH level into the normal range (<4.0) was sufficient despite my complaints of symptoms.
After several years,I finally self referred to an Endocrinologist and he increased my Synthroid dose to get me down to 2.0. I feel great now.
My hands are no longer like ice, I'm comfortable, my LDL cholesterol has dropped 25 points, dry skin has cleared up...it's pretty amazing.
My oncologist is not an endocrinologist, and neither is my GP.
See someone who handles thyroid issues professionally if you think you have a thyroid issue and your Rad/Onc team isn't addressing it.

Good Health,

Chuck

angelia, I live is southern calif and I was VERY cold for a while. I use to put a space heater in the bathroom just to take a shower. I did not have a thyroid problem, I just lost so much meat, I was skin and bones (almost)I still rarely wear shorts, and always sleep with a long sleeve tee where as I use to sleep "sans chemise". It is getting better. Glad I live here, I would have frozen solid if I lived in the cold country!

Steve