Thyroid figures - any experts?

[AllTheBlackCoffee]

I've been treated for an underactive thyroid for almost a year now, going from 25mg of levothyroxine to 100mg as of my last blood test. I had my most recent blood test a week ago and am due to speak to the doctor but the surgery rang me to say no further change needed to my meds and that I should go back in 12 months.

I still feel pretty rotten most of the time and from what I can tell my figures are still nowhere near what they should be. They are:

TSH - 12.90
T4 - 6.62

I get the feeling I'm going to be fobbed off when I speak to the doctor so would like to go armed with some information. Can anyone help?

My latest TSH was 6.2 and I feel rubbish with tiredness and bad dry skin. Just after pregnancy when my thyroid was very controlled, I was down under 1 for TSH and a lot of issues went away.

I'm going up to 150mg for three months to see if that will help reduce the TSH to below 1.

Interesting. I was considering getting a private reading with diagnosis.

I thought the normal range for TSH was under 4 and if trying to conceive it was under 2. So your 12 seems really high to me

I’m not in the UK but my endocrinologist tries to keep my TSH around 2, and definitely under 2 if I’m TTC/am pregnant. 12 seems very high to me. I could be totally wrong but im sure I read that according to NICE guidelines, it’s meant to be under 10?

That’s way too high on the TSH and low on the T4 - push hard against this. It’s no wonder you feel crap. In the UK the “normal” levels are still much worse than elsewhere - in other countries you’d be looking for a TSH under 2. But even by NHS standards, with treatment you should be under 4. Sometimes if you’re not diagnosed they may leave it to go over 10 before starting treatment but once on thyroxine they should be leaving you with those levels.

Shouldn’t be leaving*

This is interesting

According to this page, the “normal” levels are based on an average which includes people with dodgy thyroids! Once they take those people out of the equation (my TSH was around 200 when I was finally diagnosed ) it brings the average down to 2.5, which makes a lot more sense.

I only feel human when mine is nearer to 0 as I have no thyroid function of my own and rely on tablets.

Thanks everyone, confirming what I thought. I will see tpwhat the go says but am at least armed with some details to push back with.