Thyroid levels

[Itsallkickingoff]

Im really confused about what is a normal thyroid level and was hoping someone with more experience than me might know the answer. Me and dh have been ttc for about 8 months now and I'm feeling pretty fed up. In the past we have gotten pregnant pretty quickly. We did conceive in feb but it was a chemical and I started bleeding at around 5 weeks.

Anyway I decided to get the gp to run some blood tests including for thyroid levels as I have been feeling sluggish and have been suffering from some carpal tunnel syndrome and also worried this could be an issue affecting my fertility. I got the results back today TSH was 2.05 and free t4 level was 16.1 pmol/L. Now for the gp these were in a completely normal range, but from what Ive read on the Internet gps are not always completely clued in on what are optimal levels, especially for ttc.

So my question is are my levels ok or should I see someone else, I can go privately if needs be? Thanks for your advice

Hey - I'm looking at my results now which i got this week as it runs in my family. TSH - 1.60mu/l and next to it, it says normal range is 0.30-4.20 .
My t4 level is 13.8pmol/l and it says normal is 9.0-19.0. So you look like you are bang in the normal range. I got a private consultant to look at them and she confirmed my levels were normal. I honestly think your levels look ok.
I hope that helps!

Hi both, normal ranges are totally skewed in this country so you are right to question them however both of your results are what others fighting for changing the results would call normal. Anything too far over a tsh of 2 I would monitor as it might be going in the under active direction, but right now both of you are fine in terms of thyroid levels in imo. I like to keep my TSH around the 1 mark but 2 is definitely not under active yet.

Good luck with everything!

Thanks for your replies, but this is what confuses me, on the one hand everyone says 2 is fine, but On the other they all want their levels to be nearer to 1. So is it fine or not? Should it be lower?

The NHS clinical knowledge summary says this:
"Aim for a TSH concentration in the low-normal range (0.4 mU/L to 2.0 mU/L) and an FT4 concentration in the upper reference range."
Clearly you are only a wee bit above, but how are your other symptoms? Would you be able to ask for a small increase in order to see if that brings you below 2?
Remember if you do get pregnant you should have your dose increased (usually by 25mg) immediately.

I haven't been diagnosed with hypothyroidism as my levels seem to be within norms, so I have no medication to increase.

Ah I see. GP may be reluctant to start you on the medication as it's a life-long thing, but you might feel better on some thyroxine. I know if T4 was 16 I feel pretty crap, I need it to be 18-20.

Hi Easter as it seems you are a fellow thyroid suffer, how do you address T4 without TSH? My TSH is 0.03 so it's clear I don't need to up my 125mcg daily dosage but my T4 is 16.6.

Itsallkickingoff I agree your GP would be reluctant to give you any medication on that level and really at the moment you are definitely not underactive and I would say (hopefully) a TSH of 2 is probably not affecting your ability to conceive. BUT keep a careful eye on it and make sure if it starts to go in an upwards direction you speak to someone about addressing it.

It's really hard, a lot of the time GPs won't treat you until you have a TSH of 5 or more. I had the same thing when I first fell ill and spent two years very ill before I was treated. Recently my TSH went up to 3.85 and I felt like I was walking through mud. At 2 though I would probably feel ok. But like I said, have regular blood tests and make sure they tell you the actual figures rather than just telling you 'it's normal'.

Freelacegirl I'll PM you.

Freelacegirl I'll PM you.