Right, have just had a high TSH (thyroid) test. Come and tell everything I need to know?

[WilfShelf]

This was as part of a general wellbeing check. TSH (whatever TF that is) was apparently v high: at about 6.something...

But the other two tests for thyroid stuff were normal... I am going back in another month for a repeat test with antibodies (?)

Thing is, I'm not sure I have any symptoms: sure, I'm tired and my concentration lapses and I'm overweight. But frankly I just put this down to being, um, a fat, tired working mother of 3 kids! My hair isn't falling out (any more than normal - it has pretty much always fallen out in handfuls, and there is no thinning), my skin is normal, blah blah blah. I do have some anxiety issues but I've ALWAYS had those...

Is it possible to have an underactive thyroid with no symptoms, or am I just 'missing' them and assuming they're normal? Or could this be a rogue result?

I'd also be grateful for more info on treatment and latest knowledge and where I can find out more before I go back to the GP (forewarned is forearmed and all that)

And mostly, do I need to be worried?

Thanks!

Don't know if I can help much Wilf, I'm not sure about whether you can get rogue results.

here is a link to some of the symptoms. I've got underactive thyroid and didn't have hair loss. Like you I had weight gain, extreme tiredness, poor concentration. I also had a croaky voice.

So - don't think you necessarily get everything,
I don't think you should be worried, I take levothyroxin every morning, and will always have to, but it doesn't seem to have any side effects, and has made me generally feel better. (although I haven't managed to shift the extra weight yet.)

Hi. After I had DC3 I started having the odd funny palpitation and saw my GP. She tested me for thyroid problems but didn't think it was likely. I turned out to have a TSH of nearly 80. My T3 and T4 levels were also very dramatically wrong, and I had a very high level of anti-thyroid antibodies. My thyroid had effectively packed up completely, but at the time I had virtually no symptoms.

I think I was lucky that this had happened quite quickly and was picked up straight away by my GP. I gather that if I hadn't been diagnosed and begun to take thyroxine (ie replacing the thyroxine that my thyroid gland no longer produces) I would certainly have started to suffer the symptoms. A lot of hypothyroid symptoms seem to creep up gradually and are the kind of things that I personally would probably put up with for a while before bothering the GP, but which affect your quality of life in subtle ways - tiredness, weight gain, etc. - so yes, you could be missing them or putting up with them when you don't have to.

I think if you are like the vast majority of people with an under active thryoid, you don't have anything to worry about. Most people find that once they find the correct dosage of thyroxine, they have no symptoms at all and just get on with life. And you get free prescriptions for the rest of your life, which is a big bonus!

I have found that my dosage has occasionally needed tweaking, and I also seem to have a secondary complication which again is not serious but just a nuisance.

A lot of people seem to have the symptoms for an under-active thyroid but only borderline blood test results, and struggle to get their GPs to treat them. So in a way I think you may be lucky if you get a clear blood test result and are prescribed thryoxine. There are no side affects if the dosage is correct and you may well find that you feel a lot better than you do now. Good luck!

Thanks for your helpful posts. This was a bit of a shock TBH so am still taking it in. Of course now I know about it, I am thinking up all kinds of things that could be explained here. Would be interested to hear about range of symptoms others have had. I have had what I have always called palpitations as long as I can remember, but lately have assumed this is connected to dehydration...

Is it true that if you start taking the meds you do have to take them forever? Are there other eg dietary treatments?

Yes you do have to take the the meds forever. It is simply replacing what your body is not producing, and as far as I know that is a permanent thing. I think hypothyroidism is usually caused by an auto-immune problem ie. your body's immune system has for some reason attacked your thyroid gland - hence the antibodies that show up in blood tests.

I don't think you can get thyroxine through your diet, but I have read that there are various things that can help - poss with the absorption of the thryoxine - not sure.

This is one condition that you can probably google without fearing the worst! I think there are one or two patient-support organizations (Thyroid UK rings a bell) which might have lots of info.