Thyroid results???

[ELR]

Hi
I had bloods done recently and gp says I am borderline underactive thyroid so not medicating.
TSH is 6.4 and T4 is 11.9 is this bad/ good?

Thanks

How are you feeling?

If my TSH was at 6.4 I would be insisting on being medicated.

Anything above 4.5 is considered high, and the range is very wide. A lot of people feel like shit with TSH above 2.5.

Your T4 is pretty low too.

The main thing is how you feel. If you are symptomatic with those numbers, your GP is being a dick not to prescribe the medication you need.

Ask for a referral to an endocrinologist. A lot of GPs have some weird mental block about prescribing thyroxine, preferring to blame women for being tired and overweight.

Quite tired have a quick nap in afternoon, headache, feeling cold been very weepy recently. But then I have been very busy recently and I am also anaemic with very low ferritin level due to menoraghia(super heavy periods)that's why they were checking bloods I get them done every 6 months or so due to the anemia. I am same weight I have been for last 10 years! 10st10lb never bloody changes even if I diet. I eat a healthy diet.
DH has been working loads recently due to a big project at work and two very close family members have had relashionship breakdowns and are now suffering with depression, so am sympathy and sounding bored ect ect.
I have DS and dd both at school and I run my own business so just put the tiredness and weepiness down to got a lot on.

Don't really want to have to take medication for rest of my life, do you think levels are likely to sort themselves out again or not? Gp retesting in 3 months.
Xx

Hmm, I'd rather take a tablet every morning than be so tired I needed a nap every day, but I guess we're all different :)

I have no idea whether your levels will return to normal on their own. They might.

It sounds like your thyroid gland is having to work very hard to create a lowish amount of T4.

Remember - starting to take thyroxine is not a life-long commitment. You can come off it again if you want to/your symptoms stabilise.

sorry to hear about your thyroid, and symptoms. it could be combination of both iron and thyroid - i have heard that often after having a baby you can get an underactive thyroid and it takes awhile for the levels to sort themselves out. so you could be treated for awhile to see if it helps, then come off it and you will know if you feel ok again if it has gone back to normal. (i am no expert just did my own reading)

i am in a similar position. i have all the symptoms, doc tested me and it came back slightly low (don't know exact results) i also had high calcium levels awhile back which is also a symptom. but the docs are blaming other things and they won't treat me saying they will 'monitor it'. its very frustrating - i want to try the meds for awhile to see if it helps.

the most annoying thing is having all these symptoms and not being able to do anything about it, and knowing there MIGHT be something that could be done but they won't give it a try to see. good luck! i was just speaking to the doc over phone about my results, but ive made a proper appt on monday so im going to go in and tell them how i feel to see if they'll consider treating me.

what they said to me was that my result was 'nothing to jump up and down about'
well, normal range levels are there for a reason, are they not!?

jan2011

Make sure they give you your actual numbers, not some vague bollocks.

"nothing to jump up and down about"?

You are not well! How fucking dare they trivialise your symptoms like that?

Is your GP any use?

I have a lot of respect for and trust in my GP, he is great at diagnosis but he was still slow to take my hypothyroid symptoms seriously. I really had to push hard.

I would think about changing from a GP who refused to treat me if my results were outside the normal range and I was symptomatic.

Monitoring when your results are bad is just extra months of you feeling crap and performing badly at the things you do.

thanks athing

did you find the meds helped you? my gp has never been helpful tbh - i am considering changing!

The meds made a massive difference to me, most significant being mood - I think I was hell to live with beforehand. Woukd definitely see another GP. Mine is rubbish, but I accidentally saw a woman about this who took everything I said totally seriously.
I don't think of taking thyroxine as taking medication - it's more like putting something back in that ought to be there anyway (if that makes sense? Ie not being "treated", but restoring a balance).

jan2011 - I was put on 50mcg of levothyroxine.

Within a fortnight I felt like myself again (ie not constantly exhausted, able to concentrate) and by the end of the month I was pregnant (I had been TTC 10 months).

The endo said it might take 6-9 months to feel much effect, but it was pretty close to immediate.

That's a nice way of putting it, rooble - putting something back that should be there anyway.

The tablets are a pure chemical copy of the natural hormone T4 so think of it as a straight replacement therapy. The only ball ache is having to remember to take a pill every day, at the same time and avoid taking it with food/drink/other supplements or meds that might prevent proper uptake.

I have just had a look at my new 'bible' which is the book Thyroid Disease: The Facts written by the fabulously named Mark Vanderpump and another bloke. This book is endorsed by the British Thyroid Foundation so no wacky stuff.

The chapter on treating subclinical hypothyroidism suggests that your GP is sticking to the rulebook. It says that the standard approach is to treat when TSH is above 10 (t4 being in a normal range). It also says that where TSH is mildly elevated (5-10) thyroid antibody should be tested and if antibodies are present yearly checks should be made and if TSH goes above 10 treatment should begin.

However, it also says that "in practice, if a person has symptoms that might be associated with those of thyroid underactivity, they are sometimes offered a 3-month trial of thyroxine therapy to see whether they perceive any benefit"

If I were you I would be mentioning that to your GP and asking for a trial. The only risk I can see is that they over-medicate and you become hyperthyroid but this is easily remedied by cutting back the dose. I have been hyper/hypo/up and down like a brides nightie in the last year and frankly whatever the long term effects of that are it has been worth it to get to where I am now ie euthyroid and feeling good.

I would also be checking whether your GP checked antibodies in your last TFT. IF they are present this means that you are more likely to develop hypothyroidism in the future.

I've been on thyroxine since June 2005 and no matter what dose I'm on, I still feel exhausted (recently diagnosed with anaemia and on medication for this now too). So, the long and short of it is, even if you find in a few month's time that you are requiring thyroxine treatment it does not necessarily mean that your tiredness symptoms will disappear...

Any TSH over 3 is abnormal. I got glandular fever years ago and it set off an autoimmune disease that attacked my thyroid. My TSH was only 4.7 and I was on my knees for years at that level - going to bed for two hours as soon as I got in from work, swollen face, weight gain, hairloss - I was 24... I finally went private and got a diagnosis. I take both t4 and t3 and am totally, totally healthy now, 39, two kids since no problems. Its a couple of tiny pills a day, not a problem - go back to the docs.....

"The only ball ache is having to remember to take a pill every day, at the same time and avoid taking it with food/drink/other supplements or meds that might prevent proper uptake."

I didn't know you weren't supposed to take with food.

I normally take mine first thing in the morning, but have breakfast shortly afterwards. Is that OK?

I feel like shit if my TSH goes above 2-2.5

I would be a fat, unemployed couch potato if I had to wait until it went above 10 before being treated

I would not consider TSH of 5-10 to be "mildly elevated" if I was symptomatic.

I take mine whenever I remember. Fluoride interferes so don't take it as soon as you've brushed your teeth is the only thing...

cuold someone kindly explain t3, t4 , tsh and the ranges and levels and what level you are supposed to get treated at - sorry im a bit confused
also where does the level of the parathyroid come in or is the same thing?

Here it comes, Biochemistry 101!

TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is the message that goes from your pituitary gland to your thyroid to stimulate your thyroid to make T4. TSH is not a thyroid hormone at all - it's a pituitary hormone. The higher the result of your TSH test, the more your pituitary is having to work to push the thyroid to do its job. Where I live the range is 0.35 -6, but they vary throughout the country, although not by much.

When stimulated by your pituitary your thyroid makes T4. This is what we replace with thyroxine, which is just synthetic T4. T4 is inactive. It is called T4 because it has, among other things, 4 iodine atoms attached to it. Your doctor will, if you're lucky, measure the free T4 which is going round in your blood. This shows in your results as FT4 and should be in the top third of the range, which for me is 9-26. OP is only a couple of points off the bottom of our range, which is not a good place to be.

The T4 loses one of its iodine atoms and converts to T3, which is the active hormone. Every cell in your body needs it and it is usually lack of T3 in the cells that gives you the symptoms. If you're lucky, your doc will measure your free T3 (FT3), which again needs to be towards the top of the range, which for me is 2.8-7.

If you are low in T4, which OP is, you will inevitably be low in T3 and usually feeling like .

At what level you will get treated depends on the range in your area, the level of knowledge of your doctor, whether you have an auto immune thyroid condition (and a knowledgable doctor) and a whole lot of other variables. I was told quite categorically by one doctor that I did not have a thryoid problem, and on my next visit was put on meds by another doctor. It can be a lottery.

Phew!

D

wow thank you very much! i re read it a good few times to get my head around it, and now i know why i didn't do biology at school lol

but i think now i know what results to ask for at my gp appointment so i have an idea what i should be entitled to treatment wise (and if i should go and get a second opinion on mumsnet )

another thing to consider is that it is hereditary ive heard, and my granny had it - i know she had surgery on her neck cos of it. they should take that into account too.

"At what level you will get treated depends on the range in your area"

And of course that is as ridiculous as it sounds.

If you are symptomatic you need to find a knowledgeable doctor who is more interested in treating patients than in matching up numbers.

They do exist. :)

What you are "entitled to" treatment wise is to feel well and to be listened to.

If you have symptoms, and there is good reason to believe they are caused by your being hypothyroid, then you should be treated, regardless of whether your body responds within the ranges locally considered to be normal.

As I said, I am hypothyroid with TSH much above 2. That is well below the "normal" range where I live (.5 - 4.5) much higher than my normal of about 1.2

athing i am so glad you found a doctor who listened to you. i am going to go in and list every symptom...i might see if dh can come too as he is more assertive than me!

which for me is 9-26.

but in the area I live in the UK it is

13-24

Hi

Can I join in please?

I had 2 lots of blood done and had different results.

1.18 then 0.74 TSH
11.6 then 12.7 T4
4.7 - T3

I have been told by several doctors that these are normal but I can't understand why I just can't lose more than a handful of pounds.

Like I said, ranges vary.

athing more power to your elbow and congratulations on finding a decent doctor.

I too was severely hypo with a TSH of 2.5, but had to fight for treatment. They would have preferred to label me with CFS and put me on the scrap heap!

Instead I am still working - it's not been easy at times, but I'm hanging in there.

D

Don't really want to have to take medication for rest of my life

join the club - I don't know a single person that does want to take medication for the rest of their life but it is better than the alternative