Tsh levels

strshllw84

I'm not sure if this is the right category but I have a question about TSH levels...

I was previously taking medication for hypothyroidism and stopped taking the medication before the summer for no real good reason. Well I have my annual checkup this week so they asked me to get my levels checked. It was 4.39, my actual appt is tomorrow so I will obviously be talking to them tomorrow about the results but as far as I know that is in a normal range...
Does anyone know what can cause elevated tsh levels and then normal levels without taking medication?

BLCopelan

That is high normal and I think they treat if it’s above 3.0 now. Certainly is your choice at that level to monitor. Usually people feel much better in the 1-2 range.

Gisel2015

Stopping medications for hypothyroidism is not smart. It can really cause a lot of health problems later on. You should talk to your doctor, evaluate any present symptoms (if you are in MFP you probably need to lose wt.). You also need to have a more complete thyroid panel. What are your T3 and T4 values?

strshllw84

Gisel2015 wrote: »

Stopping medications for hypothyroidism is not smart. It can really cause a lot of health problems later on. You should talk to your doctor, evaluate any present symptoms (if you are in MFP you probably need to lose wt.). You also need to have a more complete thyroid panel. What are your T3 and T4 values?

Yes I am on here because I need to lose weight, obviously. They only left the tsh levels on my voicemail so I'm not sure what the other levels were. And I am well aware that I shouldn't stop taking thyroid medication. But before I had my son I hadn't taken the medication in years and they told me my thyroid was perfect after being diagnosed with hypothyroidism with many symptoms... I had no real symptoms this time when they put me on meds other than I was tired and the tsh levels were high. They put me on meds and I was still tired. Like I said I will be talking to my doctor about it today. I was just curious if anyone had a similar experience.

crackpotbaby

Thyroiditis can cause transient disruption to thyroid function/hormone levels.

madwells1

My levels were around 4.4 for about 8 years and I felt like poo -- and I had gained a lot of weight almost immediately at the beginning of this spell.

All the doctors I went to said that the reason I felt bad was because I was fat. Of course, they always said my TSH was below the cut so I was fine.

Last annual physical, my levels went up to 9 in the course of a year, and I started getting treated through my GP and an endo.

Now, I am around 1.5, and feel better than I have ever felt in the past ten years. My endo says that some people do better lower, and that I may have been around this level (1.5) my whole life and should have been treated around 4.5.

Moral of the story, listen to your body and find a doctor that will listen to you.

dwilliamca

Ask your doctor for a full thyroid panel.

Bianca42

I'm in that range right now and struggling to get my numbers lower. I feel like crap and my hair is falling out to the point I've got bald spots...plus all of my diet and exercise effort is going to stopping the weight gain instead of losing.

Stopping the medication is probably what caused the elevated levels. It's a little counter-intuitive, but you increase your dosage to bring your numbers down.

mahil05

Hi, it takes a lot of time for your TSH to get to the right levels as your body adjusts to the medication. I started at 50mcg and worked my way up over 2 years to 125mcg of Levothyroxine. I was very bad until I got there. I could not exercise and felt fat and tired all of the time. Along the way every time I was given a dose increase my TSH would correct itself over 3 months then go up again over the next 3 to 6 months. At 125 mcg I felt right. Weight came off and I felt I could exercise. To deny yourself the medication is not very clever.

Psychgrrl

Different labs use different standards. The diagnosis can be had with a TSH of 4.0 (used to be 5.0), though some labs use 3.0. Mine uses 4.0. But my doctor listened to me about my symptoms and continued to adjust dosage while I was in the normal range. Because ... well ... it's a normal range.

The full thyroid panel is a good idea. Most doctors supplement with T4 (synthroid, levoxyl). However, your body is supposed to convert T4 into T3. Some folks (me) don't do a good job of that. Therefore, I'm on a T3 as well. The studies are mixed regarding impact of T3 supplementation on overall TSH levels, though most note an improvement in patient quality of life.

If you're having hair loss issues, be sure you're getting enough protein, iron and biotin. Hair loss is a side effect of hypothyroidism, however, any nutritional deficiencies will make it worse. Considering asking for iron (full panel) testing as well.

marieyoung07

Make sure you are seeing a specialist first of all. And it will take you you several months before you get on the correct dose. In my experience it took 18 months before I was on the correct dose. But now my levels have evened out finally and I can exercise and I am finally losing weight. But don't stop the meds that is very dangerous.