Hypothyroidism????

fitmom2six

Okay! How good are you at interpreting tyroid test results?

My TSH was 5.2, on the retest it was 4.82. From what I can find online, the normal range is 0.5 to 5.5, so I would fall in the "normal" range. Some would call normal 0.3 to 3.0, that would put me a tiny bit high.

My Free T4 level was 1.15. Online says 0.7 to 2.0 is normal.

BUT my total T3 was 32.2. Online says normal is 80 to 220. Mine, obviously, is MUCH less than that!

My doc is saying everything is fine for now, but wants to recheck in 6 weeks. This is fine with me, but I think I might go to a different doc. I'm not too impressed.

I also don't know if the values I'm finding online are acurate. Anyone have any "normal" values they trust?

sindyb9

I have this as well. I was falling a sleep every where I sat down for more than a min. They put me on meds and do a blood test every six months. After starting the medicine I felt so much better, got more energy and lost 50 pounds. It is good they caught it early. I have no side effects from the medicine at all.

LuvinLife

I have hypothyroidism also. It was diagnosed about 4 1/2 years ago. I had all the symptoms, fatigue, weight gain (couldn't lose a pound to save my life!), dry skin on hands and feet, and missed periods. My doctor caught it because my thyroid was very enlarged. For the longest time I thought I was just crazy and being a hypochondriac too, but when I started missing periods, I knew something was wrong (My tubes are tied, being prego was not much of a probability). Another thing that hypothyroidism can affect is antidepressants. It can keep them from working to their full potential. I noticed a difference after my levels were normal. What is frustrating to me is that another family doc I had almost 15 years ago noticed the enlargement but never did anything about it. I keep wondering if I could have avoided some of this weight gain and depression if it had been caught earlier.

From what my doc said is that in some cases when the thyroid is having production problems, it can enlarge because it is working harder. She said that this enlargement can come and go and can cause your levels to yo-yo. It is good that he wants to do another test in 6 weeks I think. That may be what they are looking for. It took about 18 months to get my levels "normal", but I was still symptomatic so she increased my dose by .25 and that helped LOTS. I am now on 200mcg. Her theory is that I have probably always run on the high end of normal. A year ago, I thought that my levels may have been off again, but they were where we wanted them. She switched me to the name brand Synthroid and that helped tons. She said that some people just process the name brand better. It's more expensive, but worth it to me.

But like everyone else says, little pill everyday for the rest of my life, no biggie. I have heard the taking on an empty stomach recommendation too, but I've done both and don't feel a difference.

I wish you lots of luck on this. It can be very frustrating.

Think happy thoughts!!!:flowerforyou:

songbyrdsweet

Well T4 is converted to T3 before use in the cell, so that T4 will be used. Your doc probably is unconcerned for that reason. T4 and T3 are almost the same thing, except that T3 is much more bioactive, so our cells use that instead of the T4.