I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's, about a month ago. I had a blood test done in July by my GP, and my TSH levels were 2.7. When my Endo re-did the TSH test in the end of August, my TSH jumped to 3.5 and they told me my antibodies were high, indicating the disease. What's bothering me is they told me they want to wait 3 months and test again. So for now, I'm suffering pretty badly. My hair is falling out in junks, my mind becomes so foggy at night I can hardly recall if events were real or not, I'm constantly sleepy and my anxiety and depression fluctuates continually for no reasons.

Is it normal for doctor's to make patients wait first? And if it remains at 3.5 will they do anything? I've been told before that I was crazy by my old GP, and there was nothing wrong with me at all. Even after my mother had her thyroid REMOVED at 12 years old, they haven't. I'm just so concerned and so tired of feeling like this. I'd rather not be bald and 30 lbs heavier at my wedding next year

You will need to educate yourself so that you know more about Hashimoto's than your doctors so you can get fully treated.

Find another doctor that listens to you and will work with you to make your life better. In my experience, the different Endo's that I have seen have had zero knowledge on what is going on currently with Hashimoto's and are very suggestible to big pharmacy's marketing without doing research on what has been going on with Thyroid issues in the last 20 years. Most doctors right now have been shown to be about 20 years behind on the latest treatment options and only go by what they were taught in med school.

( As for me, I made sure to mention several times that I had a family history of it and that I had a huge amount of symptoms even with a TSH of 3.5, and they finally started on a low dose of synthetics to see if it removed any of the symptoms. )

If you already have the antibodies, waiting don't do a thing but keep you feeling bad. Its just waiting for your thyroid to damage itself more. It just don't make sense to wait once you know that something is wrong. You want to keep as much of it working as possible as long as possible.

Educate yourself, Read some thyroid books and on how to improve your diet to help it. Most people here will suggest www.stopthethyroidmadness.com as well as getting the book as its written by a patient advocate.

If you still feel bad, Push back. Tell them. Make them think. They should be test your free's and check your adrenals as well as the TSH which is really not a good marker for how your thyroid is doing. If you have the antibodies, it means that the TSH test is almost useless because the numbers can change greatly in a day's time.

Also, review your diet. You will find that some foods aren't that good for the thyroid. Some of the veggies need to be cooked well, and not to eat them raw. Also its best to try and look into removing soy from the diet as it plays with the hormones too much as well. Educate yourself and make your own decisions.

And always remember, your not alone with this.. Its becoming more and more common everyday.

Hi,

I had a similar thing happen to me. It took 16 months till a Dr. would put me on medicine. I had some of the sign's and symptoms of Hypothyroidism, and even a family history of it (my grandfather). Mine only got as high as 3.25 (TSH) and this past May and I finally got a New Endocrinologist to put me just 15 mg of Armour Thyroid, he then bumped it up to 30mg in August b/c my numbers didn't improve much. As of October, I can say I have finally lost the 5 lb I had gained. I had been trying for over a year to lose the wt. with 5-6 days of exercise, restricting calories and keeping a food journal. I managed to lose a couple #, but then the rest came off so easily once my med. was increased to 30mg. You need to find a Dr. who will listen to your symptoms and also goes by the new guidelines that anything above a TSH of 2.5 is considered Hypothyroidism. See these helpful link below. Mary Shomon is another helpful resource and thyroid advocate.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroid/a/newrange.htm