subclinical / hypothyroidism

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Lizshouse88
Lizshouse88 Posts: 81
in Food and Nutrition
I had some blood drawn today and I wont get an answer for about a week but my doc said I may have subclinical hypothyroidism or just plain old hypothyroidism. I made a post about it lastnight because someone mentioned I should get it checked. Come to find out, my last round of bloodwork (who knows how long ago that was) showed a "4" for my thyroid level which he said to be borderline high. Anyone have experience with the subclinical hypothyroidism? I have found plenty of info on hypothyroidism but not much on the subclinical type

Thanks!

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  • vdavis_89
    vdavis_89 Posts: 334
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    Im not sure what subclinial means but I have hypothyroidism so it might have been my suggestion lol (its extremely underdiagnosed especially in women) Good job for getting it done though!!! my moms a nurse so i can ask her for ya :)
  • jessicakohler3660
    jessicakohler3660 Posts: 2
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    I do! I was just diagnosed last month after 5 years of doctors and endocrinologists telling me nothing was wrong with my thyroid.
    I was never able to lose the baby weight and kept gaining over 5 years. I would gain/lose the same 5 lbs over and over with no results no matter what calories or exercise I did. I KNEW something was wrong....I just felt so tired all the time, headaches etc.

    Finally I got a doctor who is more up to date with this type of hypothyroidism (my level was 3) and started me on Armour thyroid middle of May. Its now end of June and I have lost 18 pounds!!

    Funny thing is, my diet and exercise is the same as before (maybe a tiny bit tweeked), so for me, I know 100% my thyroid was the culprit all along,

    She advised me to eat 1200 calories (although I range from 1200-1400) and ONLY eat whole grains (and 1-2 servings at most per day). No white flour, sugar etc.

    I finally feel good energy wise and am thrilled I am consistently losing for the first time in 5 years. If you have a docor that will even ACKNOWLEDGE that subclinical hypothyroidism exists....stick with him!

    Good luck!!
  • bubaloo1979
    bubaloo1979 Posts: 3
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    Mine was 3.5 about 3 yrs ago and my doctor kept telling me it was fine I was just depressed and off to see a psychiatrist who then prescribed anti depressants and had nearly a year's counselling. After much investigation and research I found that the normal range should in fact be 0.5 - 3.0 here in Australia and I think 0.3 to 3.0 in the US. Mary Shomon indicates that the normal range in the US has in fact changed to 0.3 to 3.0 but many Doctors are not aware of this and are still diagnosing under the old rule. Australia is further behind and still classify 5.0 as the cross over which sucks. I searched and searched and finally found a fantastic Doctor over here and she diagnosed me with hypothyroidism (subclinical) i think. AS far as I'm aware the subclinical part refers to hypothyroidism symptoms but the only difference is that your range is apparently in the "normal" range or on the high side of normal. Go to about.com and Mary Shomon has got a stack of information on there.

    My Doctor and I decided to experiment over a year ago as I was feeling fantastic so took me off my meds for 6 months (at my request) to see whether the diagnosis was early enough that I didn't require medication for the rest of my life and unfortunately, it escalated to 4.7 in that short amount of time. I'm on Armour Thyroid which is a compounding version of thyroxine. Thyroxine didn't work for me.

    I'm just glad that I had a very understanding psychiatrist who pushed me to find a new doctor and actually prescribed thyroxine for me at that time or I'd be a bloody basket case by now!

    Good luck with your diagnosis. It's hard to get a diagnosis and can sometimes take some time. And then sometimes to it requires finding a new doctor.

    All the best!
  • virginiaseaman
    virginiaseaman Posts: 1
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    Hi, my name is Ginny, I just had blood work done a week and 1/2 ago. Got the blood results from the lab and my thyroid is 6.93, normal is 4.5 or below, I see my doctor on Weds. next week and we will discuss the results. I also looked things up last night to see what type of diet I should do, ie healthy eating.. I am to talk with a Health coach Tuesday evening. Hope things go well with you.
  • Lizshouse88
    Lizshouse88 Posts: 81
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    I might also add that at the beginning of my pregnancy November 2009 the bloodwork done showed elevated thyroid levels, but then they did it again and it was "normal"..... they never told me the numbers, though. The way I see it, one of those numbers was incorrect. I am thinking that since my level was 4 at my reg. doctor who knows how many years ago, that maybe my thyroid really was high and had they told me about it I would have taken care of it and not gained all this weight in the last year! I gained 40lbs in a year and really wasn't eating very much! And now I have to starve myself in order to lose weight (eating 1200-1800 calories a day and I weigh 354lbs).

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