My daughter (aged 33) is currently teaching English in Spain, so is seeing her Spanish GP & Endo.
She has many of the symptoms of Hypothyroidism and I've been at her for ages to get it checked out - unexplained weight gain, numerous infections, hair loss, pins & needles in her hands, lack of energy, easily up-set etc.
Since the blood results below her GP arranged for her to see an Endocronologist. She has now seen the Endocronologist, who has arranged further blood test (July). The Endo has said that her Thyroid is 'within the normal range' and that her raised prolactin may due to stress, during this appointment my daughters blood pressure was taken which was low - the Endo advised her to increase her intake of salt (which surprises me considering the results of her blood test, also dosen't stress induce high blood pressure?)
The initial blood test results showed the following:
Prolactin (LTH) 68.45 (range 4.79-23.3)
TSH 2.5 (range 0.27-4.2)
Total Cholestrol 217 (range 0- 200)
Cholestrol 54.0 (range 50)
Sodium 141.0 (range 136-146)
Ferritin 24.0 (range 8-140)
Vit B12 289.0 (range197-866)
From the results above I would think she needs to boost her Vit B12 and also her Ferritin is low. Personally I would also think her TSH should be lower. I'm going to get her to start recording her basal body temp and pulse rate. She's due to come home for a couple of weeks in August so I thought I would arrange for her to have a total thyroid screen ~ what do you think?
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Should I be looking for anything else?
Both my sister and I suffer from Hypothyrodism, my sister's is controlled efficiently with Lexothyroxin, mine is not quite so straight forward but controlled.
Written by
Kaymac
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Would the raised prolacting be something to do with the pituitary gland? Just a thought because I know that is part of the cycle of the body producing and converting thyroxine.
Prolactin is is produced in the anterior Pituitary glands but also in the uterus, breasts, immune cells and body fat.....the release of prolactin is controlled by dopamine which is produced by the hypothalmus - from my research I've found that causes of Hyperprolactinamemia (too much prolactin) can be
Under-active thyroid, benign Pituitary tumors or pregnancy ~ just wondered if anyone with an under-active thyroid has had a high prolactin result?
Try checking off her symptoms in Appendix A, and using the Decision Tree in Appendix B. My B12 levels were around 300, but when I used this protocol I had well in excess of 5 symptoms with 8 body systems involved.
If you can convince someone that a trial of B12 treatment would be appropriate, then she needs to have good levels of ferritin (at least mid range) and most importantly folate (ideally top half of range). Did they test folate?
You actually might have more chance of getting this treated in Spain, I think injectable B12 is actually sold over the counter in pharmacies in Europe. I would recommend you have a look at the Pernicious Anaemia Society website for advice:
My daughter too has a raised prolactin level and is awaiting result of a scan. She was told her thyroid test was a bit high but ok (presumably TSH). she has put on a great deal of weight, has a swollen puffy face and the same symptoms as your daughter. I am sure my daughter too is hypothyroid and is in danger of losing her job as has had so many infections recently. She was also told she is vitamin D deficient but not offered any advice or treatment. I hope things work out for your daughter and would be interested to know how things progress.
I hope all goes well for your daughter....once you have the results of the scan you will be able to start making some progress in improving your daughters health. My daughter is currently being sent for more blood tests next month, then back to the Endo in August. Please let me know how your daughter gets on and I will let you know how we progress. K x
I was diagnosed with high prolactin many years ago, and suffered with sore breasts, 2 weeks before my period. I read an interesting article that said if you drink a lot of coffee, this can cause raised prolactin and can cause sore breasts. At the time I was working long hours in a local gym and had free access to the coffee machine and during quite times would drink numerous cups of coffee.
I cut back immediately and this made a dramatic improvement in the breast tenderness. I still don't drink more than 2 cups of coffee a day even now.
Your very welcome. I also think her TSH is to high, mine was 2.23 and my GP agreed to increase meds from 75 to 100 mcgs. Dr Toft from the book "Understanding Thyroid Disorders" recommends for optimal health, TSH should be 1 or barely audible.
Thanks I also think her TSH is to high, but at the moment we just have to let the 'experts' do their job, currently my daughter has not been diagnosed as hypothyroid so at the moment she is on no medication whatsoever.....anyway lets see what they say, it's just such a long drawn out process. K x
I would be hoping the Endo would be looking into other pituitary (inc. sex) and adrenal hormones, possibly even an MRI scan (as another poster has mentioned her daughter is waiting for, that would be a usual thing to do) to look for a pituitary tumour, or prolactinoma. (Don't panic too soon, lots of these tumours if they do exist are not as dangerous as that sounds!)
Polycystic Ovaries can also be associated with mildly high prolactin, (and slightly raised TSH!) has that been considered too?
Whilst in Spain TSH levels of 2.5 are usually taken a lot more seriously than here, (I am surprised the lab range is as high as that at 4.2 in Spain!) even there, TSH on it's own is not any good at diagnosing real thyroid state, and on it's own certainly isn't screaming a *severe* level of hypothyroidism, (maybe sub-clincal) therefore it it were me I would be more interested in the overall Adrenal and pituitary hormones for a diagnosis than initially blaming it merely on thyroid, although the high Cholesterol might well be due to this.
The suggestion to increase salt would fit in with the idea that Adrenal output might be low too... a sodium level of 141 is certainly not high, although in range but maybe a bit sub-optimum and he might be thinking adrenal involvement.
Thank you very much for all of this, currently the Endo is sending my daughter for further blood test to make sure that the raised prolactin was not due to stress, I'm checking with my daughter to see what has been asked for.....we may just add a few. Blood tests are being done after her next period - 2 blood samples taken 20 minutes apart, then she's back to the Endo in August. K x
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