can anyone help with my friends test results?

[gracegirl78]

hi all!

my friend asked me to post these, she has many symptoms and thyroid problems in her family, also she has high prolactin levels. Her doctor doesnt seem to want to do anything, however she is looking for answers and hopes someone can help.

8/2012 FT4 17.2 TSH: 1.90

4/2013 FT4: 15.5 TSH: 2.30

7/2013 FT4: 16 TSH: 2.16

Im sorry she didnt give me the ranges but its the same doctors i go to in which case the ranges are

TSH 0.27-4.20

FT4 10.5-22

she is wondering about a pituarity problem, how would she go about getting this diagnosed?

thanks in advance if anyone can help.

[PinkNinja]

If she has high prolactin levels there is a possibility that she also has high levels of other pituitary hormones. She could ask for these to be tested too such as LH and FSH. There are others too. Has the cause of the high prolactin levels been investigated?

There is nothing in her thyroid tests that jump out at my suggesting a pituitary issue but I'm afraid I am no expert. On the surface her results look ok, but we know that doesn't necessarily mean they are right for her.

Pituitary problems can have an impact on the adrenals too. This would probably be worth looking into. Adrenal problems could be impacting how her body is using the thyroid hormones.

Iron and ferritin should also be checked. Low iron could result in the rate of activation of T4 to T3 being lower than it should be. It can also affect how the thyroid hormones get into the cells to be used. This 'double whammy' can result in hypothyroid symptoms because the body isn't able to use as much of the thyroid hormones as it needs. I don't know if the high prolactin levels could also be contributing.

This link may be helpful. You will need to scroll down to the hyper secretion section.

patient.co.uk/doctor/pituit...

Sorry I couldn't be more help

Carolyn x

[PinkNinja in reply to PinkNinja]

This also might be helpful patient.co.uk/doctor/Hyperp...

[gracegirl78 in reply to PinkNinja]

Carolyn,

you are ALWAYS extremely helpful. I will pass that on, thankyou. I dont think they have found why her prolactin levels are high, no. She would love to know!!

[spring13 in reply to PinkNinja]

raised prolactin is more likely to lead to low levels of other pituitary hormones rather than raised levels

[PinkNinja in reply to spring13]

Thanks for that

[spring13]

Thyroid function looks normal and the fact she has normal TSH means she does not have panhypopituitarism (no pituitary hormones). Raise prolactin can be a symptom of a prolactinomas (pituitary tumour) but can also be caused by stress, nipple stimulation, hypothyroidism. It is normal in pregnancy. Some drugs cause raised prolactin including antipsychotics, cocaine, anti-sickness, oestrogens, omeprazole etc. What is her prolactin result?