Suppressed TSH before surgery.I saw my lovely GP yesterday armed with a few printouts concerning suppressed TSH when treating hypothyroidism

She took it all on board especially Carolyn's information stating that a suppressed TSH in a person with hypothyroidism is different from that of a person with hyperthyroidism or euthyroid.In fact, she had guessed it was so.She will now write to the hospital explaining this and also that I am on armour-also that reducing my T4 won't change the TSH.Hopefully the anaesthetist will take this on board.She agrees that if they are worried they should test my T3 level (just as Toft says).I will have to wait and see what the hospitals says.

Thank you very much to the people who have given me so much information!

My Gp was particularly interested in the gene anomaly of enzyme d102 and took it all away to read . She said she had a feeling that inability to convert T4 to T3 was genetic.

[PinkNinja]

Wow! What a great doctor! Hopefully they will test your T3 before they operate. I do think that is wise with a suppressed TSH, just to make sure, even though the reasons it is suppressed are likely due to the very fact of being on thyroid replacement.

I hope it goes well

Carolyn x

[PinkNinja]

Do you need the actual paper where is says about TSH not being the same for hypothyroid patients? I can't remember whether I gave the link or not. Here they are just in case your GP needs them to back her up.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/234...

endocrinology.org/press/pre...

Carolyn x

[Hidden in reply to PinkNinja]

Yes, my GP is great.As long ago as 1998, she took on board my non conversion problem and okayed me seeing Dr Skinner.It is all the ops for arthritis that cause me my problems, because general anaesthetics stress my body. Anyway, I gave my GP the first of those links and she agreed with what is written. The second one is great-I can show her that as well. My TSH has been 0.001 for 15 years and I hope there's nothing to worry about there.My T3, when tested, is always normal-but I don't get tested very often.The hospital has never queried it before, but my heart was beating fast as I was so nervous and that's why they thought i was hyper.I've already had the 24 hour monitor in the past testing my heart, which proved I have 'white coat' syndrome!!

Thanks for your help, jan xx

[Hidden in reply to PinkNinja]

Oh dear, i've just read the second link in full (didn't have time to read it yesterday) and it says that the suppressed TSH is NOT good and does have more risks. This makes me worried.I forgot to say that before I have my blood tests I leave off my thyroxine for 24 hours, but I had taken half a grain of armour 3 hours before my last test. So perhaps because I don't leave off the armour it is just reflecting what I've taken.I'm honest with the tests because I would be very worried if they did the T3 test and it was far too high. Also as an in-patient they can test you at any time!

I think a lot of people on here end up with a suppressed TSH if they are on NDT or T3.I don't know what else we can do.

[PinkNinja in reply to Hidden]

Yes, you are right about anything with T3 suppressing TSH. Taking that half grain could have just tipped your TSH below that 0.04 threshold. Three hours after taking it is when your T3 would be highest.

Get your T3 tested and see what that says. At the end of the day, TSH is unreliable for determining thyroid status in hypothyroid patients on treatment. T4 and T3 tests are far more important.

Also don't forget that there are other things that can affect TSH, including adrenal function.

I hope your T3 test is ok!

[Hidden in reply to PinkNinja]

The test must have been 3 hours after I took the armour.I'm sure the T3 will be fine-it always is.Thanks for all your help.x

[Stourie]

Two years ago I had back surgery and my tsh has been low for quite a few years. Now it is 0.01 and when I had the op I think it was about 0.06ish. Nothing was said at the hospital about my low tsh and all was well.

Jo xx

[Hidden in reply to Stourie]

Fingers crossed! x