My TSH level was 18.530. What is a number that would represent my thyroid hormone being dangerly low

[nenahi]

[shaws Administrator]

The TSH is from the pituitary gland and if you have been prescribed levothyroxine many hypo patients need it low or, in some people, they need a suppressed TSH. This is an excerpt:-

Our treatment team uses the TSH level only initially to help clarify a patient’s thyroid status. But during treatment, we completely ignore the level. The reason is that the TSH level is totally irrelevant to normalizing the patient’s whole body metabolism and relieving his or her suffering. The only clinical value of the TSH level is to see the effect of a particular dose of thyroid hormone on the pituitary 'gland’s "thyrotroph" (TSH-secreting) cells.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

Usually, you can tell how your medication is working. If it is too much, you feel over-stimulated and reducing or missing out the next day's dose rectifies this. If you feel well you are on the correct dose.

[nenahi in reply to shaws]

Thank you so much for your info.and your time.I had all of my thyroid removed 8mo.ago i have been on 137mg synthroid,my last 3 levels were. 7/16/13--0.100. 9/6/13---0.607 then 1/30/14---18.530. They told me standered range was from. 0.270 to 4.200. So this no. kind of scared me.

[poing]

The TSH level tells you that your thyroid hormones are low, but it can't tell you how low because you don't know how responsive your TSH is to low levels and whether your body is physically capable of making higher levels of TSH. To find that how low your hormone levels are, you need to measure the hormone levels directly.

[shaws Administrator]

Our medical profession do like to use the 'range' and keep us within it but it doesn't always make us feel well.Why did they remove your thyroid gland? Always get a print-out or copy of your thyroid gland blood tests for your own records and so that you can post results for members to comment if you have a query. Take your medication either first thing with a full glass of water and wait at least a half to one hour before breakfast, or take at bedtime (some have found p.m. dosing beneficial) but you should not eat anything for two hours beforehand. Always have your blood tests as early as possible and take your meds afterwards. If you dose at night miss out this dose and take after test.