New to all this! TSH 22!!

[irish-coleen]

Hi everyone i posted a few days ago as i had to repeat a fasting blood test. well i got the results that my Tsh is 22 and something else is low so apparently this indicates a underactive thyriod. my iron is low also so my gp wants another blood test in 4 weeks to check my vitamin levels i think to see why my iron is low.

he didnt start me on tablets as he said as im still getting palpations that the thyroid tablet might increase that and he will start me at the next appointment.

im so confused with this all as they always put alot of my symptons down to fibro.

thankyou for reading x

[irish-coleen]

Thankyou reallyfedup. i thought the symptons i had made me overactive but also had symptons that made me think underactive. i dont put on weight and i never sleep. would this be because the tsh is high even though im underactive. sorry im so confused. thankyou. i hope you are well xx

[gabkad in reply to irish-coleen]

Your TSH is high because your pituitary gland is whipping your thyroid gland to produce hormone and it can't.

[irish-coleen in reply to gabkad]

Thankyou. would this make me always feel jittery and never can sleep?? x

[gabkad in reply to irish-coleen]

I don't know. Someone else around here could probably answer that question.

[irish-coleen]

Thankyou.its all so new x

[irish-coleen]

Thankyou reallyfedup for reading and replying.im sorry to hear your family members have this also,2 years ago i was diagnosed with fibro also so its hard to tell what illness is causing which sympton..they seem to overlap alot. xx

[humanbean]

If you always feel jittery I would suspect you have adrenal problems, which are amazingly common in people suffering from thyroid problems. You might have low or high cortisol, be producing lots of adrenaline, have too little or too much DHEA. Please don't guess - it isn't really possible to work out what is affecting you without testing. Do a search on this website and community for "adrenal stress profile", "saliva testing". Read up about testing here - the link is to the main website for Thyroid UK, the charity that run this community :

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

This is the saliva test that most of us use if we test cortisol & DHEA levels :

gdx.net/uk/product/27

Adrenals are not my area, sorry I can't help very much. But I do know that getting your adrenals working correctly will be a vital part of your recovery because they have a massive effect on how well your body can use thyroid hormone.

Some resources to get you started :

adrenalsweb.org/

drlam.com/index.php

(The Dr Lam site is dreadful to look at but has useful info)

Consider buying some books on the subject :

amazon.co.uk/Your-Thyroid-H...

amazon.co.uk/Stop-Thyroid-M...

[irish-coleen in reply to humanbean]

Thankyou humanbean for your detailed reply. i certainally will look at all the links you provided. i hope you are having a good day x

[Angel_of_the_North]

Just another point: you shouldn't drive with a TSH over 20 as it impairs you more than being over the drink drive limit.

Untreated hypothyroid is a cause of heart disease and might be causing your palpitations (as well as low iron) - your GP really needs to treat you.

[irish-coleen in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Thankyou angel of the north. the reason he said he would wait a few weeks is that if he started me on thyroxine it would increase the palpations. its all stressing me out so much.i feel ok as in to drive.i actually dont even feel symptoms of underactive except white numb finger tips when cold and cold feet. i would have bet money on me being overactive but just goes to show.xx

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to irish-coleen]

It could be the hypo causing the palpitations. I can't see that waiting a few weeks is going to make any difference unless you have recently had a severe illness that might raise your TSH temporarily. If "everything else is low" means free T3 and Free T4, there's almost no chance that you actually have a TSH producing tumour and are actually hyper, so what's he waiting for? Did he prescribe iron to see if that helped?

No symptoms at all? No tiredness, anxiety, bad temper, dry skin, hair loss, constipation, insomnia, lack of temperature control? White finger ends sounds more like Reynauds (another possibly autoimmune condition).

[irish-coleen in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Hi. yes i have some symptoms as in insomia and constipation and tiredness but i thought not sleeping would be why i felt tired.im on alot of pain meds for chronic pain that can cause these side effects like constipation.but he said to improve my diet first for the iron!! i have fibro so alot of the symptoms i put down to it..i dont know anything about t3 or T4. as i was only diagnosed on friday xx

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to irish-coleen]

Chronic pain and fibro are symptoms of hypo. You might want to get another doctor; this one seems determined to keep you ill. So you have a really high TSH, low T4 and T3, and loads of symptoms and your GP won't treat you. That's pretty much negligence in my book.