Sub clinical hypothyroid

[Vidya1956]

Hi really fedup123 ,my tsh was 6 and my ft4 was 1.03 he normal being(0.89--1.76) my ferritin level was low so I am taking supplements.I was told that treatment should start I.e with Levo , if the tsh is 10 and over.are there any other supplements which are known to enhancer stimulate an under active thyroid. I heard about the possible benefits of Aroma oil usage

[hellybaybee]

Well thats not right... TSH of 10 is above nhs guidelines but most drs will treat you at 5 with your symptoms (tbh 5is high anyway)... Maybe you should change doctor

[Hidden in reply to hellybaybee]

I had TSH of above 5 but less than 10 for at least 8 years, with the symptoms gradually getting worse. For 12 months, they tested me for all sorts of things even though I kept saying I thought it was my thyroid. Finally, it got above 10 and they put me on a trial of Levo and I started to feel better. It then takes time (months) for you to feel properly yourself again.

[Spanglysplash]

You should be treated with a TSH of 6. I thought it was sub clinical if it was below 6

[humanbean in reply to Spanglysplash]

Subclinical hypothyroidism is described by doctors as :

a) TSH is above the reference range.

a) FT4 is in range.

cks.nice.org.uk/hypothyroid...

It annoys me. It's a perversion of the meaning of the word "subclinical".

To me, subclinical means "without showing clinical symptoms", and for many diseases or medical conditions this meaning still holds true as far as I know. But for hypothyroidism, subclinical gets its own special meaning, as shown above. The one thing that nobody is interested in is the patient's symptoms.

[Jazzw]

Vidya, go back to your doctor and ask to be started on levothyroxine. You're clearly struggling. For what it's worth, I'd be bedbound with a TSH of 6. As Humanbean says, subclinical should mean you have no symptoms. You do!

[Lily_Munster]

I had the same thing happening to me. TSH of 8.something and they said most ppl don't have any symptoms lol I insisted on getting my thyroid antibodies tested and doctor refused at first and just told me I am depressed. Asked the doctor how she can be so sure that it's "just" depression. Maybe it's caused or possibly made worse by a condition. How can she be so sure what it is without running tests? Think she got annoyed and just wanted to get rid of me. Anyway, long story short, she did test my thyroid antobodies which were high lol Diagnosis: Hashimoto's. She then prescribed levo even though my TSH was less than 10.

[joyce59 in reply to Lily_Munster]

hi lily and human in 2013 my tsh was 8.03 and t4 10 (range 10-22) yet i was told at the time blood test came back fine (must admit i dont know a lot about thyroids a that time). i had loads of symptoms but put it down to the menopause.

[Lily_Munster in reply to joyce59]

Have you had your thyroid antobodies tested?

[joyce59 in reply to Lily_Munster]

i did finally but had to change to another surgery in order to do so my last gp took me off levo when bloods returned to so called normal she didnt test antibodies and said thyroid had healed the folloowing week i was rushed to A and E . no-one could say what happened but i now know i had a thyroid storm due to being under medicated. the dr i saw in A and E hadnt a clue.

[Lily_Munster in reply to joyce59]

Have you been diagnosed with Hashimoto's and are you on meds?

[joyce59 in reply to Lily_Munster]

yes it was a student dr who picked up on that so she then asked the trained dr if it was alright to put me back on them. iam now on 50mg my next blood test is in may.

[shaws Administrator in reply to joyce59]

Give this to your GP and I think they should be educated. Has she tested for antibodies?

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

[joyce59 in reply to shaws]

my last gp didnt test for antibodies but the new gp did.

[triumphs21]

What rubbish TSH should be well below 10 and in the USA some want it below 1 . Change your doctor get treated ASAP . Get endocrinologist referral after 6 months if that's what it takes and get a full range of hormone tests as levothyroxine may not be the complete solution . Don't get fobbed off by ignorance and fight your corner !

[greygoose]

Trying to stimulate a sick gland is not a good thing. You will only hasten it's demise. What you do need are tests for other vits and mins so that you can actually use the little hormone the gland is producing. And also to use any hormone replacement you might be given.

You're already on iron, so now you need to see about vits B12 and D, and Folate.

Good luck.

Hugs, Grey

[Chippysue]

Have you had your thyroid antibodies tested?

I was not diagnosed until my TSH tipped over 10. By this time I was very ill.

Some people are very unfortunate as their TSH does not rise.

Doctors are told to diagnose and treat by TSH, they only spend a very short time learning about thyroid disease.

Some people ask for a trial of levothyroxine but most GP's will stubbornly wait for TSH to be above 10.

If you have positive thyroid antibodies then they cannot argue, they are attacking your thyroid !

Sue

thyroiduk.org

[haggisplant]

I get confused as to why my antibodies were automatically tested when I had my first test 19 years ago. I don't know what Tsh etc was then, but I'm sure it's listed in the nice guidelines.

With Tsh at that the VERY least they should be doing is retesting in 3 months.

[Hidden]

The normal range is 0.4 - 4.2 . Treatment should start at 4.2 but doctors make their own rules up. I started self treatment at 3.7.

[Isabelle55]

Hello, Vidya 1956

I am also subclinical hypothyroid. Here is my story - in 2010 was subclinical hypo, doc gave me an iodine supplement, thyroid got worse, saw another doc, she told me that she would give me 3 to 4 months to fix it with supplements (if I wanted), if it did not work I would go on meds and this would probably be for life. She also tested my mineral and vitamin levels. I went on an over the counter supplement for thyroid health, and on top of that zinc, vitamin D and Floradix Iron and herbs. Thyroid normalized for "years". This year, I went subclinical hyper (this may be due to my taking too much iodine, who knows?) . I then swung to subclinical hypo with very high tsp but normal t3 and t4. Funny - I always think that if I had gotten tested when the doc wanted me to be tested, my levels would probably have been normal (in between the hypo and hyper). This doc (endo) agreed that I could re-try this same supplement (which is really a combo of supplements that are good for thyroid health) and the Floradix again and get re-tested in 3 months. Important to note that I was tested for antibodies - they were there but in very low amounts, in the normal range. Still, swinging from hyper to hypo was not fun. Good luck to you.

[Vidya1956 in reply to Isabelle55]

Isabelle good to hear about your recovery from sub clinical hypo. Could you tell me what essentially the supplements consisted of. How much was your tsh before the supplements Thanks for the feedback

[Isabelle55]

Vidya1956 - I cannot find my old lab tests from 2010. When I had my TSH tested in February it was 6.42, up from 0.1 in December. I think it was about 7 in 2010. The supplement I took (and have just started taking again) contains : commiphora mukul (guggul); l-tyrosine; magnesium; iron; bladderwrack; zinc; vitamin e; selenium; manganese; vit B2: vit B1; molybdenum; vit B6; and vit B8. It is made in Belgium, I think that you can just google thyroid support supplements health and find something. I guess I can give you the name of my brand - it is Actyr. Anyway, good luck, I will give an update when I am next tested.