blood results

[joyce59]

just back from drs having taken scan photos and letter. i asked her if i could have thyroid blood test results from previous years which she printed off for me. therefore i am now shocked (and angry) to find out my thyroid was tested back in 2004 TSH was 10.9 and T4 was 10.8. i asked her why its taken ten years to get treated but she said results were always in range (although i was at a different surgery when those were taken and were transfered over to new surgery) surely this was not a borderline result.

[Clutter]

Joyce59, TSH >10 is overtly hypothyroid. If subsequent TSH results were 10 you should have been treated.

[joyce59 in reply to Clutter]

come to think of it clutter that was around the same time my periods started to go all over the place but id put it down to the menopause. shes not concerned about the scan results either but said she will write to the endo and see what he thinks.

[shaws Administrator in reply to joyce59]

Female problems are rife when hypothyroid. It goes to show,once again, how uninformed they are about the clinical symptoms of hypothyroid and now you have gone ten years without being treated. They are also completely unaware of the health struggles and what other problems we can develop through the negligence of the training of medical students on one of the most important glands. They can transplant most things nowadays but not thyroid glands. 10.9 isn't 'in range'.

web.archive.org/web/2010112...

[Hidden]

joyce,

A TSH is much too high but you don't supply the ranges, so according to your doctor you could have been in- range, in which guidelines could lead him to leave you (wrongly) unmedicated.

Flower

[joyce59 in reply to Hidden]

our local lab ranges are TSH (O.O4-4.02) and T4 (10-22) she also said ranges are the same thoughout the country but i knew thats rubbish as some vary dont they?

[Hidden in reply to joyce59]

Well you were way above if this was the correct range in 2004.

As I understand it a TSH above 10.0 should be medicated anyway.

No wonder you are a shocked (and angry).

I would be too.

Flower

[Clutter in reply to joyce59]

Joyce, TSH 4.02-10.0 would have been borderline. FT4 10.8 is very low but in normal range 10-22. Ranges can differ in different labs. The ranges used by the hospital lab close to where I live are different to those at the endo's hospital a few miles away.

[shaws Administrator in reply to joyce59]

Joyce59, that may be the ranges but it isn't the guidelines of the British Thyroid Association unfortunately. Well seen the majority of members are male.

They state that no hormones should be prescribed until the TSH is 10. Excerpt from Thyroiduk.org:

In this country recent suggestions, sadly approved by the British Thyroid Foundation and certain senior endocrinologists, have placed the cut-off point now at 10mU/L, well above previous levels of 4 or 5mU/L, which were far too high anyway.

The thinking behind these proposed guidelines is beyond rational explanation; and the amount of illness and suffering which will result is heartbreaking. A problem with interpreting TSH results is that, firstly, it assumes that the hypothalamus and pituitary are working normally, and secondly, that the thyroid status is normal and is not being influenced by medication or other illness. It is further pointed out that the test must have a sensitivity of below 0.02 mU/L or false negatives may occur. Many tests are not as sensitive as this. An abnormally low result is usually the result of higher than normal levels of T4 (due to hyperthyroidism or over-dosage), and if associated with thyroid peroxidase antibodies Hashimoto's disease is likely to be present.

The phenomenon of thyroid hormone resistance occurs at the receptor sites and is usually genetic. The patient may have persistently higher than normal levels of both T3 and T4, and a high TSH, though still not appearing to be hyperthyroid. These patients are sometimes wrongly diagnosed as hyperthyroid on the evidence of the blood tests alone.

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

[joyce59]

thanks every-one just need to wait now and see if an endo would want to keep an eye on me. given my age as well 61 i think they should do.