TSH to control meds? - use Cholesterol instead? - Thyroid UK

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TSH to control meds? - use Cholesterol instead?

LeslieBrian profile image
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Thank you 'humanbean' putting this info in a reply to Zmcb13. Very interesting!

"In the UK during the first half of the 20th century many people who suffered with hypothyroidism did not get treated. A doctor wrote an article on the subject for the BMJ (British Medical Journal) in 1949, complete with pictures of people who had been suffering from extreme forms of hypothyroidism, and what happened after treatment was begun. You should read it :"

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

The doctor at the time used cholesterol as a measurement to help the cure of myxoedema, the extreme form of hypothyroidism. Today doc's seem to ignore the relationship between thyroid output and cholesterol amounts in the blood.

I stopped taking T3 for about 6 months (an other story) and my cholesterol levels raised to 10. After taking T3 again the cholesterol lowered to 6 but 4 or less is ideal. Could this be used as a marker for limiting the T3 dose perhaps T4 as well? GP's are usually keen if you ask for a cholesterol check.

Just musing.

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LeslieBrian
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Fruitandnutcase profile image
Fruitandnutcase

I found that - when my Graves was at its worst my cholesterol was at its best, I'm in remission now and my TSH is higher than it was when I discharged - guess what? So is my cholesterol. I pointed that out to a doctor I was seeing and she said she knew that Just that - she knew!

Wouldn't it make more sense to get your patient's thyroid to a place where it balanced out their cholesterol than to tut tut about raised cholesterol and offer statins?

greygoose profile image
greygoose

When my TSH was 11, my cholesterol was low. If testing had been based on cholesterol, I wouldn't have got treated. So, I really Don't think that's a good idea!

We're all different, even when it comes to cholesterol, and not everybody has high cholesterol along with their high TSH.

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