I am hashimotos hypothyroid and currently take 200mcg levothyroxine. I have in last 6 months lost some weight (intentionally) - 2 stones. I had my thyroid checked recently at a routine visit to a consultant I see for another condition and the results came back at 4.89 tsh. My consultant says this needs adjusting but my GP says its fine.
The first two months of my new diet I felt great, then slowly the last 4 months I have felt pretty rubbish. Now I am experiencing extreme sweating - even the palm of my hands are very wet and the soles of my feet. My hair feels very dry and brittle and I am constipated along with finding it hard to sleep. Am I now taking too much thyroxine and does it need adjusting lower. Are these symptoms of being Hyper?
I am only used to being the other way..
Thanks in advance
p.s. they didnt do T3's etc or anything just tsh..
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AnnieAxVale
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AnnieAxVale Do you have the reference range for that TSH result? It could very well be over range, if not it is probably very high in range. That means you currently need an increase in your thyroid meds to bring your TSH down which is probably what your consultant meant. If it is over range your GP is very negligent ignoring the consultant.
The aim for a treated hypo patient is for TSH to be 1 or below and FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their ranges.
The hair problem and constipation you describe are hypo symptoms.
As you have Hashimoto's, are you completely gluten free as that helps reduce the antibody attacks, also supplementing with selenium helps reduce them.
Do you have any other thyroid test results (with ranges). If you've got FT4 and FT3 done at the same time it would be interesting to see how well you're converting T4 to T3.
Thanks for your response.. that is the only result I have.. the last time I posted here for a similar problem.. gp ignoring .. my tsh was 11.64 which was alot higher.. and I was under impression that if you lost weight you probably needed to reduce your thyroxine? I will admit to not really understanding thyroid stuff.. its something I cannot grasp.. but I just know that I dont feel right .. the excessive sweating could be down to perimenopause .. I dont know.. I get tired of this battle with gp's..
AnnieAxVale The dose of thyroxine should be what you need to resolve your symptoms regardless of weight.
We have to educate ourselves to help ourselves, keep reading until it sinks in, I know it's hard but it's something we need to do. I find it very difficult to read long articles, books and technical stuff regarding thyroid but very gradually it sinks in.
Have you had ferritin, folate, b12 and Vit D tested? They all need to be at their optimal levels for our thyroid hormones to work, and as you have Hashi's you would be well advised to go gluten free, many members have found that to be extremely helpful in reducing the antibody attacks.
Thanks again.. the last six months I have been eating nothing but meat veg fruits, nuts.. I have other autoimmune conditions .. cant remember last time my antibodies were checked either.. back to GP I go ty again
They definitely need to do a full thyroid panel. While you usually have to request the full panel specifically, when dealing with most Dr. 's TSH alone just doesn't show the whole picture.
I am sorry to hear about that. I am tired to take synthetic as well. Why don't you try some herb thyroid supplement instead of synthetic. You are lucky still have thyroid, and my thyroid gland almost gone for nothing. I am looking for the transplant or other way . Try something else or visit another doctor to get advise. God bless you.
Do not take herb thyroid supplements instead of synthetic! You cannot replace hormones with herbs. That is a very dangerous piece of advice.
What happened to your thyroid gland? Do you have Hashi's? If you have Hashi's, a transplant would be no good for you, because the Hashi's would just destroy that, too. What you need to do is find the thyroid hormone replacement that suits you, and address your nutritional deficiencies. You more than likely have some. But, if you want more information on all that, I suggest you post your own question.
Thank you. I am grave no nodules not cancer at all. I did subdestomy, but it grew back to the normal. Surprised and I became hyper. Then RAI, thypo. Got regretted to do that. Now it looks hypo. I took 88mcg for almost 7 years. Lab test report adjust to 100 mcg. But overdosage symptoms gradually shown in lab report, but it might something other T4 cannot covert well to T3. In another way, my thyroid function a little, because I still have a little tiny tissues. haha..Have an appointment with Dr. next week. Looking for the natural thyroid hormone so far.
Share a news.
A good news. I went to stem cell thyroid treatment consultation yesterday. It could be done by your stem cell from fat tissues. This will be another option to people who is hypothyroid conditions. But this is experiment, it still could be done. FDA does not say anything about or stop Doctor to do that. In USA, it costs 8000-10000. But this is a way to wean off your medicine and you can have your thyroid gland to grow back without the organ transplant. In academy study, the Boston university already published their lab report, which can done on mice means could be on Human. It is very exciting news. No one done for thyroid in human yet. If I want to do it, it will be the first one. Only risk is the amount of stem cell injections. If grow too much, it simple just do the sub-destomy except that no other side effect(from your own stem cell). I hope FDA can allow this kind of treatment to become the approval medical procedures. I know there is controversy, but some medical treatment should be allowed like our condition.
No, TSH=4.89 is not "fine". Those sound like classic hypo symptoms. The AACE TSH range is 0.3-3.0. Functional medicine practitioners want to see TSH in the 1-2 range. These GPs do not understand that, if they insist on using TSH-only, TSH needs to be low in the range for decent results (although the result cannot be guaranteed without full testing that includes FT3). That is a pretty high dose of thyroxine; I would not be surprised if you are getting conversion to rT3 that is gumming up your system.
In this situation, you need testing for all relevant nutritionals (B12, D3, ferritin, etc.) and you need a full thyroid panel (TSH, FT3, FT4, rT3, TPO antibodies, TG antibodies) to get a handle on what is going on. If all that thyroxine is causing conversion to rT3, then you (or your doctor) needs to understand how to use the FT3/rT3 ratio.
Thank you Eddie.. will be trying for an appt with GP tomorrow as I am due different blood test next week and it would be handy just to get them all done at same time..
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