Just been diagnosed

[MrsCHN]

Hi, I have just had my results back and doctor says severe hypothyroidism and I'm being investigated for auto immune disease. my face is swollen and so are the glands in my neck. Has anyone had similar? Thanks

TSH 73.84

T4 2.3

[humanbean]

Welcome to the forum!

Your hypothyroidism is severe. There are quite a few people on the forum who have had a TSH as high or higher than yours, although most people will not have such a high level before diagnosis.

To help you make sense of some of the basics :

TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is produced by the pituitary, not the thyroid.

When you don't have enough thyroid hormone in your body your TSH rises as your pituitary starts screaming at your thyroid to produce more thyroid hormones.

If your thyroid is not capable of producing enough thyroid hormone for your body then your TSH level will just rise and rise.

Free T4 and Free T3 are the main hormones produced by the thyroid. When the thyroid fails these numbers will get lower and lower.

So - summary - TSH gets high, Free T4 and Free T3 get low.

To get well you need to replace the thyroid hormone that your body can no longer produce, and doctors prescribe a synthetic T4 called Levothyroxine. The body can convert some Levo into T3.

As your levels of thyroid hormone increase your TSH will start to drop. It can take a long time to get to the level of Levo required to make you well. Doses generally start low, and are increased by 25mcg after blood tests which should be done every 6 weeks.

You might end up on a dose of Levo of 150mcg per day (number just picked at random, it could be more or less), but your body can't tolerate that all at once, you have to build up to it slowly.

You have "classic" primary hypothyroidism. This is often one of the easiest ones to fix, so you should start to feel better within a few weeks, although it may take up to a year to feel completely well.

One of the things that hypothyroidism does to the body is it reduces stomach acid. As a result food is poorly digested and nutritional deficiencies develop. You need good levels of

ferritin/iron

Vitamin B12

Vitamin D

folate

Without good levels of the above your body can't make full use of the hormones that you give it. So getting these up to optimal level is essential. Ask your doctor to test them for you, ask for a copy of the results and the reference ranges, and post them here in a new post. We'll tell you how to get them up to optimal levels. Your doctor is only likely to care whether the numbers are within the reference range, which is NOT the same as optimal.

Are you being treated with meds to reduce stomach acid, by any chance?

[5858]

Hi .......

yes mine was high as well. And my face was swollen and many other symptoms. It took me a while to get on the right dose. I seem to be good now I take synthroid. All the best to you! Susita