Help with results please

[Tor666]

Hello,

I have copy and pasted this directly from my login in the surgeries website, in a box above the results it said: results - Abnormal, action - None

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBO

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODY 284 iu/mL

Anti-TPO antibodies are present in most patients with

Hashimoto's thyroiditis(95%) and primary myxoedema(90%)

and in some patients with Grave's disease(18%).They are

also present in low levels in patients with colloid

goitre,thyroid carcinoma,transiently in de Quervain's

thyroiditis and in normal older females. It follows

that this is a nonspecific investigation.

TPO Elevated (>75 IU/mL)

Can anyone tell me what this actually means?

I have B12 injections every 12 weeks and i'm on a cocktail of medication due to suffering from endometriosis. i also take 75mg of T4 , i was on 25mg but felt awful however my doctor wouldn't increase my does as my TSH was 5.6 and the upper reference limit was 6.9.

By October i increased my dose myself to 50mg and 6 weeks later went to see a different doctor who sent me for another blood test and my TSH came back at 7.18 but the reference range had lowered to 5.33. My dose was increased to 75mg and in Feb i went back for another blood test this time it came back at 1.43. How can it jump like that and how can i still feel so rubbish?

Thanks for reading

Tor

[beh1]

Brief answer-others will no doubt give more detailed info. You have hashimoto's ie your body is attacking your thyroid. Some people find they can reduce antibodies by cutting out gluten and supplementing 200mg selenium daily. This could slow down the destruction of your thyroid gland but it won't restore it.

As to why you feel so awful, you'd need to do a full thyroid panel of blood tests (i.e. Free t4 and free t3 rather than just tsh),and probably best to include ferritin, vit D, folate, B12 . If your doc won't do these tests Medichecks have 15% off til end of March (negotiated by thyroid uk). Then post results on here and people will help. Remember not to take levo on day of blood test and do earliest poss test. Preferably no food either.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Tor666 As beh1 has said, you have autoimmune thyroid disease aka Hashimoto's. Your high TPO antibodies confirm this.

This is where antibodies attack and gradually destroy the thyroid. Antibodies fluctuate, which causes symptoms and results to fluctuate, which is why your TSH is jumping about and why you feel rubbish. Hashi's isn't treated, it's the resulting hypothyroidism that's treated and the aim of a treated hypo patient is generally for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges.

Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, wrote this in a Pulse Online magazine article:

"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.

In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.

But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.

This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."

If you email [e-mail] she will let you have a copy of the article which you can print out and show your GP who will hopefully agree to increase your dose of Levo.

You can help reduce the antibodies (so hopefully reduce the antibody attacks) by adopting a strict gluten free diet which has helped many members enormously.

Gluten contains gliadin (a protein) which is thought to trigger autoimmune attacks so eliminating gluten can help reduce these attacks.

Also, supplementing with Selenium (l-selenomethionine) 200mcg daily and keepings TSH suppressed help reduce antibodies.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

hypothyroidmom.com/hashimot...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

Gluten/thyroid connection:

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

As beh1 has suggested, it would be a good idea to get a full thyroid panel which will give FT4 and FT3 results as well as TSH and antibodies, and you can also get full vitamins and minerals tested if you choose Medichecks Thyroid UltraVit, normally £99 but you can get 15% off by using the code they've given Thyroid UK - see here thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

When doing the test, as beh1 has said, leave off Levo for 24 hours, fast overnight (water only) and do the test as early as possible in the morning, preferably before 9am. TSH is higher early in the morning and lowers during the day and after eating.

When you have your results, make a new thread and post the results with reference ranges for members to comment.

[miglet54]

Tsh .Those limits only apply to untreated people. Thyroid treated should have Tsh of 1 or below.