Changes in TSH don't automatically quickly follow changes in treatment

[diogenes]

This paper has been out a while, but it explains that for example, when treatment is started by T4 or whatever, TSH takes a while before it responds to the new therapy in coming down from its high value to normality. Also if TSH is very low, it takes a while to respond to treatment. This is just to demonstrate that one shouldn't expect TSH to rapidly respond to treatment and that measurements made too soon after starting treatment can be misleading. Doctors and biochemists should be aware when diagnosing by TSH.

Front. Endocrinol., 14 June 2016 | doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2016....

A Review of the Phenomenon of Hysteresis in the Hypothalamus–Pituitary–Thyroid Axis

Melvin Khee-Shing Leow

[Lucycatnaps]

Thank you for posting this paper, I think I will have to reread it again to fully understand it but I am very interested as I seem to feel well when my TSH is very low and my FT4 is in the upper range. My endo wants my TSH in normal range but then my FT4 plummets and I feel hypo. I have just posted my latest results asking why it takes so long for TSH to react to dose changes. It seems from this paper that it is better for it to alter at a much slower rate than doctors give credit for before dose changes.