Hello all...I am new here and new to voicing online--...have had borderline low Thyroid numbers since 2011 and feel GP wants to start me on some kind of Thyroid Meds. I do not want to be on anything and am currently reading Thyroid Healing book by Anthony William. My recent numbers I do have to share are from 4-12-2018---TSH 7.17. Free T4 1.1. And that's it. My TSH has been in the range of 1.43 and has fluctuated up to 5.52 over theses last years. My free T4 numbers have always run low (0.8) but in range. GP will be testing me again in 3 months on my Free T3 and T4 and adding TPO...guess to test antibodies. I have sent my numbers to Endocrinologist who has not alerted me on the increase of TSH.... Main symptoms I have is some fatigue and low endurance but feel most of time pretty good. I am female and 61 yrs young. Love some insight on my situation and am I silly for Not wanting to be on Thyroid medication??
Borderline...new here.: Hello all...I am new here... - Thyroid UK
Borderline...new here.
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For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4, TT4, FT3 plus TPO and TG thyroid antibodies. Plus very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Vitamins are very often too low. Get these tested and come back for advice on new post. They need to be at good levels not just somewhere within range
Most hypothyroidism is due to autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto's
Going absolutely strictly gluten free diet may be enough to improve your gut and slow the disease down.
Hashimoto's affects the gut and leads to low stomach acid and then low vitamin levels
Low vitamin levels affect Thyroid hormone working
Poor gut function can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten. Dairy is second most common.
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and slowly lower TPO antibodies
Ideally ask GP for coeliac blood test first
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I really appreciate any answers I get...sorry that I am in the US...this forum has been very informative for me because doctors do not explain very much about all this orrrr, I am not educated enough to ask the right questions. Have always been a naturalist and I guess just defiant about medications. I really need to educate myself on Thyroid and I have been very intrigued with all the posts here. Thank you for eve answering. Will take advice and study more!
Stop thinking of it as medication. It is thyroid hormone replacement, replacing the hormone your thyroid can no-longer make enough of to keep you alive and well. We cannot live without thyroid hormone, and we cannot be well. The thyroid hormone T3 is needed by every single cell in the body to function correctly. If there's not enough to go round, various symptoms will set in, and get worse. Eventually, it will effect vital organs like your heart, liver, kidneys and brain, and you will become slowly less and less well and less and less able to function. They haven't tested your FT3 yet, but with a TSH that high, I'm guessing it will be low.
A euthyroid TSH is around 1, so you can see that yours is quite high. It is trying to stimulate your thyroid to make more hormone, because the pituitary has sensed that there's not enough in the blood. Only, for whatever reason, you thyroid cannot comply. And, despite what your doctors say, you are not borderline. You are overtly hypo when your TSH hits 3. It's just that in the UK, doctors do not like diagnosing hypo and therefore insist the TSH reach 10 before they will do so. It is an almost criminal state of affairs.
I don't know the book you mention, but I do know that thyroids don't heal. And there are a lot of charlatans out there! You may feel good at the moment, but there's no knowing how long that will last. You are already feeling the fatigue. It could be that, for the moment, your have good conversion of T4 to T3, driven by the high TSH, but that is not a situation that can last. As your gland fails further, you will have less and less T4 to convert.
Personally, I would start the THR now, to stop further damage occurring - especially if it turns out you have high antibodies. But, it's entirely up to you if you want to wait a little longer while you feel well. But, you must keep an eye on it, keep testing to make sure that things don't get too out of hand. And, if you start feeling really ill, start the THR immediately. The longer you wait, the longer it will take to get back to good health. 
PS, just realised you're in the US, aren't you. Sorry.
GG
"I don't know the book you mention"
Thyroid Healing - Anthony Williams aka The Medical Medium
Oh good lord! I didn't realise. As I said, there are a lot of charlatans out there.
I want to thank you so much for answering my post. Yes I am in the US, but have found this forum so intriguing and informative. The Thyroid and its functions seem complicated to me at times. I am getting this forum in my email and have learned some things...still so complex! Will heed to what you are saying. Have to keep a discerning ear these days. I will have to re-read your replies and do my homework...thanks so much!
You're very welcome.
If your TSH is already over the top of the range, and thyroid hormones low, it is unlikely that you can improve your thyroid health without replacement hormones, as too much will have already been destroyed.
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Newbie here! Question about "normal ranges"
Blood Test advice required please 
CONFUSED. NEWLY DIAGNOSED UNDERACTIVE THYROID
New here - please advise...
Where to go from here?
