TSH level

[sarajuarez2912]

My Endo called yesterday and said my level on my TSH is perfect, but will be keeping an eye on it, and won’t go for another TSH blood drawn until next month. Just praying I don’t go Graves, I’m out of the Hashimoto levels for now.... any comments?

[Rmichelle]

Do not except perfect or normal, tsh alone is no use Sara👍

[Angel_of_the_North]

If you don't have Graves antibodies, you can't "Go Graves" whatever that means. There is no such thing as "hashimotos levels". The whole point of Hashis is that your thyroid hormone levels and TSH fluctuate. You need to get the thyroid hormones tested - not just TSH. It is possible to have both Graves and Hashis but rare. You should get TSH, free T4 and free t3 tested every time and TPO and TG antibodies at least once (which must have been done for you to know that you have Hashis). TSI and TRab antibodies are for Graves.

[HLAB35]

The specialist who diagnoses Graves must do so with absolute certainty. This means they

know what antibodies you are making. You need to have a copy of the thyroid antibody

blood test results that they've been using to come to the conclusion that you have either

Graves or Hashimotos, or both of these.

I am concerned that your 'specialist' has been making assumptions based on your TSH alone and has diagnosed you based on some ignorant idea that only Graves disease can cause hyperthyroidism and that Hashimotos will only ever make you hypothyroid. I mean, Hashi's will eventually cause your thyroid to cease working , but it's a roller-coaster trip before you get there and short phases of hyperthyroidism which are called 'Hashi's flares' are very common.

For example, I have been looking at your posts going back two years... they were keeping you on a thyroid suppressing drug for way too long while your TSH was near the top of the range! I suspect that you have Hashi's only (not Graves). It's becoming the norm on this forum that doctors are prescribing anti-thyroid medication to people with Hashi's. You may need to find a more helpful and better informed specialist. (A lot of endocrinologists are diabetes, not thyroid, experts.)

[Rmichelle in reply to HLAB35]

I agree tsh is all he/she is interested in, Sara is from the usa and I have mentioned that her consultant is quite happy to take her dollars and wave bye each month.😀

[Valarian]

How are you actually feeling ?

I don’t think having a month between tests is necessarily the problem, it’s more a question of whether you are getting the right tests (as described below, although I think in the US Graves’ is usually diagnosed via scan or thyroid uptake test emedicine.medscape.com/arti...

As others have said, you can have Graves’ and Hashi’s together, but Hashi’s itself also causes hyper phases. Compared to Graves’, these are typically relatively short-lived (maybe weeks rather than months) and the thyroid levels tend to be lower (people with Graves’ often have free thyroid levels double the normal range or even higher when first diagnosed). The Hashi’s ‘flare’ is caused by the damaged thyroid dumping stores of thyroid hormone. This means anti-thyroid treatment, which can only prevent production of new hormones, will be of limited use.