High tsh

[Sin-gers_3]

My T3 is 94

T4 is 6.1

Tsh is 16.73

PL help me understand what is going to happen to me and the extent of the disorder

[shaws Administrator]

Has your doctor not put you on 50mcg of levothyroxine?

Don't be nervous - you have an autoimmune Thyroid Disease and levothyroxine is a replacement hormone. From now on you will have to take thyroid hormones daily as we now need these hormones for our body to function properly. Thyroid hormones enable our metabolism to work properly.

Hypothyroid means that our thyroid gland has stopped producing the essential hormones that drive our whole metabolism, from head to toe and the reason you don't feel well is that your TSH is 16.5. Doctors are so poorly trained I don't think they know what to do.

Your doctor should prescribe 50mcg of levothyroxine and this is an inactive hormone which should convert to T3 (also known as liothyronine).

You take it when you get up with one full glass of water and wait an hour before eating. Coffee interferes with the uptake as does food.

You will now take levothyroxine for the rest of your life but doses should be gradually increased every six weeks until your TSH is 1 or lower and FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of the ranges.

You should have a blood test every six weeks whilst increasing doses and always make the very earliest appointment (even weeks ahead) so that you always get an a.m. blood test.

Always get a print-out of your results with the ranges. Ranges are important as labs differ and it makes it easier to respond.

Ask GP to test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate at your next blood test as they all have to be optimum. Also request thyroid antibodies to be tested. If these are present, you'd have an Autoimmune Thyroid Disease but treatment is the same as hypothyroidism.

Levothyroxine will be increased by 25mcg every six weeks until your TSH is 1 or lower. Some doctors think that if it is in range we're on sufficient but that's not the case. Try not to worry because when our hormone levels are restored you should feel well again but we have to read, learn and ask questions as it seems doctors are poorly trained re dysfunctions of the thyroid gland.

[JAmanda in reply to shaws]

Great, clear reply - a good one for folk to take to the doctors who are not doing as you say here!

[shaws Administrator in reply to JAmanda]

The following is by one of TUKs Advisers and is also a Researcher:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....

[photocopier in reply to shaws]

Thank you for this

[theriverman]

What are your symptoms?

[shaws Administrator]

As theriverman has suggested 'symptoms' this is a list and you can tick off the ones you have.

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

[greygoose]

A TSH over 16 means that you are very hypo. That means that your thyroid can no-longer make enough thyroid hormone to keep you well.

There is no cure for hypothyroidism, but we take thyroid hormone replacement to keep us alive, and get rid of our symptoms.

However, those labs you have there are not the complete story. You also need your antibodies and nutrients tested:

TPO antibody

Tg antibody

vit D

vit B12

folate

ferritin

Hypos often have low nutrients which make them feel worse. And sometimes high antibodies, which show that their hypothyroidism is autoimmune.

Once you know all those levels, you will be better equiped to make progress. If you post the full results here, people with help you understand. We need the name of the test, as well as the results and the ranges. For example, the one you've called 'T3', looks as if it's a Total T3, not a Free T3, which is the one we're used to seeing.

[Hidden]

"My T3 is 94"

Should that be 9.4?