New to all this

[mrsdolittle]

Hi, im after some advice please.I've just had a blood test come back showing that I have a low thyroid reading, The Dr is doing another test in 6 weeks to make sure? what's she making sure of? Also I have Multiple sclerosis and am having constant UTI's at the moment and am going for pelvic scans to see whats going on, i'm on anti spasm meds for my bladder. could the UTI's be connected to the Thyroid problem? I really wouldn't pass an MOT at the moment ! thanks for reading.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

The Dr is doing another test in 6 weeks to make sure? what's she making sure of?

TSH can be raised due to non-thyroidal illness. It's usual to repeat the test, if your TSH remains raised then that should give a diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

What was your result? Post it if you have it, along with the reference range.

If you don't know, pop along to the surgery and ask for a print out. In the UK we're legally entitled to our test results. Start keeping a record now, it will be immensely helpful in the future.

When booking thyroid tests, we advise:

* Book the first appointment of the morning. This is because TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. If we are looking for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, or looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction then we need TSH to be as high as possible.

* Fast overnight - have your evening meal/supper as normal the night before but delay breakfast on the day of the test and drink water only until after the blood draw. Eating may lower TSH, caffeine containing drinks affect TSH.

* When on thyroid hormone replacement, leave off Levo for 24 hours before blood draw, if taking NDT or T3 then leave that off for 8-12 hours. Take after the blood draw. Taking your dose too close to the blood draw will give false high results, leaving any longer gap will give false low results.

These are patient to patient tips which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists.

For a full picture, the following tests are necessary but rarely done at primary level:

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

[mrsdolittle in reply to SeasideSusie]

thank you, thas very helpful

[Marz]

Also check levels of B12 - Folate - Ferritin - VitD - often low with MS and Thyroid. How was your MS diagnosed ?

Low T3 - the active thyroid hormone is involved in the maintenance of the bladder lining - the endothelial cells. Make sure they test more than the TSH.

[mrsdolittle in reply to Marz]

Thanks.i've had ms for 21 years, diagnosed with mri and lumbar puncture. i had scarlet fever last june and i've been really poorly since and I knew it was more than my m.s. i don't know if the scarlett fever triggered it.or its just a coincidence.

[Marz in reply to mrsdolittle]

So have you been tested for B12 - Folate - Ferritin - VitD ? Always obtain copies of all your test results with ranges - they are legally yours 😊

You may have been Hypo for years - try obtaining your records and see what has been tested over the years and what has been missed/ignored ...

[mrsdolittle]

thanks

[boru]

Low thyroid definitely could lead to an inability to fight infection. If you have diverticulosis disease upon scans, ask to rule out a urinary fistula. Very hard to diagnose but a simple test is the poppyseed test : 50mg of poppyseeds with yogurt; collect urine for 72 hours for any signs of partially digested poppyseeds or full poppyseeds. 100 % indicative of a fistula despite if the scans cannot find it.