Newly diagnosed!

[Allyblue]

Hi all I am new. I have been started on 50mcg levothyroxine since I have been given a diagnosis today of hypothyroidism with a TSH of 32 (0.27 - 4.20) and free T4 10.6 (12 - 22) and free T3 of 3.2 (3.1 - 6.8)

I had no idea how unwell I really was until now but I knew something was wrong as I was tired a lot of the time and felt very emotionally low.

Hope to learn lots more during my journey to better health! And thank you for letting me join!

[Lora7again]

You must feel dreadful .. when my TSH was 9 I couldn't get out of bed ... hopefully you will start to feel better but it will take a few months until your body fully absorbs the medication

[Allyblue in reply to Lora7again]

Hi! I am sort of in shock over it, I had no idea I had hypothyroidism. It's not in the family history so when I was told it wasn't sinking in. I went to the doctor with symptoms of fatigue and feeling low and some others I cannot remember and I was told after the results came back x

[HashiFedUp]

Wow that’s a high TSH. Hopefully soon the meds will restore you and they absorb well. Good luck.

[Allyblue in reply to HashiFedUp]

Thank you ever so much! x

[Treepie]

Have a look at Thyroid UK web site for more information .You should be retested in 6-8 weeks .Most important is FT3 but it is unlikely that your GP will test it again as they rely entirely on TSH which is a pituitary hormone not a thyroid hormone. Many on this forum use private testing .Also important to know ferritin,folate,B12 and D3 as without optimum levels you will not get the full benefit from the levothyroxine.

[shaws Administrator]

You should have a blood test every six weeks when newly diagnosed, and this is the procedure to follow:-

Always get the very earliest blood draw and it should be a fasting test. Allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of levo and test and take afterwards.

This procedure helps to keep the TSH at its highest as that seems to be all the doctors look at (TSH is from the pituitary gland and rises if thyroid gland is struggling).

Ask GP to also test B12, Vit D , iron, ferritin and folate as we usually have deficiencies.

The aim is to get TSH to 1 or lower (although many doctors think once you are somewhere in the range (even the highest number) that you're on a sufficient dose. TSH changes throughout the 24 hours.

We can recover (my TSH was 100 when I diagnosed myself as doctor phoned three days earlier stating I had no problems).

The TSH is from the pituitary gland and rises to try and flag up the thyroid gland to produce more hormones.

All tests for thyroid hormones have to be at the earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose and test and take it afterwards. This helps keep the TSH at its highest as it drops throughout the day and may mean you might get a reduction in dose.

Levo should be taken on an empty stomach (usually first thing) food/coffee can interfere with the uptake of levothyroxine and wait an hour before eating.

Always get a print-out of your results with the ranges. Ranges are important and helps members to respond.