At what level TSH is Hypothyroidism diagnosed in your country?

[msmono]

So lots of UK labs use up to 4.5 as being normal but don't treat until it over 10.

What is it in your country?

(have deleted my other post on this)

[humanbean]

I have heard, but have no proof, that hypothyroidism treatment is begun at TSH much lower than 10 in some parts of Eastern Europe and in some countries which were part of the former Soviet bloc. Also, I think Germany might have a more compassionate attitude to hypothyroidism.

I do remember reading that some people with thyroid problems who live or lived in the UK but were citizens of other EU countries would go back to their country of origin to get treatment because they got no help from the NHS. A few of them got gasps of disbelief from their home country endocrinologists that their blindingly obvious symptoms were completely ignored and the patient dismissed despite TSH being over the range.

[msmono in reply to humanbean]

Exactly, I remember reading this too but my G.P. was easily able to dispute this with 'I'm sure that's not the case', so I'm trying to grab some hard evidence and google has lead me a right merry dance lol!

[humanbean]

One massive problem for us in the UK is the refusal to consider T3 as part of normal thyroid evaluation and treatment.

I found this in the 2012 European Thyroid Association Guidelines - I haven't actually checked if these guidelines are still current in Europe :

[My emphasis]

Patients with treated hypothyroidism frequently experience residual symptoms, express lack of satisfaction with their treatment, and seek explanations and alternatives to L-T4. In Europe, as many as 1 million patients may fall in this category, though the aetiology of this phenomenon is unclear. Large population studies have shown that patients taking L-T4 often have abnormal thyroid biochemistry [8], either due to compliance issues or inadequate medical supervision. How clinicians manage patients on thyroid hormone replacement who continue to have symptoms, varies widely. Exclusion of other diagnoses is a sensible starting point, but anecdotally it appears not to be done systematically or at all. Adding T3 to L-T4 is an avenue which some physicians pursue, an approach that is often driven by patients themselves. Prescription habits for T3 differ in Europe. Data from the UK indicate that 0.3% of all thyroid hormone prescriptions were for T3 [9], while in a district in Germany, 8.9% of thyroid hormone prescriptions included T3 [10]. So, the clinical problem of ‘on L-T4 and still tired' is real and widespread, cannot be ignored, and clinical practice is variable, which leads to the conclusion that there is a need for guidance.

Link : ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Angel_of_the_North]

I've always wondered what is point is of having ranges and then ignoring them - and only ignoring them in one direction. If your TSH is a little under range, you can be pretty sure your GP will panic that you are hyper, but same GP won't even raise an eyebrow if your TSH is double the top of the range. Does not compute.

[msmono in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Soo ridiculous! I hadn’t thought about how they just ignore them in one direction!

[Lesleyg13]

This Mercola article was written in 2010:

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

"And the TSH range for "normal" keeps changing!

In an effort to improve diagnosis of thyroid disease, in 2003 the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) revised the "normal" TSH range as 0.3 to 3.042. The previous range was defined as 0.5 and 5.0, which red-flagged only the most glaring hypothyroidism cases.

However, the new range is still not wholly reliable as the sole indicator of a sulky thyroid gland. You simply cannot identify one TSH value that is "normal" for every person, regardless of age, health, or other factors.

Having said that, though, most physicians who carefully follow this condition recognize that any TSH value greater than 1.5 could be a strong indication that an underactive thyroid is present."

[msmono in reply to Lesleyg13]

Oh wow, thats so interesting. Thanks for posting it.

[msmono]

I just found this too which mentions other countries: tpauk.com/main/article/news...

[Lesleyg13 in reply to msmono]

Great find, well done!

[Lora7again]

It is 10 in the UK they like to see us really suffer😢

[Redcat11]

I’ve often thought about this issue. I have friends who are migrant workers here in the UK. They have issues here as they are not classed in their particular cases as being hypothyroid when having bloods done in the UK. So they all get their testing done when they visit back home (Poland) and also obtain their meds there too.