How to find type of UAT

Hi all. I was diagnosed with UAT, and given the usual Levothyroxine after a blood test, but haven't been able to find out if it's auto immune related or just basically underactive for another reason. Have asked drs but found them very unhelpful, to the point they made feel I was wasting their time. Want to research myself about my condition but I'm stuck as don't know if the UAT is due to Hashimotos which I believe is the auto imune disorder or whether my thyroid is just damaged and therefore underactive. How did other people find out the type of UAT they had? Be grateful for any pointers. Thanks. 😊

[greygoose]

Blood tests. You need your antibodies tested, for a start. Both TPO and Tg antibodies.

Unfortunately, doctors don't learn about autoimmune thyroid conditiosn in med school - if fact, they don't learn much about thyroid at all. So, it wasn't that the doctors you asked were being deliberately unhelpful, they just didn't know - and couldn't admit it! After all, what you don't learn in med school, doesn't exist, does it! lol

So, you could ask doctors for antibody tests but they will only do the TPOab, if they do anything at all. So, might be better to get private tests and get them both done.

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

Thanks, I have my previous blood test results so will check if these were tested. Presumably it whould show up as 'tpo' or 'tg'? Have tried to ask Dr for full tests or referral to endo but told they only do that if you have thyroid cancer! Seems like a postcode lottery as to whether you get a Dr that understands the full problems associated with UAT. Really appreciate you taking the time to reply. 👍

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

Well, they can go under all sorts of names: anti-thyroid antibodies; Thyroid Peroxidase antibodies; antithyroid microsomal antibodies... But it's very unlikely that you would have the Tg antibodies tested. The NHS doesn't recognise them as an indicator of Hashi's, even though they are.

It's not a postal lottery, no, it's almost an impossibility. Doctors just don't know anything about thyroid - not even endos. Most endos are diabetes specialists with a few weird notions about thyroid. GPs just don't get taught about the thyroid in med school. I'm 75, and have seen many, many doctors in my life - I've moved around a lot - and only one of them even had a clue about thyroid. If fact, I had many classic symptoms of hypo since the age of about 8, but didn't even get tested til I was 55 - and that was by accident! And that's in two different countries - England and France. So, it's pretty much a universal problem. Just worse in the UK due to the penny-pinching of the NHS!

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

Oh wow, such a shame there aren't more specialists. The Dr that originally diagnosed me told me to look up UAT on the internet....well you can imagine how much fun that was...you could scare yourself silly. I'll keep on researching what's best for me. Thanks again.

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

Pity he doesn't do a bit of 'looking up' himself! He might learn a thing or two.