Am I getting better?

[henrythewasp]

I had a Thyroid check recently and was told my Thyroid had moved to borderline and needs to be checked again in 6 months rather than the 12.Is there any chance my Thyroid can recover?

[fuchsia-pink]

Hi Henry. It's unlikely - especially if you have Hashi's (which is the single biggest cause of hypothyroidism). Do you have your actual blood results (and reference ranges, which vary from lab to lab)? And how do you feel?

I'm quite suspicious of "borderline" - so often it means "your TSH is out of range and you're probably feeling awful but my ludicrous guidelines say I mustn't help you get better until your TSH is waay out of range and I don't know enough to challenge this"

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

henrythewasp

Do you have a print out of your results? If not then ring the surgery and ask the receptionist to arrange to print them and say you'll go and collect then at their convenience. Or ask for thwem to be emailed to you. If you have online access to your results you will be able to check them right away.

Obtain your results plus reference ranges for, hopefully, TSH, FT4 and FT3. Then post your new results on the forum, plus your previous results, and tell us what dose of Levo you are on.

We will then be able to understand what they mean by "moved to borderline".

If you were optimally dosed before and you felt well with a nice low TSH and FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of their ranges, and now you've got a higher in range TSH with lower FT4 and FT3 then you probably need a dose increase.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking?

Do you always get same brand of levothyroxine?

What vitamin supplements?

Essential to get thyroid tests as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking any thing apart from water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Guidelines on dose of levothyroxine is 1.6mcg levothyroxine per kilo of your weight....rare to need less

[greygoose]

But, you've already got a diagnosis of hypo, haven't you? And, you are taking thyroid hormone replacement, aren't you? So, how on earth did you suddenly become 'borderline'? 'Borderline' what? 'Borderline' on the right dose of levo? I'm afraid that doesn't make any sense.

I presume your doctor does know you're taking levo? So, any change in your numbers would be down to the levo you're taking. Not because your thyroid has done any changing.

Or, by 'thyroid', does he mean your TSH? A lot of GPs are ignorant enough to think that the TSH is a thyroid hormone - and the main thyroid hormone, at that! lol TSH is a pituitary hormone, a chemical messenger between the pituitary and the thyroid. And the pituitary changes the amount of TSH it makes according to the amount of thyroid hormone it detects in the blood. If your 'thyroid' is now 'borderline' that would suggest to me that you're under-medicated. Because 'borderline' usually means a TSH between the top of the range and 10. Which is much too high.

But, that has nothing to do with how your thyroid is performing, because your thyroid isn't performing at all anymore, because you are taking levo. Taking levo shuts down the thyroid's natural production.

So, your 'thyroid' now being 'bordline' just means that you are under-medicated, but not as under-medicated as you used to be. And, it acutally has nothing to do with your actual thyroid. And, your GP is about as ignorant as they come and should not be put in charge of thyroid patients.

[tattybogle in reply to greygoose]

If henry is already on Levo ? then, from Average GP perspective, 'borderline' is more likely to mean ' computer say's borderline overmedicated' because TSH is lower than they would like , or FT4 higher than they would like. = panic , and reduce Levo.

I can't imagine many doctors would be voluntarily going to the added expense of 6 mth retest for a near top end TSH or bottom end FT4 , since usually it's like getting blood out of a stone, and they seem perfectly happy to leave people undermedicated without feeling the need to do anything about it.

I suppose it is possible henry's found a really caring GP ........... Oh ...... flying pig .

[greygoose in reply to tattybogle]

Oh, goodness knows what a GP means! I don't really think they know, either. 'Borderline' is such a meaningless word because it can mean what you want it to mean. But, I suppose, more likely to mean over-medicated than under. But, I haven't heard it used in that respect. Without the actual numbers, it's all a guessing game, anyway.

[henrythewasp in reply to tattybogle]

My GP has been very good after the hell I have kicked up.

[tattybogle in reply to henrythewasp]

That's good to hear . Hang on to him then, so he doesn't fly off