I want help converting tpoab

[Lauranchina]

Hi I am wondering if any one here can help here convert 1300 u/ml to iu/ml . I’m from Australia originally and don’t know how I can see it in the way I’ve always been tested for .

Thank you

[greygoose]

I have to say, I can't see the point of doing any sort of conversion. Either you're inside the range or you aren't. Nothing else matters.

You're only positive for Hashi's if your antibodies are over-range. It doesn't matter how high they are in-range, that has no significance. Antibodies fluctuate all the time and may go in and out of range. But, once you've had an over-range result, there's really no point in retesting them.

[Lauranchina in reply to greygoose]

Hi it does Matter to me, I worked hard to bring me tpoabDown to low then in matter ok months it shoots up very high higher then it was when I was diagnosed

[greygoose in reply to Lauranchina]

But, that's what antibodies do. It doesn't mean anything. They fluctuate all the time, independant of anything you do. You may have thought you brought them down, but it's highly unlikely you did. Do you know what TPO antibodies do? They don't attack the thyroid, as some believe. They just clean up traces of TPO in the blood after an immune system attack on the thyroid.

[Lauranchina]

I’ve had it for ten years it went from 150 down to 80 then before leaving Australia was actually 75 I came to india and it shit up to 1300 so definitely even a gp I consulted other told me that’s not right

[greygoose in reply to Lauranchina]

But that's the way it works for everyone. Antibodies fluctuate. It doesn't mean anything much, it does mean that your Hashi's is any better or any worse. The antibodies could disappear altogether but you would still have Hashi's, it doesn't go away.

The important numbers are the FT4 and FT3, what were yours when your antibodies were 1300?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

What are your TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 results

What replacement thyroid hormones are you currently taking

Are you, or were on gluten free diet

Antibodies are just the vacuum cleaners cleaning up after an autoimmune attack …..many thyroid patients find TPO antibodies do frequently reduce slowly on gluten free diet and/dairy free diet if food intolerance is an issue

[Lauranchina]

Hi I am gluten and dairy free have been for years and my anti bodies were 160 references levels in Australia is 39. I had no issue until I tested in india. We all just did get over Covid. About six weeks ago . And suddenly it has risen to 1300 u/ml buy in Australia it was 160 iu/ml I was wondering if their maybe was a different conversion

[tattybogle in reply to Lauranchina]

iu/ml and u/ml are the same unit of measurement. it's just a different way of writing it, it means 'international units'/ml but some places just write 'u' rather than 'iu' ~ probably because of the potential for the 'i' to be confused with '1'

What is the lab range for the Indian test ? and what was if for the Australian one ?

I suspect they are pretty much the same . probably over 30 or 50 ish being 'positive'

TPOab will go high after the thyroid has been attacked by the immune system ,, they didn't attack it .. they are just an indication that some damage has occurred. When a part of the immune system attacks the thyroid , some Thyroid Peroxidase (that should only be inside the thyroid) ends up outside in the bloodstream and TPOab then attach to it as markers saying "this Thyroid Peroxidase shouldn't be here , somebody clean it up "

TPOab are like 'clean up' labels.

I had >3000 [0-50] at diagnosis .. years later they were 'only' 195 [0-50] but i had done absolutely nothing to get them to reduce .. i still smoked , ate too much sugar , ate junk food , ate gluten, got over stressed etc etc.

If my immune system attacks my thyorid again and i happen to test them at around that time , i would expect them to be higher again ..but i doubt they will ever go as high as >3000 again.. because i've had autoimmune thyroid disease for over 20 yrs now , so i probablt have much less thyroid tissue left to damage... so there is less thyroid peroxidase in there to dump into the blood .. so there will be less for the TPOab to fasten on to . So the TPOab result will be less .

That is my current understanding of antibodies , but it's quite hard to learn much 'cos nobody seems interested in doing any proper research on thyroid antibodies. TPOab /TGab/ all three sorts of TRab (blocking /stimulating /neutral)

There is a link to a huge , (but fascinating) paper about antibodies on this post healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

And ThyroidPatientsCanada is a good place to understand more about the role of different antibodies in autoimmune thyroid disease thyroidpatients.ca/2020/04/...

[Lauranchina in reply to tattybogle]

Hi thanks, I ended up seeing the Endo who told me that he thinks Covid caused my levels to increase so high. He says he’s gas patients who has gas Covid abs tested tpo and they have been very high . Told me just to keep taking medicine and re test in three months

[tattybogle in reply to Lauranchina]

Good plan . Let us know what happens . It wouldn't surprise me if it turns out covid infections can cause increase in TPOab.

There have been a few reports showing periods of transient thyroiditis , and weird thyroid blood results following Covid infections.

[Lauranchina in reply to tattybogle]

Yes that’s what the endo said to he said he wasn’t worried. I will keep you up to date I knew it must have been something that happened recently because I actually reduced me levels a lot by following a strict diet.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Lauranchina,

Both i and iu are abbreviations for the same thing - an International Unit.

Many organizations advise not to include the "i" because, at least when printed as a capital "I", it can be mistaken for l (lower-case L) for litre, or 1 (number).

I am not at all convinced that all TPO antibody tests have results which can be directly compared one to another. Even if the results are expressed in the same units. It is bad enough that TSH, Free and Total T3 and T3 tests all have their own reference intervals which vary by laboratory. But I suspect antibody tests are even less consistent - even if it is claimed how good they are.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to helvella]

Lauranchina,

Have a look at the abbreviations list in my Vade Mecum document.

helvella - Vade Mecum for Thyroid

The term vade mecum means:

1. A referential book such as a handbook or manual.

2. A useful object, constantly carried on one’s person.

Please don't get put off by the number of pages!

Not everything is in this one document - my major medicines document is still separate!

From Dropbox:

dropbox.com/s/vp5ct1cwc03bl...

From Google Drive:

drive.google.com/file/d/1ZW...