In the past I have been diagnosed with Graves’ disease. I wanted to see how I was doing as have been feeling tired. I did a medichecks panel and the image below shows the results.
If my antibodies are now in range, what does this mean? Do I still have an AI condition? Or was I wrongly diagnosed in the first place?
Thank you.
Well, it doesn't mean anything, because if you were correctly diagnosed in the first place, it would have been Grave's antibodies - TRAB and TSI - that they tested. Not TPOab and TgAB, which are Hashi's antibodies.
TPO & TG antibodies are present with Hashimoto’s & can also be present Graves. They are both autoimmune.
Trab or TSI are accepted as positive for Graves.
From a previous post you said you were on a very low 5mg dose, so it would be unusual for 5mg dose especially if initial dose would be enough to treat high level typical of Graves.
I can believe you were mis-diagnosed as Dr tend to call anyone with the low TSH as having hyper & therefore Graves, it is they most common cause of hyper. Doctors treat hyper in the same way, which is a limited course or antithyroid & then attempt for remission. If hyper levels then return usually permanent treatments are suggested.
Low TSH doesn’t alway confirm hyper your current results show low TSH and “euthyroid” levels & you FT3 is quite low.
Can you tell us a bit more about how your treatment progressed? what if any is it treated now.
Do you take any other medications - including supplements.
Melanie the antibodies that have been tested are for hypothyroidism otherwise known as Hashimotos. The antibodies for Graves are different.Do you know if they tested TRAB and TSI antibodies when they diagnosed Graves?
It is important to know as hashimotos hypothyroidism often starts with a hyper period that mimics Graves. The blood tests for thyroid function will look hyper but this is transitory with hashimotos. The only way to tell is by testing antibodies.
Do you have the blood results from when you were diagnosed?
It could be that you are not Graves and that you are really hypothyroid.
We see a small, but steady, number of Hashimoto’s patients misdiagnosed as Graves if they were tested during early transient hyperthyroid type phase that often happens early in Hashimoto’s
See if any medic has actually tested TSI or Trab antibodies at any point
I am one of the members SlowDragon is referring to. I was initially diagnosed with Graves due to ‘hyper’ symptoms (including TED, a thyroid eye condition) but was encouraged by forum members to test privately & antibodies clearly showed I was under-active with Hashimotos. My Endo is still adamant that I exchanged one condition to the other (this can happen sometimes), but this can’t be proven as I didn’t have TRAB and TSI tests to confirm the initial Graves diagnosis.
Hello Melanie :
Graves is an auto immune disease, once a Graves patient, always a Graves patient.
Graves tends to wax and wane throughout one's life, there is no cure, and all the Anti Thyroid medication, like Carbimazole or PTU does is buy you time during these difficult phases when your immune system response has been triggered and decides to attack your body.
When Graves attacks the thyroid the symptoms experienced can be life threatening because the thyroid is a major gland and the body's engine and that's when you end up at the doctors and getting a diagnosis of Graves Disease.
Most current research is suggesting that the longer one stays on the AT medication the better - though the NHS currently only offer a 15-18 month window with AT drugs.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/338...
The most well rounded of all the websites I visited is that of Elaine Moore's Graves Disease Foundation and you might like to dip in there and read fully around more natural, alternative treatment options, and what you can do for yourself as Graves tends to be stress and anxiety driven AI disease and driven by stress and anxiety.
Do you have there a copy of your original results for TSH, T3 and T4 at diagnosis and alongside this there should be the medical evidence of which antibodies were found positive and over range nd the medical evidence on which a treatment plan and drug requirement is based.
For Graves Disease we are looking at either a TSI ( a stimulating ) or a TR ab ( a thyroid receptor blocking ) being over range and positive :
Anti-thyroid antibodies 
Thyroid antibodies – is there a point testing?
thyroid antibody test 
Antibodies and ultimate destruction of the thyroid 
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 
