advice

[Houst]

diagnosed with over active thyroid in January. Was prescribed 20mg carbazole after recent blood test am now in 30mg.

This is all new to me - not sure effects of this, don’t know levels etc etc - any help/insight etc welcomed

[PurpleNails Administrator]

Welcome to forum.

Have you been referred to endocrinologist?

Do you know what tests you’ve had? Obtain a copy of your results with ranges.

Important to confirm why you are hyper, it can be transient hyper.

Read the patient information given with carbimazole carefully. It will explain what unusual side affects to be vigilant for (they are very rare) but you should be aware.

[Houst in reply to PurpleNails]

I was loosing worthy rapidly, had blood test January which showed over active thyroid - prescribed 20mg carbimazole - last blood test (last week) obviously showed them something as now increased to 30mg - is this high?? Is it normal dosage for overactive thyroid

[PurpleNails Administrator in reply to Houst]

20mg is a lower level starting dose. 30 - 40 is more common. Usually dose is lowered after initial 6 weeks, but without results I cant explain what doctor is judging treatment by.

Your results might not have responded as expected or your doctor might be focusing on wrong test. Eg TSH and not FT4 & FT3.

Doctors don't always complete a full test. So it's important the right things are tested.

[pennyannie]

Hello Houst and welcome to the forum :

In order to help you better understand what is going on we do need to some blood test results and ranges at diagnosis and which antibody was found positive and over range in your bloods and the medical evidence needed to prescribe Carbimazole which is an Anti Thyroid drug.

What symptoms took you to the doctors in the first place ?

All the AT drug does is semi-block your new daily thyroid hormone production and hopefully relieve symptoms being experienced - but as your dose has been increased - presume your symptoms were not alleviated and your T3 and T4 blood levels were still out of range at this second set of bloods and why your dose of the AT drug increased.

Do you have access to your medical records held at your surgery as you should find all this information on there and if you then share it all on here we can explain better what it all means - if not ask for printed copies from the doctor's receptionist and ask to register for on-line access going forward as it is much easier reading all this in your own time.

What we need to see is the original TSH, T3 and T4 reading and range at diagnosis plus the antibody found in your blood which will likely look like a TPO - TgAB - TRab - TSI - and numbers and possibly reading something like a TSH Thyroid Receptor ab ?

Do you feel any better on this higher dose - there is an alternative to Carbimazole - PTU for short - Propylthiouracil - and all the AT drug does is put you into a holding position much like a plane waiting for a landing slot - while we wait for your immune system to calm down.

If with no obvious sign of a goitre or swelling in the neck or trouble swallowing or breathing the reason for this phase of ill health is likely one of your immune system having turned to attack your body rather than defend it -

and the two most common Auto Immune diseases that attack the thyroid and eyes are Graves and Hashimoto's :

Both these AI diseases can start off in a similar way and why we need to know which antibody was found in your bloods at diagnosis as the treatment for Graves is different to that for Hashimoto's.

With Graves Disease the Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 keep rising and if not medicated can cause life threatening issues and put undue pressure on your heart and body.

With Hashimoto's the T3 and T4 do not keep rising and the ' hyper ' symptoms transient as the T3 and T4 fall back down into range by themselves - but your thyroid is left damaged and with repeated attacks from your immune system your thyroid becomes disabled and with reduced ability you become hypothyroid and require thyroid hormone replacement.

Hope that helps explain a little bit about what might be going on:

[Houst in reply to pennyannie]

What results am I looking for? On my records it says:

serum t4

Thyroid function

TSH Level

serum through

Serum free triiodothyronine

[pennyannie in reply to Houst]

We need readings and ranges for serum T4 + TSH and + the serum triiodothyronine which is T3 - and these 3 blood tests taken together is usually called a thyroid function test :

[Houst in reply to pennyannie]

Serum T4 - 25.9

TSH - 9.51 (not sure that’s right but record not easy to read)

serum tri - 8.8

[pennyannie in reply to Houst]

Any ranges there for the above ?

Any TPO / TgAb / Trab / TSI- TSH Thyroid Receptor readings >< numbers ?

Was this your first blood test and when diagnosed ?

[Houst in reply to pennyannie]

These are the tests I have had

Tests

[pennyannie in reply to Houst]

I'm sorry but when I open this screen shot it's all distorted and I can't make head nor tail of the report - so you'll have to type it in :

The results above that your typed in with a T4 @t 25.9 and a T3 @ 8.80 was this your first set of blood tests and when diagnosed with your symptoms being just the weight loss ?

[Houst in reply to pennyannie]

Oh sorry - the results were from my second blood test last week when they increase my prescription - I’ll try and ind ones before

[pennyannie in reply to Houst]

OK so a T4 @ 25.90 and a T3 @ 8.80 are the 2nd set of bloods after being on 20 mcg Carbimazole since January - and these results prompted an increase in the AT drug to 30 mcg.

So we are missing your initial blood test at diagnosis and when first prescribed the AT drug plus whichever antibody was responsible for this immune system attack.

[Houst in reply to pennyannie]

My T4 at first test looks to be 43.6

Serum trii was 18.7

[pennyannie in reply to Houst]

Ok - this all is starting to make sense now - have you seen any tests for the antibodies - probably looking like TPO - TgAB - TRab - TSI or anything saying TSH and/or Thyroid Receptor readings <> ?

[Houst]

wow thank you - it was the immune system.

I had covid in September and from then I started to loose weight, initially put down to Covid but by time got to December I realised something wasn’t right.

I think I can access notes through NHS - I’ll have a look.

[pennyannie in reply to Houst]

I'm guessing you meant this message for me ?

Ensure you reply within the forum members reply to you and their name comes up when you start replying as then they get notified they have a message and come back to read and reply as necessary.

Just by luck I was looking through posts and saw your reply.

Ok then lets see what you find on the NHS website hopefully both your original and more recent TSH, T3 and T4 readings and ranges + the all important antibody which is causing the immune system response.

New information requires a new post so all forum members can read and advise and we can look back if we need to - as you can by just pressing your Profile button which takes you back to everything you have written and all your replies.