I (56yo male) moved to France last year and recently had a routine blood screen (mainly for PSA) .
Thankfully PSA was fine but the TSH result was 8.2 (range 0.4-4). I’ve yet to see the dr about the results but my reading of this is that it could indicate hypothyroidism. The only obvious ‘symptom’ is the eyebrow thing but then I’ve always had very thin eyebrows.
The blood test also showed up high cholesterol (7.19) so I’ve started adjusting my diet. I don’t drink or smoke but haven’t been exercising much and my diet could be better.
I’m not quite sure what the next steps are as, although health service in France is very good, you really need to be pro-active. I read about waiting 3 months and having a full thyroid blood test screen done again. Is that the process or should I request another screen now? I also read that <10 with no real symptoms should just be monitored and I don’t really want to take medication if not required.
So any advice appreciated on how to proceed.
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Alba68
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Rising or high cholesterol is a known factor linked to your thyroid isn't working well. Infact it was a prime indicator before the advent of blood tests. TSH of 7.8 is high. Ask your doctor if he/she could test your Ft3 &Ft4. These are that actual Thyroid hormones. TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormine) is the signalling mechanism sent from pituitary to your thyroid which rises when your thyroid needs to produce more.
Also the antibodies for thyroid. TPO and TG.
I'd also ask your doctor to check your ferritin, folate vit D and b12. These are cofactors that can drop when our thyroids aren't working well.
The normal practise is to repeat testing in 3 months unless your actual Thyroid hormones have dropped below range as well.
Thanks for that. Just to clarify, I should ask for test of thyroid hormones now?
- if they are too low then do I wait and test again in 3 months or does that immediately indicate hypothyroidism and I should begin treatment?
- if they look fine then I wait 3 months and get another full thyroid screen test?
TBH I feel fine. No obvious symptoms (well other than the cholesterol and eyebrows (thinning hair on top as well but hey I’m a man in my mid fifties).
I have also gained a bit of weight but am still well in the normal range. It’s only noticeable in the last 5 or so years as I’ve been underweight most of my life but that’s hereditary.
I think if you feel well then that's good. However rising cholesterol & or rising blood pressure are indicators that your body is struggling. So is weight gain. Hypothyroidism cause your bodies system to slow. It's a bit like the throttle on a car. So if it were me I'd get the tests I mentioned above done and post the results. Please include the test ranges....usually figures in brackets.
Its also worth reading up about and I recommend Living with your Thyroid by Barry Durrant Peatfield. You can buy this secondhand. Knowledge is power and will help you to make an informed decision.
A TSH of 8.2 indicates that your thyroid is failing. TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is a signal from your pituitary gland in the brain in response to low levels of your thyroid hormones, which are T4 and T3. It basically signals your thyroid to produce more hormones, but if it cannot do so, the TSH will rise as a result and indicate a problem.
You need to have a proper thyroid function test, which will measure TSH, T4 and T3. You can also measure your TPO antibodies, if they are high this could be indicative of Hashimoto's disease (most common form of hypothyroidism).
Your high cholesterol level is a classical sign of hypothyroidism. Thyroid hormones are responsible for your metabolism, so they process things such as glucose and fat. If you have a lack of hormones (and in particularly T3, which is the active hormone), you lipid (fat) metabolism is slowed down and your liver cannot clear the cholesterol efficiently from the circulation, hence your levels will rise. This is NOT a dietary problem, it is a metabolic problem and once you are on replacement thyroid therapy (most common one is levothyroxine) and on the correct dose, your cholesterol will come down. Many physicians are keen to prescribe statins for high cholesterol, but in the case of hypothyroid patients, this would be treating just the symptoms and not the underlying cause, which is metabolic and a lack of thyroid hormones.
Even if you don't have many other thyroid symptoms at present (apart from thin eyebrow and elevated cholesterol), your body is still slowing down and struggling with the low amounts of thyroid hormones. Many people will gain weight, have low energy, hair loss, aching muscles, sensitivity to cold and blood pressure can rise. Therefore it would actually be good to address the lack of hormones as early as possible, before more symptoms arise and more damage is done. Thyroid hormones are key hormones that influence many other processes in your body, hence a good balance is essential.
I did wonder about the cholesterol as, like many people, my diet could be better but I didn’t think it was terrible. I’ve been researching meals to reduce cholesterol and thinking I would just need to eat salads all the time
I had the results 2 weeks ago and only today read that the cholesterol might be linked to hypothyroidism. I guess in some ways that’s good as if I can treat the hypo then (fingers crossed) it also treats the high cholesterol. However bit concerned about having to go on medication, possibly for the rest of my life.
Well, no one really wants to go on life-long medication if they don't have to, but sadly you will have no choice, if you want to prevent further illnesses down the line. And with the right dose and supplementations to support your metabolism, your quality of life can still be quite good. The important thing is to be proactive and tackle the problem head on, it is much harder to turn things around once more problems arise and the problem has gone a lot worse.
I know it can be very daunting and overwhelming at the beginning and you are learning a lot of new things, but this forum is very helpful and supportive, so you are not on your own. I have been hypothyroid for over 20 years now and I am feeling quite good, despite having to take medication for my thyroid. I exercise regularly, I also take some key supplementation (magnesium, Vitamin B complex and Vitamin D3 +K2) and test my thyroid levels once a year (TSH, T4 and T3). It can be done, it can be quite hard at the beginning, but it will get better in time.
I totally agree with Tina_Maria when she says that no-one wants to go on lifelong meds.
If your results show your thyroid is failing, rather than worrying about having to take medication every day for the rest of your life, think of it as something that your body needs to survive, much like food and water. No-one worries about eating and drinking to stay alive. 🙂
It is daunting at first but you soon get into a "habit". Like putting the kettle on before you sit down to watch your favourite telly programme 🙂
That is the process in the UK, but I'm not so sure about France. When I was diagnosed, my TSH was arouund 11, but the FT4 and FT3 had also been tested - which it usually is in France - and I was put on levo straight away.
Sometime after that it bothered me that I hadn't had a second test. And I did wonder if I'd been misdiagnosed. But my antibodies were very high, so I guess not. Thing is, the TSH is not a very good indicator of thyroid status because it can be affected by so many things. So, the second test is a safe-guard to make sure your TSH wasn't elevated because of an infection, or something like that. And I now know that in Europe, it's very hard to get diagnosed as hypo if you aren't. So, I wouldn't worry about that.
Anyway, when you next see the doctor, s/he will tell you what the next step is - retest in six weeks to three months? Or directly on to levo?
I think the reason T4 and T3 weren’t tested is that it was just a general blood screen. I haven’t had one done before afaik and they do it every 2 yrs in France. Still waiting for dr to contact me about it as it’s different from the UK in that you go to a lab to get the test done, they email the results later that day and then dr gets in touch if he thinks needs a follow up. Given he hasn’t followed up I presumed that he maybe doesn’t think anything needs done. However as I mentioned you need to be very proactive in France unless it is an emergency.
Often these test results just get file if they are within the ranges. Probably why no contact has been made. Many doctor are not aware of the link of rising cholesterol and failing thyroid output. So I have no doubt you would need to be proactive over this. Or you could check if the plan is to rerun thyroid tests in 3 months. Wait and see as you feel well at the moment.
Ummm... yes, I do know how it works in France. I've lived here for 50 years.
But, I've never had a general blood screen in all those years. So maybe it's just your doctor does it that way.
If I were you, I'd get in touch with him, because if your TSH is over 8, you're pretty hypo. And that's not good. You should follow it up as soon as possible. You really need to be proactive in this case.
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