Advice

[Sasah]

Lastest thyroid bloods in. Before i think about starting levo. But whatbdoes it mean when you have high T4 and T3 but a high TSH.? Is high T3&4 production not good. I thought if TSH was high T3&4 are generally low. My results

TsH 4.6 (0.35-4.9) last one 5.3

T4 15.8 (9.1-17.6)

T3 5 (2.4-6)

How shoukd i interpret this. Do i need levo if my T4 is so high?

[tattybogle]

you can overthink this 'till the cows come home' Sasah, but the only way you will ever find out if taking levo will help whatever symptoms you have, is to try it ~ and to try it for long enough to get to a stable dose that keep's TSH around 1ish or slightly below . and at the same time make sure your Vit B12 / Folate /Ferritin /Vit D are optimal too .

so it's an experiment .. and it's a 'several months long' experiment at the least .. more likely a 'year and half long' experiment

but you have good reason to try the experiment ... you 've had half your thyroid removed .... and now you have a TSH that is too high , indicating that your pituitary (brain) is 'asking' your thyroid to try and make a bit more T4/T3 cos the cells of your body are not quite happy with the amount it is currently getting ... so a trial of replacement thyroid hormone is a totally logical thing to try if you have symptoms that could be caused by hypothyroidism.

don't get so hung up on the numbers, or the theory of how it works..... in reality no one can predict what 'x' dose of levo will do to TSH / fT4 / fT3 levels in any individual .

What happens in 'a real life individual ' rather than 'in theory' is often not logical at all ... (eg . my TSH was certainly not logical when i started on levo ~ it stayed more or less the same (2.5 ish) on 50mcg and 100mcg and 150mcg , then suddenly decided to drop much lower on 175mcg ... my fT4 level slowly rose with each dose increase)

yes~ you currently have a 'reasonable' amounts of T4 / T3 , but it's not necessarily enough for what your body is asking for .. hence your TSH being too high .. it's 'asking' for more. that is what tSH is .. an instruction to thyroid to make more T4 /T3

so if you want to know if levo will improve your symptoms , try it and see what happens . and if it turns out (after a year or so~ once you've got onto a stable dose and TSH is 1 ish) that levo + optimal vitamins does not improve your specific symptoms ~then you can go back to life without it , and be no worse off than you are now .

[Sasah in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks for advice. At the tgyrpid charity and GP say i should getbto pre surgury stats. So TSH round 2.5

[tattybogle in reply to Sasah]

don't overfocus on numbers ... yes aiming for pre surgery levels is a reasonable aim for starters ,,, but taking levo changes things , so don't be surprised if it turns out you need a slightly lower TSH to feel well when taking levo

( this is because once on levo we get relatively higher fT4 / relatively lower fT3 and relatively lower TSH than you wehave when the healthy thyroid is making them for us )

[Sasah in reply to tattybogle]

Will my hair come back...improve. its thinning especially around the hairline and also snapped and brittle. It is causing me great distress.

[tattybogle in reply to Sasah]

hair loss / problems are very common in hypothyroidism,,, some get better , some don't

but hair isn't everything .. having enough energy to do life , and improving anxiety so you can accept and enjoy it , is way more important than hair .

sorry if that sounds harsh , it's been a very difficult day , so please forgive me .

if you want to know if taking levo will improve your hair loss, you will have to try it and see

[Lottyplum in reply to Sasah]

Have you tried Biotin shampoo - supposed to help thicken hair? I had a thick head of hair but found that having my daily levothyroxine at the right dose for me was really important. Too low and my hair, as well as other body parts, suffered. I had a total thyroidectomy years ago (large goitre) as a result of GP ignorance and was on 200mcg levo for years. Now on T4/T3 combo. My hair isn't too bad still at nearly 76!!😎

[tattybogle in reply to tattybogle]

that effect is explained in here but it's very complicated and you really don't need to understand it at all at this point , the only way to do thyroid replacement therapy is to suck it and see.... no amount of 'understanding the theory' will change what happens to an individual ...... so i'm just giving it you in case you want to try and understand things better healthunlocked.com/thyroidu.... tsh-is-just-the-opinion-of-your-pituitary-about-your-dose-but-your-pituitarys-opinion-is-a-bit-warped-once-you-take-thyroid-hormone.