Anyone know about anti-TSH receptor antibodies? Mine is 1.1 (normal 0-1)

[trilbywillow]

Hi there,

I am pregnant with underactive thyroid. I'm currently on 150 mcg levothyroxine. I had a hospital appointment a couple of weeks ago and they did a test for anti-TSH receptor antibodies. my result came back as 1.1 (normal range 0-1). Is this so to normal close that they don't worry about it? I haven't heard anything from hospital and my GP doesn't seem to know about this test. Thanks!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

It is one of those areas which is difficult to answer - in my personal case through lack of experience and knowledge, but in general because of lots of uncertainty.

Whilst it appears welcome that you do not have a high test result, it is nonetheless positive. Of course, nobody wants you worrying, but at the same time, better to know, read and research than to silently worry and ignore. I hope!

(Please be careful as you read around. It looks like your result has been scaled so that 0 to 1 is negative, over 1 is positive. But other versions of the test at other labs will have very different reference ranges.)

There is a snippet here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-...

Even this recent paper asks as many questions as it answers:

hindawi.com/journals/jtr/20...

But the whole overlap between Hashimoto's (I assume you have autoimmune thyroid disease causing hypothyroidism?) and Graves is confusing and far less distinct than had once been thought.

Hope your FT4 and TSH are good?

Wishing you well

Rod

[RedApple Administrator]

Not surprised your GP knows nothing about it. It's not a run of the mill thyroid test. Did anyone tell you why they were doing this test?

[trilbywillow]

Thanks for the replies. My FT4 was 15.7 and TSH were 4.8 a couple of weeks ago. I was on 125mcg levothyroxine then and have since increased to 150mcg so hopefully they will be a bit better next time I get a blood test. The reason for doing the test was related to me being pregnant, I believe it's something to do with the antibodies being able to cross the placenta, but wasn't completely clear.