After yesterdays big disappointment and major whinge, today I have just had a phone call from the surgery manager, who has given me my test results and the ranges.
No more fuss, no further discrepencies in what the doctor says and what the receptionist can do, no further battle! This is how things should be.
The 2012 results tie in with everything I've learnt on this site and how ill I was feeling at the time. I don't know how long I'd had the condition for, or how long I'd been over the magic TSH figure where meds are started, but it's my opinion that 10 is way too high to wait to begin meds as I was already very ill at a TSH of 10.85.
Jan 2012
TSH 10.85 (0.35-5.5)
T4 10.8 (12-22)
March 2012
TSH 5.36 (0.35-5.5)
Thyroid peroxidase anti-body levels 22.0 (0-60)
I'm going for my next blood tests tomorrow (TSH and T4). These results will be interesting as they will be after a year on meds so will give me a better picture.
Having read so much on this site, I feel I can begin to really push now for 'optimal' as opposed to 'normal' and 'within range'.
Thank you, as always for your support and for sharing your knowledge and experience. Here's hoping for a better future for us all.
When you think that within a year or two we might ALL have direct access to our own results, this un-cooperative attitude is like some last fling of "we've got the power" before they lose it.
I've read that some surgeries will allow patients access to their results on-line - this would make a big difference. I don't understand the un-cooperative attitude - the power driven thing is very unpleasant... the impression I got from my sugery is that they are confused - perhaps they're finding the transition to treating patients as intelligent adults rather difficult.
Congratulations! I hope that this year results will be better. How are you feeling now?
in reply to
Thank you - it was all so painless in the end - all that fuss to begin with, so unnecessary!
I'm so much better than last year and many of my symptoms have improved.
BUT I still get tired very easily and need to rest after moderate activity, I struggle with a ten hour work day - I'm a teacher so I have to be on the go and competent at all times. I'm often so cold the only way I can warm up is to go to bed with the electric blanket on. My weight has stopped increasing at an alarming rate, but my BMI is too high and I'm unable to lose any of the 3-4 stone I gained while undiagnosed (4 stone weight gain on a wholefood vegetarian diet - impressive!).
My feelings are that whilst I've responded well to my small dose of levo I would benefit from a higher dose - I'm going to discuss this after my next blood results come back. Thanks to this site, I'm able to have a better understanding of the condition now.
I wrote a letter too - some of what I wrote was about the different attitudes I had come across at the surgery when I was frightened and didn't know what was going on and the need for a consistent, supportive approach. I also wrote about what the practice had done well for me last year, as I had some additional complaints that can go with hypothyroidism and these were treated well and I complimented them for this. I also stated what I needed from them and why I wanted to be more pro-active about my condition.
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I have my blood test results
Totally lost having had my blood test results
Do I need further testing?
Further to my last post about Levo and joint pain I now need help to understand my blood results.
