thyroid antibodies

[Dawn3010]

i have thyroid antibodies and am on thyroxine does that mean i have HAIT?

[perks]

Hi dawn3010,

Having Thyroid Antibodies (mine were 442 on a scale of 0 - 60) means that your body is having an autoimmune response to your thyroid, just like it would if you had a virus, cold or flu etc. It is common for HypO suffers to have Hashimoto's disease ( so named after the Dr that found out about it) the other end of the same spectrum is Graves Disease ( this is auto immune HypEr thyroid). Having a blonde moment about the HAIT so can't help really but hope I've got the explanation right as there are many on this site that know far more detailed stuff, fabulous fountains of info that we are lucky to have. Keep smiling Perks

[helvella Administrator]

HAIT - Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroid Disease, I assume. That abbreviation is rarely used.

The usual antibodies that they test for are either anti-Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) or anti-Thyroglobulin (TG) - sometimes both. These antibodies indicate that the body is clearing up things that should be confined to the thyroid but are actually spilling into the bloodstream. These antibodies are not attacking the thyroid.

Many people have very low levels of these antibodies and the testing procedure itself is imperfect. So low numbers, typically 0 to 60 or similar, are regarded as negative. Positive results can be very high - many thousands.

A positive result is usually taken as a strong pointer towards Hashimoto's.

There are several other antibodies related to thyroid disease - I am assuming you are not meaning any of them as they are not so often tested.

Rod

[histy978]

In Hashimoto's Auto-immune Disease, your antibodies and lymphocytes are attacking the thyroid gland, and over time will destroy it. This is why you need to be on thyroid medication for life. If your levels of TPO are above 60, then yes, it would seem that you do have Hashimoto's. Mine were 450 a few months back, and this is what I have. Your doctor should have explained this to you, but mine didn't either, until I prompted him. Plenty of info on the web for you to learn more about the process.

[Dawn3010 in reply to histy978]

Thanks I think that makes sense as I was told many years bin that I had thyroid antibodies and eventually I would be under active and have to go on thyroxine for life. As it was being monitored they caught it early. Do people still have symptoms even though still being treated?

[histy978]

I think that it may take a while to get the level correct maybe? I do not know much about this as I am not yet on any treatment as my other thyroid (T4 etc) levels are in the 'normal range', although I have daily symptoms. Perhaps the level of thyroxine that you are on is not the right level for you, if you still have some symptoms? You should chat how you feel over with your doctor or consultant the next time you see them- your thyroxine may need tweaking.

Best wishes histy.

[PaulB]

Hi

My Drs use TPO Ab levels to monitor the progress of my thyroid, there is some evidence that treating as soon as antibodies appear slows the rate of damage to the thyroid, so rate of change rather than actual level may be informative. My TPO is currently down a bit at over 600.

Can you have symptoms when TPO is elevated but TSH is in the UK normal range of up to 10? ABSOLUTELY and really bad!!!! I know this from personal experience.

Paul