New here and wondering how bad am I?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2003
New here and wondering how bad am I?
1
Mon, 07-26-2004 - 8:16pm
Hi everybody, I'm newly diagnosed with hypothyroidism I have been on meds for 5 days now and notice little things starting to feel better, But I have been told since high school (10 yrs) that my thyroid was borderline but because of my age the doctors didn't want to put me on a med for the rest of my life. So June 20 I had a blood test done and my TSH came back at 22.23 and T4 at .79 ok so my doctor said he wanted to run the test again so I re-took the tests on July 15 and then the TSH was 51.08 and the T4 was .33. So I guess what I'm wondering is what is the adverage levels for someone whos test results come back abnormal is 51.08 really bad or pretty normal ( for being abnormal)?

Does this even make any sense? just wondering where I fall on the scale you know? Because although I know what the normal levels are the doctor didn't say where the numbers kinda top out, you know like ok normal TSH is under 4.0 but do most people who come back with an abnormal test result have a 51. or a 6.? see what I'm asking? ok well I would really appreciate any feed back, if anyone can even understand me that is:)

ok thanks.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2001
Mon, 07-26-2004 - 10:40pm
Hi and welcome - and of course I could understand you!! The first thing is that everyone is different when it comes tohow sensitive they are to their rising tsh levels. What may really effect me may not bother someone else at all. That said, the real "normal" for tsh levels is 1.0 to 2.0. It's the labs that set the artificial normal that comes back on our blood tests!! They do that by taking a random sample of medicated hypothyroid patients and drawing an average. Can you believe that? It makes no sense. When my husband had his blood tests with his physical last year, his TSH came back at 1.2. Perfectly normal. Mine, almost 3 yeats ago when I was diagnosed, was at 8.7 and I felt like I wasn't going to be able to make it another day!! And here you are at 51.08. That is most definitely high. But do you feel badly? Because some people may not feel bad at that level, even though they're hypothyroid. It's a very strange thing. My old endo had a tsh level about as high as mine was and she didn't even take medication for it - which I could never understand. She would have felt so much better if she had.

I have two children, ages 15, my son and 19, my daughter, who are both hypothryoid. My son was 13 when he was diagnosed and has been on medication since. My daughter was diagnosed when she was 15 and has also been on medication. There's nothing wrong with being on thyroid hormone replacement for the rest of your life or theirs or mine. It's not like you're adding something that shouldn't be there. You're adding something that your own body can't make enough of and you can't live without. Your thyroid controls or influences every major system in your body. So it's worth taking that little pill every day. I still look forward to taking it in the morning because I know how much it helps me. I hope I've answered your question. If not, let me know and I'll try again. :) If you ahve other questions, feel free to ask! Cathy :)