Have I been hypo all this time?
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Have I been hypo all this time?
| Mon, 10-18-2004 - 10:20pm |
I am soooo glad I came here. I've read through a few posts and I think you guys may be able to give me some advise and/or insight. Let me give you my history. In July of 1992 I weighed 134 lb. I had been around that weight plus or minus about 7 lb for at least 8 years. I left my job to go back to school full-time on July 9, 1992. I went out and bought all these casual clothes, sizes 7 and 9, because all I had were business suits. I started having leg and back pains shortly after that, but I just figured I was stressed over the changes in my life. By August 15, 1992, I weighed 162 lb. 28lb in 5 weeks! I went to an endocrinologist and had all the tests done. Of course they came back normal so I told myself I must be eating more or getting less exercise or something like that. I didn't get a copy of those test results. So I immediately started eating more healthy, working out (hired a personal trainer), and parked in the back lot at the university I was attending so I could get more walking in. A year later I weighed 180. I went back to the doctor that year (1993) and he immediately wanted to check my thyroid. Everything normal (according to lab). I have those test results: T4: 9.6, T7(FTI Calculation?): 2.6, and TSH by RIA: 4.4 I've done recent research and I'm confused. Is this TSH reading now considered not normal (its TSH "by RIA"...not just TSH)? What about the T4? Anyway...I've continued to diet and work out and haven't been very successful. I still hang around the 175lb. range. I have lost down to 160, but that took about 3 months of extreme dieting, working out with weights 4x a week, and running every day. I had to have my gallbladder removed shortly thereafter and gained everything back in about a month. In 1999 I was diagnosed as going through premature menopause due to my menstrual irregularities. At the time they were very heavy. But they started becoming lighter and less regular. Now I have one every 3-4 months. In 2000, yet another doctor suspected thyroid disorder based on my symptoms and had me tested. Here are those results: Uptake (T3): 1.6 (which the doctor highlighted as high and then wrote in "nonspecific"), T4: 10.6, TSH: 2.3. So here is what a few days in my life looks like: I wake up feeling like I haven't slept because I have back and chest muscle pain, I experience bladder pain after I've used the bathroom, but it usually goes away after I drink a few glasses of water. I eat about 900-1000 calories a day but still experience fullness and acid reflux. I usually end my day with a headache. On any given day, my husband is either rubbing my upper back, my head, or my legs. I've been diagnosed with IBS, GERD, and premature menopause, but I haven't gotten any relief with any medicines prescribed. I keep thinking that the one thing that may be the main problem is a thyroid disorder, but all tests look to be in "range" according to the doctors. I would love to hear from this community. What do you think? Any suggestions? Thanks!!

I looked up RIA because I've never heard of that before and it means this:
Noun 1. radioimmunoassay - immunoassay of a substance that has been radioactively labeled
immunoassay, immunochemical assay - identification of a substance (especially a protein) by its action as an antigen; "PSA in the blood can be measured with an immunochemical assay"
So apparently, your TSH was tested with an antigen or antibody - to see if you did have hypothyroidism, woul dit be caused by an autoimmune condition which would be hashimoto's. I'm just guessing because I've never heard of it before but that seems to be it. So your results at that test was 4.4, which is clearly hypothyroid by the new diagnostic range, which places the upper limit at 3.0. Your latest test was 4 years ago and that TSH level is also in the higher range - high enough to cause symptoms and ny good endo would take all your symptoms into account when making a diagnosis. With a TSH level of 2.3, I would feel awful. And that's with medication!!
Eating 900 to 1000 calories a day is really going to end up damaging your metabolism - your body simply needs more calories thatn that to live and being in that constant state of deprivation is going to make it even harder for you to lose weight. It might even be why you feel full all the time - but that can also be a symptom of hypothyroidism.
My advice would be to find yourself a new endo - someone trusted in your area. Can you ask around to see if anyone knows of a good doctor? That would be the first place to start. Another place to look would be: http://www.aace.com/memsearch.php
Premenopausal symptoms and hypo symptoms are almost identical. So it's important for you to know what you're dealing with here - not just for the hypo symptoms but also for the premenopausal ones, if you're really going through that now. I had every premenopausal symptom in the book but once i was treated for my hypo, everyone one of them went away!
And I think you're right in assuming it's al related but ... it's important to know what it's all related to. It may be your thyroid but then again, it might not be. A good endo is what you need.
Here's an article on the new lab ranges for diagnosis: http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroid/a/labs2003.htm
I hope this info helps you! And that you can find a good doctor to diagnosis you. It does look like hypothyroidism but you really need to be certain. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Cathy :)