New hypo diagnosis
Find a Conversation
New hypo diagnosis
| Fri, 03-18-2005 - 10:31am |
Hello, I was just diagnosed with hypothyroidism yesterday, and this board has been very informative. I have a few questions: My TSH was 7, but my T4 and uptake and free T4 were all well within the normal range. What does this mean? Also, how do you know if you have Hasimoto's thyroiditis or not? My doctor was kind of rushed, and I didn't think of these things until later. Also, she prescribed 25 mcg of Synthroid. I'm worried about getting symptoms of hyperthyroidism--would that be very unlikely on that dose?
Thank you very much for your help.
Olive

Hi Olive and welcome! Your doctor will monitor your tsh levels on your new medication to make sure that you don't go off into the hyper range and also, probably most important to you right now, to insure that 25 mcg is enough to bring your tsh level into the normal range of between 1 and 2. So you'll probably be going back for a blood test in 6 week or so. You might need your medication increased at that time. It's kind of unlikely that it would be decreased since that's a pretty low dose. You can tell if you have Hashi's by doing a blood test for antibodies. So ask your doctor if she has included that one or not. If not, tell her you'd like to know what's caused your hypothyroidism and ask her if she can include that test. If the antibodies are present up to a certain level, it means that you have Hashi's, which is the autoimmune type of hypo.
Before making any comments on your normal T4, I'd like to double check the info that I have. The way our thyroid works is that it produces T3 and T4 hormones, mostly T3 though, and that is changed into T4 for use by the body. I don't know if I can find the explanation of why you would have a high tsh with normal T4 levels but my guess is that it is because your tsh isn't too high and your body hasn't drawn on the T4 that is already in your system. We always have a reserve of thyroid hormone in our system. We use it as we need it. Even when we take medication, it builds up a reserve that we use as needed. I'll check on this tomorrow for you but it's hard to find a clear explanation. But you are probably not having a problem converting T3 to T4 since those levels are normal. Anyway, I'm rambling here!!
You don't really need to worry about getting hyperthyroidism. Your doctor will catch that way before it ever happens! I'll get back to you tomorrow. Cathy :)
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question, I really appreciate your help! I'm reassured now that it would take awhile to become hyperthyroid, and my doctor should be able to catch it. I was really worried, because a lot of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, I had with my panic disorder, and I get nervous just thinking about going through that again.
What you wrote about T3 and T4 does make sense. Maybe I haven't had it long enough or bad enough to affect that yet.
Well, thanks again!
Olive