I just had routine bloodwork done as part of a checkup, and my TSH came back elevated (5.3). It has always been 2.0-2.9. I am supposed to get T3 and T4 as follow up, and may have to see a specialist depending on those results. Does anyone have experience with this?
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Mine, too, until I got an endocrinologist but looks like you’ll not need one and that’s even better!
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge about this! The doctor has been very unhelpful so far.
They go up and down, but when you have an autoimmune disease, you have it forever. If they go down so low to a certain level, you can be considered in remission, but never cured. Most people never develop them, but if you have one autoimmune (i had celiac first), you're 3x more likely to get another.
Great! Is that a stable thing, or do antibodies go up and down?
Yes low like yours (non existent) means you do not have an autoimmune disease - neither Hashimotos nor Graves
Oh wow! They tested me for Hashimotos's, which I guess is the opposite of Grave's. So, having low antibodies is a good thing, right?
I have the autoimmune disease called Graves and it produces hyperthyroidism My antibodies were 500!
Thank you so much, @happyme! This is really helpful. I just got free T3 and free T4 done in my followup, they are 2.8 and .9 respectively. According to my lab, those are both normal range (lower end of normal, but close to what they were in the past when my TSH was also normal). Thyroid peroxidase antibodies are less than 1.
Not sure where this leaves me? I'm sure I'll hear back from the dr. after the holiday weekend, but she said she was not planning to treat me unless T3 and T4 were also off.
Are you hypo or hyper thyroid?
Yep, I know ALL about thyroid and how it works, so I can help.
Your TSH seems a bit higher than the high end of the range. At my lab (every lab is different slightly because they're based on averages over time of "normal" for the people walking in to that particular lab) is .45 - 4.5 so yours would be high.
High TSH means (usually) that your brain (it's a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland) is asking for more hormone. It's Thyroid Stimulating Hormone and it's the regulator of it all. VERY rare circumstances the pituitary isn't working right, but very very rare.
When it's elevated, it means your brain is saying WE NEEED MORE! WE NEED MORE! It's literally stimulating your gland to make more. If it's still not, it'll yell louder and louder.
It's crazy to me (not a doc, obviously) that your actual thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) weren't measured as well. Likely, they're low which is why your smart brain is sending out so much TSH, asking for more.
T3 converts to T4, but they both need to be in range. FREE T3 and FREE T4 are unbound hormones that can be utilized, and are the ultimate gold star for how it's going. But docs consider the TSH the gold star. Long story there, but like I said it IS the ultimate regulator, but it's not even thyroid hormone itself.
Did I confuse you? Ask for T3, T4 and Free T3 and Free T4. See what they say
Doesn't @happyme know about thyroid things? I seem to remember that. Anyway, got my followup results. T3 and T4 are normal range, and thyroid antibodies are low, so...? It's only the TSH that's out of whack. I talked to a nurse, who said they don't usually do anything but wait and do repeat bloodwork if it's TSH only, and it's below 10.
No clue. Anyone?
Yeah, there are assorted thyroid problems in my family history, and I'm really hoping this won't be something difficult to fix. One family member has really struggled with Hashimoto's.
Hi, my tsh levels were found to be high about ten years ago, so I take thyroid medicine every day. I have hypothyroidism but not hashimotos. I found that the generic levothyroxine most doctors prescribe made me feel like crap, kind of speedy and hungry but not in a good way. The brand name Synthroid is the one to ask your doctor to prescribe. I take desiccated thyroid which acts on two types of thyroid hormones vs the typical one type, but many doctors don’t believe this type of medicine is necessary. And the dedicated has had so many quality control problems that i wouldn’t recommend it anyway.
theres been a lot of talk in the last few years about subclinical hypothyroidism in women who have chronically overexercised and dieted, there’s a lot of good reading on that to give you some food for thought.
My TSH levels have never been that high, but when they were around 3-ish I had a homeopathic (or naturopath? Can't specifically remember) tell me that this is sometimes a sign of hypothyroidism. But please don't quote me on that! This was just a situation specific to me and I'm not an expert. :-D