Thyroid q

[Triskeliongirl]

Are you on thyroid meds? If so, it suggests that you are not on a sufficiently high dose. If you are not on thyroids meds, it suggests that you need a higher dose. If the question is why did it go from 7 to 55, that suggests your thryoid disease is progressing. In my case, I had to increase my dosage of synthroid over time becasue presumably my throid was becoming less and less active over time (I have hashimoto's so it was effectively being destroyed by an autoimmune reaction). 175 ug is my current dosage, which keeps my TSH around 1, which is the level I feel the best at. Do you understand that TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone, which is what your body makes when it is asking the thyroid to supply it with more thyroid hormone (TH). If your body can't make thyroid hormone for any reason, and you are not supplementing with enough, the TSH levels will be high since the request was not answered. Only when you somehow get enough TH into your system can you shut off TSH production. I imagine there can be other explanations as well. Perhaps there are other reasons to over produce TSH, but you need to discuss these with your doctor since I don't know anything else about you or your medical history.

[velogirl]

First, don't rule out a mistake with the test. I would be re-tested immediately. I know, thyroid panels are expensive (I have to get them 3-4 times a year), but a mistake with your thyroid meds could be deadly.

This result could also be the result of being inconsistent with taking your meds. If you're not consistent in how you take your meds (see below), you could have false results on TSH, T3, T4, etc.

An elevated TSH (without the accompanying hypo symptoms) could indicate an auto-immune disorder (Grave's Disease or Hashimoto's Thyroiditis). These are difficult to diagnose and require a Thyroid Antibody test in addition to TSH and the T3 T4s.

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Drift (for those of you on thyroid meds):

Did you know that your meds are heat and humidity sensitive? You cannot let them get hot or they will completely degrade. You won't know you're taking bad meds (they don't look, smell or taste bad), but you won't be getting the correct dose. Do not store them in the bathroom. Do not leave them in a closed car (even in your purse) for even a minute.

For best results, you need to be consistent with the time you take your meds. It should be as close to the same time as possible each day.

You need to take your meds at least one hour before you eat and at least five hours after you eat. Thyroid meds are absorbed in your large intenstine (thus the reason for the empty stomach and lots of water). For most folks, this means taking your meds first thing in the morning (or in the middle of the night).

Calcium has a negative interaction with thyroid meds, so you need to eliminate calcium intake (tums, coffee, ice cream, milk,any form of calcium) within the same guidelines as above (1 hr after/5 hrs before). My doc actually recommends waiting 5 hours after taking my meds before I consume any calcium.

[mtbdarby]

TSH also lags 4-6 weeks behind your medication adjustments. Your dr. should not be changing meds based off of your tsh but off of your Ft3 and Ft4 levels. Are you getting those checked as well?

I have graves. My endo would LOVE to see my tsh hit 1! But it's really irrelative what my tsh is as long as my FT3 and FT4 is where it needs to be. Because I have an autoimmune disease, my tsh will be naturally suppressed, yet most endo's focus and treat off of tsh levels. Be informed. Have you ever checked out the mediboards? http://mediboard.com/groupee/forums/a/cfrm/f/470109542
There's a lot of good information here.