Confused, Need Experienced Advice
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First thing I noticed was dramatic weight loss, I lost about 8 pounds very quickly (have since then re-gained four), then took resting pulse (usually 65, now over 80, today was 85!), then noticed hair loss (lots), so asked Dr. for blood tests. She said my thryoid gland is over active but from what I've read here it's NORMAL. I am seeing an endocrinologist at Albany Medical Center on Friday but here are my test results (she said latest result was do different from prior she thought it was hyperthyroid!): TSH (3rd generation) 0.98 (latest test 1/26). Former test 6/16 was TSH W/FREE Tr RFX, value 2.33. WHAT GIVES HERE? New test is LOWER, much lower, what's wrong with my Dr.?? Can anyone explain the test results to me? TY
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linda187 jill67883
Posted
Hi Jill
Usually, (in Canada anyway) docs will do TSH, Free T3 and Free T4 blood tests to assess thyroid function. Each lab might differ slightly for their ranges of normal but most are fairly close. So the confusion is that the TSH test is considered HYPOthyroid or low functioning when the value is high, i.e. about 4.0 and over and is considered HYPERthyroid when it is low. If I understand correctly your TSH value has dropped from 2.33 which is normal but towards the higher end of the normal range and dropped to 0.98. This is still within the normal range, however it did move from a slower to faster rate. The other two values Free T3 and Free T4 are just the opposite. That is low numbers indicate HYPO and higher numbers indicate HYPER. Were you put on any medications?
There are many causes of hyperthyroidism such as autoimmune diseases like Graves disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis, thyroid nodules or goiters and viral illnesses can cause changes but they tend to return to normal once the virus is healed. It is always a good idea for a patient to always get paper copies of their lab tests and keep their own files on this so you can see the trail of how you are improving or worsening.
jill67883 linda187
Posted
linda187 jill67883
Posted
They treat hyperthyroidism by three different ways:
1) They give thyroid hormone blocking drugs
2) They use radiation to kill the thyroid & give thyroid hormone replacement
3) They do surgery to remove the thyroid and give thyroid hormone replacement.
There are also Naturopathic treatments and one of the famous Naturopaths who himself had Graves disease got into remission strictly on a Natural treatment protocol.
linda187 jill67883
Posted
jill67883 linda187
Posted
It's not drastic enough for removal, I don't even know if it's drastic enough for thyroid hormone blocking durgs, my resting heart rate was down to 71 this afternoon and I have gained four pounds in the past three weeks so this might all have been part of huge stress helped along by Abilify (which I stopped taking), I already take a beta blocker for high BP, we'll see what happens after new blood work and endocrinologist, sigh.