Have symptoms of underactive thyroid and blood test come back 'slightly low'

Hi, If the test was TSH (thyroid stimulation hormone) it means that your pituitory gland is registering that you have sufficient thyroid hormone in your system so it is sending a low amount of TSH to your thyroid. If symptoms continue ask for more extensive tests to identify the problem whether Thyroid or other.

Hello Becca:

My name is Shelly and I am a nurse in the USA.  I also have a form of hypothyroidism called Hashimoto's Disease.

First of all, it is great you were tested! 

Being a bit low is not good. Our body needs our hormone levels to be in good order.  The thyroid makes 4 hormones.  Two of them are called T3 and T4.

Doctor's like to have 2 blood tests that show abnormal results in a 6 month period of time. It is protcol to repeat it. The reason is in case you were on a medication and it caused this or if it is the same. If it is borderline they also will repeat it.

Also if you were ill before the blood test, it could have bothered your Thyroid level or TSH. So it is wise to repeat it.

The thyroid is an important gland and it controls your ability to have a period & keep your body temp normal.  Thyroid disease can come from a family trait, or another medical condition like Lupus or Diabetes, or a virus called Epstein-Barr (MONO).  It shows up around the ages of 20 -40 in most people but can come out in later life.

Symptoms of a low thyroid are:  Weight gain, feeling cold, depressed feelings, muscle aches, dry skin & brittle nails, low energy, unable to concentrate, no periods or infrequent ones, & low pulse.  There are more, these are common ones.

They have medication to replace the needed hormone and you can live a good life with it.  I am 54 and have had it since age 27.  I may have had it also in my teens but was not tested back in the day.  Today they test young women and it is helpful to get it early.

Blood work that should be done is, TSH Level (Thyroid stimulating Hormone) it is like a sensor in your body. T3 level, T4 level, minerals panel to include, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, ferritin, iron, and B-12 and Vit D levels.

Any questions, just ask.

Shelly

 

Hi sorry for the delayd reply, I am not a professional but have been diagnosed Hypothiroid for 20years so will try to explain as I understand it.

NHS GPs tend to rely solely on TSH tests to monitor thyroid state because of the feed back mechanism. If you have low TSH it assumes that there is more thyroid T4 in your system than what is thought to be in the normal range, meaning that you are not hypothyroid, however your symptoms could indicate that you are.

T4 is produced by the thyroid gland when stimulated by TSH and converted into T3 to be used by the cells.  Things can go wrong in that conversion. for its delivery to to the cells and (from what I've read) also various conditions can affect the accuracy of the feed back mechanism reporting thyroid levels to the pitiitary gland which would, in turn, affect the level of TSH it makes to stimulate the thyroid gland. The fact that your GP is asking for another test in 2 months would suggest that he is wondering if the test was affected by something that would alter it from past tests, and is also considering your symptoms. 

I hope this clarifiesit some.  I wouldn't worry unless your sympoms get worse or become unbearable, but ask for more extensive testing or referal to an endocrinologist if your test is low or out of range again.  Good luck!