Newly diagnosed with hashimotos!

I have no idea haha. I think maybe you were meant to ask Jennifer?

Hi Jean & Emily, The thyroid and Pituitary Gland and parathyroid gland all work together in certain ways as they get signals to make more horomone or less in a person with any thyroid disease.  When the body has a problems with the Thyroid Gland, signals go a bit haywire. In Hashimoto's it can take a while "YEARS" for levels to go down  and these symptoms  like mental confusion, sleepy, feeling awful are often missed by a GP. After time, low levels for a while happen the other glands can act up and all of this together can cause some people anxiety attacks.  I do not have that but my sister who got tested after I got diagnosed does have it. She uses Xanax to calm her. It does not happen in everyone but it can happen and our bodies are complex and so many people are different in there symptoms. Also we have certain brain chemicals, that can get low as we age. Sometimes, that can cause anxiety also. I hope this helps.

THank you, yes this has helped.. My t3 and t4 are normal acoirdung to my bloods and i have therapy for my anxiety which I have nearly finished now.

I woould keep a not of the results normal is what low end,high end, it is a good idea to ask the receptionist for a copy of the test results with the ranges for your own records then if your symptoms get worse you can get tested again and keep those results then you know if you are getting better or slightly worse have a trend of worsening results can be useful in convincing your gp to up your medication a little especially if you are not feeling too good.  Some Gp's will stick very strickly to the normal ranges which can be from 0.9-4.5 most people feel much better when they are medicated to 1 or under so if you still have symptoms and your tsh comes back at 3 then there is room to ask for an increase in medication.  Be aware it does take up to 6 weeks for the medication to hit your system.  Also as they have tested your T3 it is useful to know that you will feel much better with this in the top end, but not over.

 

Hi emily.  If you have antibodies you have hashimoto's.  As it progresses you may find you have symptoms of hypo and hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland is attacked by your own body (It sees it as the enemy) and thyroid hormone leaks from the thyroid causing hyperthyroidism. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disorder but is treated the same as hypothyroism with levothyroxine. Doctors do not treat them as a different disorder.  The TSH blood test identifies if you are on too little or too much thyroxine and your meds go up or down accordingly. 

But how can I have high tsh but symtoms of underactive? Im so confused. So I do definitely have hashimotos if antibodies are involved?

TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain in response to signals from the hyothalamus gland in the brain.  TSH promotes growth of the thyroid gland and stimulates it to produce more thyroid hormones.  When there is an excess of thyroid hormone the pituitary gland stops producing TSH, reducing thyroid production.  This mechanism maintains a relatively constant level of thyroid hormone circulating in the blood.  However, if your thyroid is not producing sufficient hormones the TSH rises higher as it stimulates the thyroid to make more hormones.  If you become hyperthyroid it is because there are too many hormones circulating in the blood and your pituitary gland wil pull right back on stimulating the thyroid. As a result the TSH is lower than normal. Hope this makes sense.

Thankyou, it kind of makes sense, just a little complicated. I don't understand how I could have symptoms of hypo if the endocrinologist is saying its hyper in a letter to the gp. Ive told my mum and she's checked the letter and she agreed that he did say hypothyroidism and he wrote it down for me so she said it was maybe a typo. But it also says my tsh is higher and my thyroxine and t3 is within normal range with high antibodies

Emily, you can go between Hyper and Hypo thyroidism while the Hashimoto's does it's thing on your thyroid gland.  As I said before, it take YEARS for it to settle down, you can go back and forth as your brain signals the thyroid to make more horomone. See your thyroid is still making some horomone and it tries to keep up with the need in the body and it may at times make you a bit on the hyper side.  I had that when I was younger.

Our bodies are complex, but think of a car, when you need oil, a light comes on in the car and you add oil.... Well the brain sends out a signal and it says hey thyroid - do your work!!!  So it tries to make more. If you take the med, the body will be at the right level and will settle down and because you are young, it may prevent it from getting worse and making a goiter.  I hope this helps.

Well this letter was within the first week of diagnosis and no blood tests inbetween so i think it could be a typing error since it said hyperthyroidism and high tsh which doesn't make sense.. I will check with the doctor soon but I think it's a typo