About Thyroids

[baratron]

So, anyone know how fucked my thyroid test results need to be before I actually get diagnosed as hypothyroid? I'd sorta like to know because I have all but one of the symptoms, and my hair is falling out at a ridiculous rate. I'd also like my brain back! I'm sure I used to have one!

TSH levels over the past few years:
August 2008 - 3.81 uIU/mL(reference range 0.4 - 4.0 uIU/mL)
January 2009 - 5.16 uIU/mL
February 2010 - 4.94 uIU/mL
February 2011 - 2.88 mU/L< (I assume they changed the unit, but the numbers in the reference ranges are the same, so, *shrug*).
February 2013 - 7.72 mU/L (reference range 0.27 - 4.2 mU/L)

I'm sure there's another result that I'm missing, from February or March 2012, but I can't seem to find it. Hmm. I think it was around 5.something.

This time they finally did a T4 test as well, which came out as 11.7 pmol/L (reference range 12.0 - 22.0 pmol/L). But they still didn't bother with T3, even though the hospital consultant asked for all of them. Hmm.

While I'm recording things, I should also note that my vitamin D level is now 123 nmol/L, which is well within "normal". Finally. It's only taken 2 years of hardcore supplements.

Comments

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Even under the old rules you should've been diagnosed hypothyroid by now (TSH 4.5). And the newer standard is 2.0; some people even say 1.5 needs medicating.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

They're really, really strict here for various reasons: partly because if you're on thyroxine you get free prescriptions for life. One of the posts I linked to above includes a brief "argument" with a doctor friend who was explaining why they're so strict here. Apparently thyroids often sort themselves out given a bit of time, so it's dangerous to start treating apparent hypothyroidism too early because people can't be trusted to go to the doctor again if they start having heart palpitations. Yep.

Quite why anyone would be too stupid not to go to the doctor when they're having heart palpitations is another question, especially as it's totally free to see a doctor here, and even more so if the medication warned you of it as a possible side-effect in very large letters, but there you are. People Are Stupid and need protecting from themselves.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Apparently even in the US it can be really different in different places/insurances, judging by Jenett's comment! Still, with your symptoms and that last TSH number you'd think they'd want to do something about it. Good luck with it.

The advice I'm seeing more and more often for all kinds of health problems is to get quantitative about your symptoms, which does seem more important with something that doesn't have associated pustules or anything. Have you been keeping records of mood and sleep, or anything that you could correlate with those numbers?

[jenett]

For what it's worth, the tracking that seems to have helped with my diagnosis -

- Exhaustion, on a 10 point scale (where 1 was "I would like to lie down on this floor and go to zzzzz." and 10 was "the most awake and energetic I've ever felt.") My best days for a while in there were 4s, and there were a lot of worse numbers.

- Concentration, similar scale (to try and track brain fog) with notes about how often I couldn't do things I used to be able to.

- I got a lot of hot flashes/cold shivers, and I tracked how often they happened. (At the worst, it was 4-5 hot flashes and 2-3 bouts of shivering for 20 minutes)

- I brought the Elise with me to an appointment for her to comment on noticeable changes in hair/skin, and the fact I had had to start wearing socks.

- And notes on the self-care stuff I was already doing and that wasn't helping.

the combo seemed *really* helpful