Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Thanks very much for the info! I printed out your e-mail to take with me to the endo's office, so I won't forget. I had my antibodies tested about 3 months ago, and my GP didn't test them again b/c she said they don't change much (is that true?). Anyway, here are the results from the last time I was tested: Anti-thyroid peroxidase 10.0 IU/ml (lab range 0-35) Thyroglobulin antibody 20.0 IU/ml (lab range 0-40) I'm confused as to what this means. They're within range (although I'm not sure I trust the range), but I'm clearly hypo. Is this Hashi's? Or hypo as a result of something else? The only explanation for the hypo that I came up with is years of undiagnosed PCOS wreaking havoc on my endocrine system. Does that make sense? blithe > Blithe, > > I don't think you have a pituitary problem, or you'd have really low TSH. > > You need to get these tests: > > Antibodies - to determine if it is Hashimoto's > Free T3 - your FT4 is pretty low already but I am sure the FT3 is gonna > be even lower > > For the adrenals, the best test would be the ACTH challenge. > > > If you have an adrenal problem and the doctor is conservative and puts > you on a low dosage it is not gonna be dangerous, but it is gonna be > unproductive, cause you are not gonna be able to tolerate the > medication and you are going to have to stop taking it. You'll have > palpitations like in a panic attack. > > > > Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 You need to have the antibodies run.. to see if it's Hashi's or Grave's... there are scans that can check for nodules or cancer. It was a scan that verified that mine was none of that and a genetic defect that caused me to go hyper... Since you're hypo, I'd guess it's not Grave's.. that's a hyper disease. You're on you way! If you're adrenals are fatigued, adding thyroid hormone can further stress them. There are some simple, general questions to ask that can give you a reason to explore adrenals further... Check your temp, if your temp rises during the day, could be adrenal. How do you sleep? Do you have trouble going to bed at night or wake in the wee hours and find that you are unable to go back to sleep? Are you easily startled? Do you wake feeling rested, or are you still dragging tired? There are other things.. but those are among the most common. If the adrenals are only mildly fatigued the addition of the proper thyroid hormone can make the difference. See, what happens is that the adrenals have to work harder to compensate for the shortage of thyroid.. to keep you going.. think if it as the force of will that keeps you going when you really don't feel like doing anything.. that's you coaxing your adrenals to give you the 'umph' that you need to get moving. With the thyroid hormone levels up the adrenals don't have to work so hard... However, if they've been over worked and abused for a long while.. adding the thyroid hormone pushes them more than they can take as they try to keep up with your more active lifestyle.. that is the 'danger' that you are concerned with. I'm not seeing your thyroid numbers to be real extreme.. but we don't yet know what has caused your hypo state.. so it's best to find out what is up first.. then make some judgement calls from there... IMHO of course. If I were you.. I might keep a diary... to make it more clear as to how your body is reacting... pulse rate, breathing and temps... it's what I used as I was bring up my thyroid dose when I began self medicating. Topper () *self medicating with natural thyroid for two years and adrenal glandular for about 14 months* On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 09:49:48 -0000 "blithezb00tik" writes: Just got my lab results today, and I've gone over the lab's ridiculousTSH limit! Woohooooooooo!!TSH 5.94 (lab range is 0.35-5.5 mIU/L)Free T4 13.9 (lab range is 10-20 pmol/L)Now that doofus *has* to diagnose me!But what's the next step, in terms of figuring out why I'm hypo? I wasthinking adrenal tests, possibly pituitary? According to some of theposts here and the checklist link someone sent recently, I seem tohave a problem with my adrenals as well. Is there anything else thatshould be checked? Is it true that treating the hypo right away would be dangerous ifthere's an underlying untreated adrenal problem?blithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I was recently diagnosed with Hashi's. Of course Dr sends me to an endo and he's like why are you here. Well I asked him if I needed to get my antibodies retested and he said no. He said once you test positive for them they usually don't go away. Louise - anything to not get another blood test. > Blithe, > > I do like the subject of antibodies. They change a lot. Mine have > changed from 240 at the lowest to 1,060-something, so yes, there is a > lot of change. And it is important to know the level cause high levels > (anything above the normal range) messes up with the test results. In > other words, you can have your T3 and T4 in the normal range (like you > do) and have a lot of symptoms (like you do). Bingo! That explains it. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2004 Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 I have one word, for now----antibodies, lol! jackpot! > Just got my lab results today, and I've gone over the lab's ridiculous > TSH limit! Woohooooooooo!! > > TSH 5.94 (lab range is 0.35-5.5 mIU/L) > Free T4 13.9 (lab range is 10-20 pmol/L) > > Now that doofus *has* to diagnose me! > > But what's the next step, in terms of figuring out why I'm hypo? I was > thinking adrenal tests, possibly pituitary? According to some of the > posts here and the checklist link someone sent recently, I seem to > have a problem with my adrenals as well. Is there anything else that > should be checked? > > Is it true that treating the hypo right away would be dangerous if > there's an underlying untreated adrenal problem? > > blithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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