1.09 normal?

[maunaka28]

I am so confused. My 3rd generation TSH labs came back and are 1.09. I experience alot of hypothyroidism symptoms. So am I interperting this wrong... I take it that I am more on the hyper side? My doc appt is not for another 4 weeks. I obtained the results myself. I also had a severe head injury when I was 10 (18 years ago) I read that may have something to do with it?!

[AR-10]

A TSH level of 1.0 is generally the number a doctor trys to attain when a person is on thyroid hormone replacement.

So the short answer is, your TSH is perfect.

A Free T4 test and a Free T3 test (they are your thyroid hormones) would probably also show normal results, although there is an exception for every rule.

The symptoms of hypothyroidism are many, and any one of them could be attributed to one illness or another, or some deficiency.

Adrenal issues present with many of the same symptoms, almost perfectly mimicing hypothyroidism.

You also may have been hypo for a short time and now you are either back to normal, or sliding toward hyperthyroidism. The symptoms hang on for a while after the imbalance has been corrected.

You really won't know without further testing and monitoring.

[gimel]

Results from The Fraser Study that I posted in response to your previous post suggests that in order to relieve their hypo symptoms, many patients require levels of thyroid med. that are sufficient to drop their TSH levels well below the lower limit of .3   Although many doctors consider this test result alone to indicate hyperthyroidism, when test results for T4 and T3 are well within range and there are no overt symptoms, where is the logic to this?  By the way, that has been my condition for about 25 years now, and thank goodness I have a very knowledgeable and understanding doctor.  So I think that a patient's symptoms are much more important for treatment than the TSH test result.  To manauka28, I recommend that you check your temperature for several days and get a good average result and compare to the normal of 98.6.  This should give you a good, independent idea of your metabolism/thyroid to be considered along with other important tests such as free T4 and free T3.  

[AR-10]

I read the Fraser study that you have posted in several threads.

I find it interesting, although I would prefer to know more about the source, the doctors, and a few other things before I view it as anything helpful.

I certainly agree that symptoms should play a part in drug management, but there needs to be common sense applied as well.

You have many more years of experience than I in this thyroid funhouse. I respect your contributions, although I am not in agreement with some of them.

Symptoms play a crucial role in forming a treatment strategy. At the same time, they are not reliable. They come on late and leave late. They jump the fence and hypo people feel hyper and hyper people feel hypo.

You see it all the time. On pages one and two of the forum today. a Hyper person wondering why she is gaining weight. A hypo person talking about how she lost twenty pounds and the doctor said that was impossible.

I've been sliding up and down the pole for two years. My symptoms get confusing. My wife knows better than I do these days. She told me a week ago I was acting hyper and should get my blood checked.

I have a standing order for a TSH and a Free T4 any time I walk in and sit in the chair. I test when I feel bad, or more truthfully, when Barb tells me to, give or take a week. LOL! The ten week span (or 9?) between tests was about the longest period this year.

I don't get a Free T3 run very often. I've had them run when I was well below limit, when they were well above limit, and when they were good. Enough to know that if my Free T4 is within a certain range, my Free T3 will likely reflect it, and my TSH.

I agree that symptoms are important. I also think that the Free T4 level and the Free T3 level is more important than symptoms.

maunaka28's TSH is texbook perfect. She didn't say if she had any other testing. She didn't say she had any thyroid history at all except symptoms. I posited a scenario where one might feel hypo and have a TSH that is perfect. It's happened to me lots of times.

It's also possible she does not have a thyroid condition. She does not provide enough information to say, and I would suggest a full panel of tests in a month or so to see what is up, if anything.

The study you keep posting, the more I read it the more questions I have. We should discuss that in it's own thread.  

[gimel]

Good idea.  The reason I've used it is to illustrate that what the doctors frequently call hyper ( TSH in the low end of the range or below ) is very often accompanied by normal T4 and T3 and with no overt symptoms of hyper.  That is my situation, as well as several other regular posters to this forum.  After all, the very definition of the published low limit is two standard deviations from the mean of the assumed normal population.  Plus or minus two standard deviations only includes 95% of the total.  So, in my personal opinion, TSH test results alone, without corresponding symptoms,  do not categorize a person as hyper.  Yet many patients who fall into this situation have their meds reduced and become more hypo, and suffer accordingly.

Let's keep looking and learning.  Thanks.

[stella5349]

I would also think that looking the Free T3 is just as important since that is the hormone whether converting to off T4 or getting it directly that seems to tell alot about when the person is feeling better or not.

right?