Do I really even need this stuff

[kosuke]

umm..
Okay guys here goes.
I'm really healthy first off.
But I was under lots of stress towards the end of summer and I had some werid thing (I thought it was heart related but not really and its okay)
However, this prompted me to go the doc.
First they took my blood and said no prob with thyroid
Then I went to the doc for the same thing (it turns out it maybe from an arrythmia and I had an ablation for that)
This time though it was another doc and they said I needed armour. But I thought that was kinda weird.
However at this point, a few weeks after into september I started gaining lots of weight.
However, I would also like to reiterate that I was under lots of stress and did eat some junk like 1-2x/week during september and so...I was thinking the weight gain was from that and the fact that I couldn't really even exercise that much cause of the benign arrythmia (which is basically fixed now and this is probably from the stress in my opinion).
So anyways, I went to the same doc I mentioned first (the one that said nothing was wrong with the thyroid)
he took blood tests and said the same. So he said if it really bothers you that much I'll refer you to an endocrinologist
I went and she felt my throat and it was fine.
She asked me if I'm tired and no I'm not (actually I have lots of energy but cause of that darn arrythmia could not do my martial arts and sprints)
She asked me if I'm down and well I'm only down cause of the stress and the weight gain but not really down just upset. So no.
She asked me about constipation and I said kinda but I think that is more stress related since I've had that problem about twice before but for short periods of time. And I don't have that anymore now.
So she marked that down
and then so it really just boiled down to simply weight gain which...could be from what I told you guys to start with.
So now, I was wondering, do I really need the 50mcg of synthroid? She said it may help with my symptoms. But...I would have never even thought of this if I had not been to that other doc that said I needed armour!
So I was thinking to myself man this is dumb maybe I thought this up cause of the stress and all. I mean it was bad stress but I'm way over that now.
So in case you guys want to look at blood work here's the stuff
Summer first doc visit
TSH = 2.35
summer second other doc visit
TSH= 2.35
october doc visit (first doc again)
TSH=4
november (endocrinologist visit)
TSH=3.3
and antibodies are allegedly kinda high? = 49 IU/ML

So Docs and others,  anyfeedback would be appreciated

thanks for your time.

[gimel]

My first recommendation is that you find a good thyroid doctor that will treat you as I've outlined above, for symptoms.  The ones you've seen so far seem to have downplayed your test result indicating Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and your symptoms due to having FT3 and FT4 levels that are too low in the range and need to be adjusted upward to relieve symptoms.  

As far as the 50 mcg dosage, only you can tell  if that is enough for symptom relief for the present.  Understand that it takes about 4-5 weeks for a T4 med to be full reflected in your blood levels, and sometimes effects on symptoms even lag behind that.  Just from the FT3 level I expect that the answer will be that you will need to increase meds.  

With Hashi's your autoimmune system produces antibodies that attack the thyroid glands and gradually destroy over an extended period of time.  As natural thyroid production is lost, your meds have to be gradually increased to offset.  

I don't recall anything in that link about bioidentical hormones.  It was all about the fallacy of the "Immaculate TSH Belief" and the need to test for FT3 and FT4 and treat a patient clinically by adjusting FT3 and FT4 as necessary to relieve symptoms.

[kosuke]

ok...so what do you recommend
besides this. that link is for bioidentical stuff. Is that better. they have me  on a trial run of 50 mcg of synthroid. Do you think this trial will fix this junk?

thanks for your time.

[gimel]

As I suspected, both FT3 and FT4 are in the lower part of their ranges, which is frequently consistent with being hypo.  FT3 is very low in its range.  Many members report that symptom relief for them required that FT3 was adjusted into the upper part of its range and FT4 adjusted to at least midpoint of its range.  Symptom relief should be all important, not just verifying that the test results are somewhere within the range.  

From what I have learned and experienced this is because the ranges are too broad.  Over 8 years ago the AACE recommended that the range for TSH should be changed because there was extensive evidence that there were far more hypo patients than their old range would predict.  When they purged their data base of suspect hypo patient data, the new range was adjusted down to .3 - 3.04.  Unfortunately most labs and doctors still use the old range.  Further, the ranges for  for FT3 and FT4 have never been adjusted, and they need to be revised for the same reason as TSH.  That's why I believe we hear from so many members with FT3 and FT4 within the low end of the ranges but they still have hypo symptoms.  This would not be such a problem if the doctors understood this and considered the ranges as guidelines within which to adjust FTt3 and FT4 as necessary to relieve symptoms.  Unfortunately many doctors interpret a result that is anywhere within the range as "normal", and don't want to go any further.

In my opinion the best way to treat a thyroid patient is to test and adjust levels of FT3 and FT4 with meds as necessary to relieve symptoms, without being constrained by resultant TSH levels.  Symptom relief should be all important, not TSH.  It's good that you have a doctor that will test for FT3 and FT4.   Now you need to find out if he is willing to treat you for clinically, by adjusting FT3 and FT4 as necessary to relieve symptoms.  This will be necessary to offset the gradual loss of natural thyroid hormone as the Hashi's attacks your thyroid glands.

I suggest that you do some reading about Hashi's to understand more about it.  Also, I think you will get some good info from this article.

http://www.hormonerestoration.com/Thyroid.html

[kosuke]

yeah it was thyroid perioxidase ab
okay so here's the
free t3

2.5 PG/ML            range =       2.3-4.2

and

free t4
1.05 NG/DL                 range= 0.73-1.95

[gimel]

Most doctors think all is fine if your TSH is less than 5.0, even though the AACE recommended that it needed to be changed over 8 years ago, down to .3 - 3.04.  They also think that any T3 and T4 test that falls within the ref. range means that you are "normal".  Unfortunately the ref. ranges for FT3 and FT4 have never been adjusted as was done for TSH, and for the same reason these ranges are far too broad.  So, you really need to know what the actual tests were, and the results, and reference ranges.  If the tests were for total T3 and total T4, those are largely obsolete and don't reveal  what you really want to know, which is the level of the actual, biologically active thyroid hormones, free T3 and free T4.FT3 is the most important because it largely regulates metabolism and many other body functions.

Which thyroid antibodies test was done, TPO ab or TG ab.  I expect that it was the former and that it indicates the early stages of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.   This would be consistent with the beginning of hypo symptoms such as several you have mentioned.  So, if you will fill in a few of these needed bits of info, then members can advise further.  

    

[kosuke]

oh yeah forgot to state all other blood t3,etc are deemed fine by all docs.
and I'm pretty young too. 20yrs