Hashimoto's

[yogi1978]

Hi,

I'm a 30 year old female who was diagnoised with Hashimoto's 12 years ago when I was 18.  I've just turned 30 and over the past year I have begun to feel very tired, gained a bit of weight (approx 7lbs), had a few pains in my throat (normally at night or in the morning), my hair has become very dry, brittle and thin and I find my concentration is very poor.  I was never put on thyroid medication and I recently had it tested again in August '08 for TSH, T3, T4 and thyroid antibodies and the positives were (I have also included the normal ranges listed on the report):

Thyroglobulin - 39.6 (still within range of 1.0 - 43.0)
Thyroid Peroxidase - 225 (range 0.0 - 60.0)
Alk Phos - 31 (range 32 - 92)
TSH - 7.44 (range 0.35 - 5.50)
T3 - 2.70 (range 0.92 - 2.37)

All other tests were normal and within range.

I visited a consultant yesterday who put me on 50mgs of Levothyroxine and I have to return in 3 months for a retest of TSH and T4.  I discussed my symptoms (described above) with the consultant and she said that she didn't think the thyroid was causing them but everything I have read on the web seems to indicate that these are hypothyroid symptoms?

I'm writing to see if this is true and to see if the test results indicate that I should have anything else checked or if there is anything else I need to be aware of?  I found the consultant very closed and difficult to get information from.   The consultant mentioned that the T3 result was elevated because I am on the pill - I'm not on any other medications and my only past medical history is that I had my gall bladder removed in Nov 07 due to having a walnut (large stone) in it.  Otherwise I'm very fit and healthy.

If anyone could provide me with anymore information I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks Y.

[yogi1978]

Many thanks for your response.  I'll definitely read up on the site and try measuring my temperature .

Thanks again,

Y

[gimel]

Given your symptoms and your TSH level, which is well above the revised range of .3-3.0, it appears that the medication is in the right direction.  When you go back in 3 months, or less,  you might also suggest that the testing include Free T3 and Free T4.  If you want to get an indication of your thyroid state right now, check your temperature for several times a day and for several days, in order to get a good average result.  The normal is reported to be 98.6, so anything below that is an indication of low metabolism/ low thyroid.   If you want to do some reading about these things, try this site.

http://www.mercola.com/article/hypothyroid/diagnosis_comp.htm