How high is fatal TSH high?

[pep88]

Just out of curiosity, I did a search on "what level of TSH is fatal".  I really didn't get any info back... Does anyone know?  I know that doctors would never subject people undergoing RAI to longer periods of medication deprivation than necessary, but I have been curious since I started, how high, HIGH is?

Does anyone know?

[gimel]

Anyone without thyroid function has to take thyroid med adequate to relieve hypothyroid symptoms.  Also, usually doctors want to keep TSH suppressed for thyca patients.  What are your thyroid test results and reference ranges shown on the lab report?  Also, what symptoms do you have.  

[nv80]

I am a thyroid cancer survivor. I had what was supposed to be the easy one, but it through everyone for a loop and became very aggressive. It has been 8 years since my surgeries and radiation therapies... and my levels are always off. I'm considered unmanageable a. Last year my tsh was 176 and my dr said "I don't know how you're still living." With that being said, it's not so much A set number. It's situational and depends on how long your levels are that high. The way the "death" was explained to me is it is a slow and agonizing death. Your body shuts down one system at a time and eventually your heart stops. High tsh levels effect your heart and your blood pressure. So you're at rush of congestive heart failure, heart attack, stroke.

[nv80]

I don't know why it changed all my apostrophe to gibberish.

[kitcurious]

It is the amount of time a person is untreated hypo that is dangerous. Doc at CC said whether is a TSH of 50 or 500 they are equally in need of treatment.
My Aunt died at 30 fom her thyroid causing a heart attack. She was unaware of a problem and they found the condition on autopsy. She had no symptoms was fit and healthy and just didn't know she had a thyroid problem, went untreated, probably for many years.
If you are aware you  have the problem and are under a physcian's care for it, you should be fine.

[GravesLady]

I agree.

I don't know if it is necessarily levels but rather the havoc it plays on our system through secondary conditions, whereas some patients can indure high levels while others can't. I have read TSH 500 and still living. Or what effect one may not effect another. Such congestive heart failure, where in severe cases, the brain itself is affected. The person can lose mental function and even go into a coma.

"The long-term effects of untreated hypothyroidism can be profound. Severe, prolonged hypothyroidism can lead to multiple abnormalities within any system of the body including heart, brain, and skin. Untreated hypothyroidism can cause heart disease, osteoporosis or thinning of the bones, and infertility in women. If left untreated for many years, severe hypothyroidism can eventually lead to death." medicineonline

[AR-10]

I had a TSH of 120 this Summer. An Endo called me and told me it was dangerously high.

I read about one guy in a medical paper that had a TSH of 700. He was pretty messed up.

What level is fatal would vary from person to person I would think. Size, weight, age, physical condition, drugs being taken...

Then there is the question of how it would be fatal. Heart attack, I am guessing, but I really don't know. Again, it may vary.