I am so confused

[starfly]

I have been through so much with my thyroid. 10 years ago I finally had to have a total thyroidectomy as I grew a large goiter and both a hot and cold nodule. We tried to shrink it for a year, failed then the thyroidectomy. Okay so 10 years later after numerous tries at getting "normal" finally getting there and then I hit menopause. I have had no insurance for 6 years now, last had my thyroid checked 3 years ago....now I just go through a physical  I told the doctor that I gained over 15 pounds (I work out and run almost evreey day)verycold all the time, tired to a point thats unbeareable. Doctor does a TSH test and finds out that I am extremely dehydrated and very hypothyroid. TSH levels were only 0.130  VERY low, but I am hyPOthyroid symptomatic and all of my blood levels were awesome. Liver function, everything, great. I am so confused as all signs would point to Id be hyperthyroid.  Has anyone ever been through this before? I have to wait another 6 weeks for a T3, T4, and TSH level to be done. My levothroid was cut from 150mcg,. to 75 mcg. And its not like anything else points to another problem like pituitary, etc..as liver was good, etc...honestly if anyone can write me...***@**** or on this board I would VERY VERY much appreciate what you have to say... Thank u so much...Sincerely, Annie

[MelinDel]

It seems like people who suffer from Hashi's and are hypo can have symptoms that feel more like hyperthyroidism.  A TSH of 0.13 would indicate you were hyper, right?  I'm guessing that's why your doc dropped your dose to 75mcg.  Did your doc explain anything to you?  Since you don't have insurance, do go to your PCP or are you able to see an endo?

For me, I was feeling extremely tired, achey, cold, etc.(hypo), but was also having terrible heart palpitations(hyper).  I was diagnosed as hypo since my TSH was over 12.  A couple of months later the endocrinologist further diagnosed me with Hashi's, which explained why I was having both kinds of symptoms.

Read some posts on here regarding Hashi's - they are very helpful.  I could totally be speaking out of turn, since I don't know anything about what the body goes through after having a thyroidectomy.  Try looking at some posts by goolarra.  I find them to very informative!

[starfly]

No, why does this sound like that at all? I will look up the symptoms. Thank you very much Melin

[MelinDel]

Were you ever tested for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis?

[gimel]

Sounds like you have one of the doctors that relies mainly on TSH to determine a patient's thyroid status and meds.  That is unfortunate.  In my opinion, as well as my experience, a low TSH without hyper t symptoms, does not make you hyperthyroid.  Therefore, why should the meds be adjusted downward, in the face of hypo symptoms.  Unless doctors are experienced with thyroid problems and keep up to date, they just don't get it.

TSH is a pituitary hormone, and does not correlate with symptoms.  The test that has been shown to correlate the best, by far, with symptoms, is free T3, with free T4 a distant second.   Free T3 is the most active thyroid hormone and is four times as potent as T4. So when you go back for followup testing you should be prepared to discuss this with your doctor and insist on testing for free T3 and free T4.    Make sure you get a copy of the test results and post here along with reference ranges, so we can try to be of some help.