A person with no thyroid can not live without replacement meds. Does her current doctor not know that she has a thyroid issue? She needs to get back on thyroid med at once. Have them test her Free T3 and Free T4, along with TSH; then get her started back on a daily regimen.
It normally takes 5-6 weeks to get the full effect of the med, but often small improvements can be seen sooner than that.
Yes, hypothyroidism can cause brain fog and other mental issues.
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A person who has no thyroid gland cannot live (comma) without thyroid replacement medication. Your mother's doctor should know this! You must get her back on her thyroid medication with guidence from her doctor ASAP. Her TSH is high and will go much higher and she will get much sicker if you delay. Comma and death will follow in time if she is not given her medication to replace the thyroid glands job. Thyroid hormone plays a huge part in regulating many functions of the body including the function of organs (*kidney's included here), brain, metabolism, muscles, joints etc. The body will just shut down and quit functioning over time without it. You must get her proper treatment immediately!
Barb135, thank you for the response. It was very helpful. My Mother had her thyroid removed several years ago and had been taking a thyroid med. Since coming to live with me, she has had to undergo dialysis. After developing an infection in her dialysis catheter, she was hospitalized and we failed to continue the thyroid medication after her release for about a month. She has since developed a declining mental state which resembles a stroke. I'm told that can be the result of hypothyroidism.
Do you know how long it takes for the thyroid meds to take effect?
A TSH of 32 is high - new recommended range is 0.3-3.0 - so even 5 would be considered high. Her result indicates hypothyroidism, but since TSH is a pituitary hormone that can fluctuate considerably, and is not a good diagnostic. You should ask her doctor to test Free T3 and Free T4, which are the actual thyroid hormones, with FT3 being the most potent, and the one the body actually utilizes.
You should also ask for antibody tests to see if she might have an autoimmune thyroid disease, such as Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Ask for thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOab) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGab).
her tsh is way too high and she probably needs thyroid meds. is she on dialysis? did the dr order thyroid meds for her?