Thyroid

[Joanna26]

Hello im new to the  health board and sorry to bother anyone out there I just have a quick Qestion...I have felt really tired and had alot of hair loss and so many of the thyriod symptoms in the last 2 years... so last January of 2010 I went to  GP and he ran just a routine blood work on me..  the results for my thyriod were Thyroid Stimulating Hormone 0.69...lab range is  0.32-5.0.  and my T4 {Thyroxine} was 6.6...the lab range is 4.0-12.0. He said this was normal so i said okay and went on my way. since then my hair loss has increased and the symptoms are still there i see an endo on Oct 28th am i headed in the right direction? The test results are normal right?

[ThyroidHunter]

Please let us know when you get your labs, there is a great deal of practical knowledge on the site that can throw out ideas, but your important point about not being "off track" with the Doc, and ready to provide exact details. It will change your relationship with your Doc to one of more respect usually. If they know you're a bulldog, they probably tend to stick with it until they get it right (diagnosis).

Let's get the bloodwork, and a sonogram, and see what they reveal. Very best, and let us know!

[Joanna26]

Thank you so much for the quick response! I agree with you 100 percent. I was thinking if not Thyroid maybe autoimmune or an estrogen. I will bring notes on how im feeling because i am very worried about going off track and the Dr. doing exactley what you said...moving on to the next patient! I'm afraid they the Dr. will get caught up my hairloss and not my feeling tired and week and having numbness in my fingers and ect...Thank You again you have given me hope until I see the Dr. and im prepared to maybe not hear what i like but i will be sure to not let her tell me its all in my head because of blood tests comming back normal. I now understand by your blood work comming back "normal" its not always the case. Im happy you are feeling well and Thank you  again for responding. I will let you know how it goes and if i needed to move on to a diff kind of specialist.

[ThyroidHunter]

There are many on this board with extensive real life experience in thyroid malfunction and disease. Hair loss is not statistically significan with thyroid disease, but combined with a lack of energy it may imply thryoidic, autoimmune, or estrogen problems as well. The endo will probably order an ultrasound of your gland to look at it, and maybe a saliva test as well. This appears to be the best direction by far, and a pro active one.

Do not confuse test results "in range" with not having thyroid disease. 2 days before I nearly died in a thyroidic storm, I had perfectly normal results. Several reasons for this as I understand it, but one primarily is the lack of sophistication in the testing equipment and operator error on both the part of the tester and the attendant that drew the blood. There is a book by a physician on the market that directly attacks blood tests as almost ineffective in many thryoidic disease cases. But it's a confusing and misunderstood gland, and we don't have the body of research to produce good testing equipment and diagnosis' yet.

Ask a lot of questions of your Endo, note before you go the times you feel weak and as much detail as possible, measure you hair loss and it's location, and have written thoughts so you won't be put off track by a doc's quick mumbo jumbo to get on to the next patient.

Best in your health