Interferon Induced Hypothyroidism

[skersj]

The best thing about this site for me is the gift of information that is not available anywhere else so I am sharing my lab results in case anyone else is -  or will go through this.  I am on Week 23 of 180mg Peg and 1000 ribaviron.
December 19th lab results came back that I had a TSH level of 66.12, hemoglobin 9.6, WBC - 2.1, hemacrit 27.8 and platelet count of 82. The rest of my lab was normal.
On Jan 13th, my hemoglobin down to 8.6, WBC dropped to 1.7, hemacrit 24.9 and platelet count of 61. The rest of my labs were normal except thyroid panel below:
On the same day, Jan 13th, I went to an Endocrinologist
TSH 3rd generation was 117.89  (range .34 - 5.6)
Thyroglobin autoantibodies - 386 (ref range <60)
Thyroid Peroxidase autoantibodies 104 (ref range <60)
Thyroxine Free -  .2 (range .6 - 1.6)

I really don't know what all this means but I started .75 Synthroid Jan 14th and feeling much better. I had a variety of symptoms (not sure which were from interferon). The worst of were severely reduced reflexes (reflex was like slow motion), 15 lb fluid weight gain, very swollen fluid filled around eyes, dry scaley patches around temple, eye lids and ear lobes, severe dry eyes & loss of vision, severe dry itchy skin contributed to insomnia. Very enlarged thyroid causing slight choking feeling. Now fluid is gone, skin and reflexes improving. Still have dry eyes. I go back to Hep & Endo Drs on Feb 13th. I will update then.
Thank you all for being here and sharing. The people on this web site has helped me get through since my diagnosis in May 2008. I am probably going to be a 72 weeker since I still had a viral load of 55 on week 16. No PCR since then but will be taken Feb 13th at week 24. Right now, it is just 1 day/week at a time, otherwise it just overwhelms me to think of another 48 weeks to go.

[lalapple]

i show symptoms for both but my clinic has so far never called me for anything concerning my TSH.

[nygirl7]

Commonly first we go hyperthyroid then we go hypo.  This change happened to me somewhere in only a 3 week period (from when I was diagnosed till I got to the nuclear imaging scan).

I've been on Synthroid .88mcg for years now and will be for life, however my numbers were NO where near as bad as yours (upon dx my TSH was .00 then changed to 6.2) now it's an even .60 or so thanks to the Synthroid.

As long as it's just one pill a day (even though I HATE the co-pay on this drug it's better to take the brand name Synthroid rather than the cheaper Levothyroxine because it's a cleaner drug supposedly) it's manageable.

Good luck to you on your next 48.  AS you know I was a 72'er and that's probably why my thyroid never had a chance to bounce back and recover as some have (I guess too long a time period - I was dx at about week 24 myself).  

You can do it - it's not that much fun but it works...and SVR is worth it!

deb