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Low TSH or stress causing hair loss and other symptoms?
I'm a 31 y/o female. I had my TSH level tested this spring and it was .411 The doctor tested it during a physical because I had some problems with rapid heartbeat while exercising on a few occasions in the months prior. I was also very warm all the time which is unusual for me. I also had some minor tremor feeling in my fingers for a week or so. In the last couple of months, I have had lots of hair loss (about half my hair). Not in patches, but just all over my head and it's falling out from the root. I have a lot of anxiety, some insomnia, migraines, teeth grinding and a few mild panic attacks. I've also been under a lot stress in the last several years and currently have a lot of stress in my life. I went to my doctor recently and he said my hairloss didn't look like the kind of hairloss caused by thyroid, diabetes, fungus and I'm not anemic. I got prescribed Zoloft and told to try to reduce my stress. Is .411 TSH level something I should be concerned about? What does hairloss caused by hyperthyroidism look like? Do you think my hair loss and other symptoms could be caused by a TSH of .411 or could everything just be from severe stress?
A related discussion, Hypothyroid was started.
A related discussion, opposite symptoms was started.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
The TSH of 0.411 is normal and unfortunately, stress is the most common cause of what you are describing.
Thanks for the advice jprod. The TSH level didn't seem right to me but the doctor said it's normal. Part of the reason I was tested was because I had heart palpitations for about 3 days last year which I never had before. I was on amoxicillin for a dental infection so I thought it was that or perhaps stress, but I was since tested and don't have a penicillin allergy. My doctor never told me what could have caused this. I'm otherwise healthy, normal weight, eat healthy, exercise often and all that, but its frustrating when I can't figure out whether these annoying problems I'm having are stress, thyroid or something else.
I found interest in this:
Mary Shomon: What is your personal philosophy for thyroid treatment?
Doc Don: (This one is almost my Mantra.) Thyroid status is a diagnosis, NOT a blood test. The clinical lab cannot replace clinical acumen. In any condition, from gunshot wound to pregnancy, 85% of the diagnosis is history (What has been happening to your patient before they came to see you?), 10% is examination (How does this person appear to the trained eye?), and the labs are only worth about 5%.
These are not my crazy ideas, I learned this in medical school. I didn't believe it then, now I do. Except for not having labs to be misused, these ideas have been the essence of medicine since before Hippocrates. The "Normal Range" is really a statistics phrase, not a medical one. It says nothing about health, only how common or uncommon a given score is when compared to the population scores of those who took that test before. The "Normal Range" is most often one that encompasses 95.5% of the scores in the population. Saying that your thyroid is healthy because your number is between the little number and the big number is easily as foolish as claiming that you are physically fit if your weight is between 75 and 260 pounds (That would probably cover 95.5% of the weights in the USA.) without knowing anything else.
http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/docdon.htm
and a checklist: http://thyroid.about.com/library/howto/hthyperthyroidism.htm
As an aside, from what I understand, yes: anxiety can mimic hyperthyroidism.
Still, I'd request another thyroid test sometime down the road.
Mary Shomon: What is your personal philosophy for thyroid treatment?
Doc Don: (This one is almost my Mantra.) Thyroid status is a diagnosis, NOT a blood test. The clinical lab cannot replace clinical acumen. In any condition, from gunshot wound to pregnancy, 85% of the diagnosis is history (What has been happening to your patient before they came to see you?), 10% is examination (How does this person appear to the trained eye?), and the labs are only worth about 5%.
These are not my crazy ideas, I learned this in medical school. I didn't believe it then, now I do. Except for not having labs to be misused, these ideas have been the essence of medicine since before Hippocrates. The "Normal Range" is really a statistics phrase, not a medical one. It says nothing about health, only how common or uncommon a given score is when compared to the population scores of those who took that test before. The "Normal Range" is most often one that encompasses 95.5% of the scores in the population. Saying that your thyroid is healthy because your number is between the little number and the big number is easily as foolish as claiming that you are physically fit if your weight is between 75 and 260 pounds (That would probably cover 95.5% of the weights in the USA.) without knowing anything else.
http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/docdon.htm
and a checklist: http://thyroid.about.com/library/howto/hthyperthyroidism.htm
As an aside, from what I understand, yes: anxiety can mimic hyperthyroidism.
Still, I'd request another thyroid test sometime down the road.
I should think that they would want to retest you sometime shortly down the road, being it awful close to borderline.
This just it, let's say somebody feels great (unbeknownst to them) at 2.5 and then they begin droping until they're tested to .4
They're tested because they'be begun feeling bad until the point they were bothered enough to see the doctor.
I should think that if a person feels great at one level...must be able to feel the rise or drop if either is signifigant?
Thus what's "normal" for one, may not be for another.
This just it, let's say somebody feels great (unbeknownst to them) at 2.5 and then they begin droping until they're tested to .4
They're tested because they'be begun feeling bad until the point they were bothered enough to see the doctor.
I should think that if a person feels great at one level...must be able to feel the rise or drop if either is signifigant?
Thus what's "normal" for one, may not be for another.
Hi. I, too, have some of the same issues as you. My TSH is at .7
I'm not a medical professional, but I can tell you from my interenet research, your symptoms may be caused by low TSH (overactive thyroid). I would recommend that you see an endocrinologist, who is experienced with this type of issue.
From what I understand, even if your TSH numbers are within the medically established "reference range", the numbers may not be normal for you.
If your doctor won't listen to you, and help you, please find another doctor who will listen to you and help you find a resolution.
Good luck to you.
I'm not a medical professional, but I can tell you from my interenet research, your symptoms may be caused by low TSH (overactive thyroid). I would recommend that you see an endocrinologist, who is experienced with this type of issue.
From what I understand, even if your TSH numbers are within the medically established "reference range", the numbers may not be normal for you.
If your doctor won't listen to you, and help you, please find another doctor who will listen to you and help you find a resolution.
Good luck to you.
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