TSH Question

[JewellO]

I am a patient with Graves Disease.  I have posted my question on the Thryoid Disorders Medical Communities forum and got some helpful feedback but I wanted to get your opinion also, Dr. Lupo.  I had RAI treatment in late January of this year.  In May my T4 lab results were 1.2 and my TSH was 2.5.  At that point my doctor put me on Levothroid (100 MCG).  I just received my most recent labs from 9/19/07 and the results were 1.2 T4 and 6.2 TSH (labs reference range is 0.2 - 5.5).  My doctor tells me this is exactly where she wants me right now and that the TSH test "lags behind".  I'm not sure what she means by this.    I seem to be feeling more tired lately and my doctor tells me I should see my primary physician as my lab results indicate if I'm not feeling well that it isn't my thyroid that's causing it.  She wants me to wait a couple of months and get tested again before making any change in my Levothroid prescription.  Would you agree with this?

[alikat709]

By any chance are you on depo provera? My thyroid levels have been out of whack the whole time I was on the depo shot, I had my last shot april 07 , and sept 4th was my 2nd normal tsh level , last may 06 it was (normal) but I still continured to feel like **** . I had been hypo for 13 yrs on .25 mcg of synthroid with no problem,then started the depo shot.  Tsh level was way too low. docs took a wait and see approach , didnt work tried methamazole, after 4 weeks was alergic, was also on beta blockers,  after like 14 months of dealing with all this they suggested RAI ,had that done, after 2 weeks had double vision, and I have much difficulty focusing, I have always complained about leg pain, muscle spasms, low sex drive, extreme fatigue, hair loss , sometimes painful sex, increased yeast infections chest pain occasionally, more recent over the past 8 months or so I have had extreme joint pain in my fingers , wrists , pain from under my arms as though I walked on crutches all day , I have also had an abnormal pap which required cryo surgery,  All this time I had never associated any of thes problems with depo... The only side effect I was told about was the no period
which I thoought was a plus.  I made the decision in  July to stop the shot after i heard you shouldnt use it for more than 2 yrs, I have been on it for 4 yrs this past june.  I am not feeling much better yet , but am noticing small improvements, like being able to type this without alot of pain ,I think all my symtoms were caused from an accumulation of depo , by the way I am also about 45 to 50 lbs over my normal weight .  I got on the internet the other day to google how long after coming off the shot would I get my period because I still dont have it yet and I came across all these horror stories of depo and felt like I was reading something I could have written myself, What an eyeopener.....
so now my new mission is to notify my doctor apparently she doesnt realize depo can be harmful to her patients health because not once in the 4 yrs did she ever mention it could be the depo.

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

It may lag 5-6 weeks or so....but after 3-4 months, there should be an accurate reflection of the pituitary's interpretation of the thyroid balance -- in this case the TSH of 6.2 suggests the pituitary is asking for more levothroid ------ and this seems to be consistent with your symptoms...