Chronic hives for 3 mths, TSH of 5.3 (range .5 to 5.5)

[potteragain]

HI, there is family history of hypothyroid in my family... maternal grandmother, maternal uncle and maternal aunt.  In the case of my uncle and aunt the disease was detected in the 30, 20's respectatively.

I am 35, had a baby 21 months ago.  Since having the baby I have been feeling more and more rundown, hair failing out and have gained weight (never lost the PG weight either ! )....  

I have been having hives daily and rather severely most days, since mid January this year.  Now its late March, and I am really frustrated.  My TSH test is early March was 5.3.  I wonder if anyone else has the experience of hives and/or needing to treat hypothyroidism with a TSH at the high end of the normal range?  My GP doesn't think I need treatment or at any rate thinks I would not symptoms of hypothroid

[cookieN]

My lab tests show TSH of 5.3 and normal T3 and T4. Does this show hypothyroidsm? Do I have to be medicated?

[EmpatheticJenny]

Yay!!! I am delighted by your good news! I think I know exactly what you mean when you say that gosh, it feels good to be listened to and helped. It can be frustrating to try to find a good doc, but they ARE out there, and what a gift when you find one. I am very happy for you.

[potteragain]

OH happy  day, I found a very sensitive and caring professional today.  My NEW GP ordered new labs (including for antibodies) and some of didn't even think about like, check me for Celiac disease and B12 anemia (which 2 relatives have but I failed to mention to her).  She also reviewed my labs results that I brought with me and said I was mildly anemic... none of the other doctors mentioned this, and they had seen the same labs.  I have a follow-up appt. with her in 10 days.  SHe said if my labs values come back with a high TSH of like 10, she said I will call you and start you on something before the followup appt. PLUS!!! I asked her, I was told that 5.3 TSH would not have symptoms by other Doctors, and she said that is not true for everyone, some people are more sensitive and will have symptoms at 5.3 !! Gosh, it feels good to be listened too and helped.

[EmpatheticJenny]

Potter, you are so right; we must laugh at our frustrating thyroid problem or otherwise cry!! It is SO frustrating when you are dealing with a doc who just wants to "explain away" all of your symptoms in a dismissive way. I know what it is like to want to rip the white coat right off a physician's back and use it to half-strangle him or her. During the long time in which my hypothyroidism was going right under the radar screen of every physician I saw, a total of four wonderfully committed and caring physicians (along with a couple of duds) were involved. I got rid of the duds, and now I am grateful in hindsight that each of the four good guys and gals simply said, "I do not know what is going on with you" and stayed with me, continuing to try to figure it out.

A big part of your problem and mine is that a truly comprehensive list of thyroid-related symptoms does not exist, as far as I can tell. I know that at some time in the last nine months, as I began to read about my newly diagnosed condition, I read a physician's comment that chronic hives always raise a question in his mind about hypothyroidism. He explained the logical connection, and I know that it had nothing to do with antibodies, so he would not be surprised if I told him that although I do not have Hashimoto's disease, my hypothyroidism was causing me to have hives.

Since reading that comment (which I would give anything to be able to find again!), I have not seen hives on any of the lists of hypothyroidism, and I also have not seen a lot of the other symptoms that members of this forum have reported. In fact, I discovered this forum when I turned to Google for information, typing in "hypothyroidism" and the word for a symptom I was having that I was sure was caused by my thryoid gland's struggles, even though it was not on any symptoms list I could find. (I DID find it in the forum archives, by the way.)

As is true in many areas of medicine, there is far too little good research into hypothyroidism. If I were a billionaire and could pay for a large research study, I would want it to be a non-fancy study that involved pulling together a list of every symptom (and I mean EVERY symptom) that someone had a good reason for thinking was caused by hypothyroidism. I suspect that as happened to me, many people have physicians who look straight at a glaring symptom of hypothyroidism and do not what they are seeing because the symptom is not on the "standard" list.

A physician who treats hypothyroidism, whether an endocrinologist or a GP, needs to have a healthy amount of humility about how much he or she probably does NOT know, and a physician also needs to have a lot of respect for the patient as an accurate reporter (which you seem to be). I hope very much that you find that in the physician you see today. Let me know how it goes, okay?

Crossing my fingers for you,
Jenny

[potteragain]

Gosh, Jennie, that is the best anecdotally evidence yet!  :)
I have another appt. with a Doc tomorrow not an endo but hopefully a better GP.  For some reason I am feeling optimistic.  The most recent doctor dismissed everything I was experiencing...  suggested my hairloss was female pattern baldness (also eyelashed very thin as well).  Gosh, I mean what a coincidence, I am exhausted, gaining weight and by golly, female pattern baldness sets in just as I am also covered in hives!  Well we must laugh or otherwise cry!!

[EmpatheticJenny]

Yes, I had chronic hives that--in hindsight--seem obviously to have been coming from a then-undiagnosed case of mild hypothyroidism.

As of last summer, I had a TSH of 4.11 and no antibodies. My wonderful general care provider advised me to take a "watch and wait" attitude. Like your GP, mine was making judgments on the basis of outdated thinking about TSH levels. I do not fault him; it is incredibly difficult for a physician to keep up-to-date in his or her own area of specialty, never mind keeping up adequately with other areas of specialty as well.

I did not stay in a state of limbo for long, and I hope that you will not, either. My limbo was ended when, a few weeks after the lab work that showed a TSH level of 4.11, my thyroid gland's struggles began to make me feel so unwell that my general provider and I soon fell into line with my new endocrinologist's viewpoint that "this should be treated."

I think that my experience underscores Rayne's very wise suggestion: Find a good endo who will look at the whole picture and treat *you*, not the numbers. The only advice I can add is: Keep trying if you do not find a good endo on the first try. It can be frustrating to try to find someone who will work with you as a health care partner rather than being a dictator, but endos like that ARE out there, and finding one is worth the search. I wish you lots of good luck!!

[potteragain]

Thanks Rain for the response.  My uncle was feeling extremely unwell when his TSH was 10 or 11, which I guess is what dr's expect.  I really do need to find a more sensitive dr. if nothing else!

[rayneweather]

I'm sorry you're feeling so lousy.  My hyperthyroidism was diagnosed right after the birth of my first child.  There are a number of people here who have "subclinical" hypo or hyperthyroidism meaning their lab values aren't off by very much or are "normal" but yet have the symptoms of the disease.  Many of us have had to look around to find a doctor (usually an endocrinologist) who is willing to treat us based not just on our labs but by our symptoms.  I was diagnosed as subclinical hyperthyroidism and finally found a great endo on the 2nd try.  I was on medicine for a year and then was in remission (stable off of medicines) for just over 3 years until my symptoms returned and I had to go back on medicine.  My suggestion would be to find a good endo who will look at the whole picture and treat *you*, not the numbers.  And btw, your symptoms (tiredness, hair problems and difficulty losing weight) are all signs of hypothyroidism.  Just my 2 cents.