Should I feel bad

[Samedis]

I am waiting on my appointment with the Endo.  My family doctor says I should not be feeling bad with my TSH at 13.  He says I must have something else going on in my life.  Can a TSH of 13 make me feel bad...tired, I always feel like I am not sick but, about to come down with something.

[Melmo36]

Im 6.85 and I feel exhausted!  Glad you got treatment and feel better.

[jax190]

glad your feeling better good luck

[Samedis]

I went to the doctor was started on meds.  Felt great! Like a new person, now my TSH is not even showing up so we are going the other way elimenating meds to try and find a balance between blood work up and how I feel.  In spite of everything, I feel lucky to have finally found out why I felt so bad. Good luck to everyone

[Rite760]

Sorry, just re-read it and saw your TSH was 13 not 1! Which means of course you are way over and would feel bad.

[Rite760]

When my TSH was only 4.6 I felt terrible, so if it's 10 I should imagine you do feel bad. Although as theo1212 says, some people don't even know they are hypothyroid as they don't have symptoms, and it's picked up on a routine blood test. But most people with a TSH of 10 would be feeling horrible, and I think when you see your endo he/she will start you on medication and you will hopefully start to feel better.

[theo1212]

  Tsh levels affect everyone differently.  Some people might have elevated levels and not even really know that they are hypothyroid.  That is what happened to me.  I went into the emergency room for a panic attack then found out I was hypothyroid and honestly,  I feel 100 times worse after starting the meds than I ever did before.
  Lots of muscle aches and pains, dry eyes and skin just to name a few.  I have tried three different medications and had cat scans of my lower abdomen and pelvis for the abdominal pains.  I dunno.  My levels were at 2.7 the last time checked but I still feel awful.  The docs try and tell me it's anxiety.  All I know is that before I went into the er  I didnt feel like this and might have been hypo.  

[alysmum]

Of course a TSH of 13.0 can make you feel badly.  That alone shows you to have low thyroid hormone in your blood.  Anything above 10.0 is of concern, and many people (probably most) have severe symptoms of Hypothyroidism when their TSH is above 3.0.  You need to insist on having an entire thyroid blood panel.  If it shows that you have the antibodies attacking your thyroid, then that will support your going on thyroid meds and bring your TSH down much lower--  Depending on how you are feeling, possibly as low as 1.0.  Even if the antibodies are not present, a TSH of >10.0 means your thyroid is not working properly for some reason.  

Some symptoms of being hypothyroid are... very tired (sometimes complete exhaustion), foggy thinking (just cannot concentrate), never enough sleep, gaining weight, constipation, hair loss, dry coarse hair, dry skin (sometimes skin pigment change - first yellow/ then grey), sometimes rashes due to dry skin, dry eyes, puffy eyes, joint/limb pains, depression, irritability and lack of patience.  

The Endo will probably take care of this, but go in armed with info, and try to get the blood panel while you are waiting for the appt so that the doc will have all that's necessary to help you.  That way you won't have to wait any longer than is necessary to start feeling better.  If you do go on meds, it takes time before you feel better, and you may need to make changes to your dose or type of meds; after chgs you have to wait to see how your feeling and possibly get a new blood test.