Thyroid Disorder?

[SophieDobos]

Hi,

I had 2 blood tests one in the beginning of June and the other is in the beginning of July.
June(general):
TSH 0.02 mIU/L
T4 Free Non Dialysis: 1.5 ng/dL
Red Blood Cell: 3.67 MILL/MCL
Hemoglobin 11.6 G/DL
Hematrocit 34.4 %
July:
*TSH 5.66
*Thyroglobulin AB  215 IU/mL
*T3 Total 96 ng/dL
T3 Free 253 pg/dL
T3 uptake 31.6%
T4 Total 6.9 UG/DL
T4 Free Calculated 2.2 UG/DL
T4 Free Non-Dialysis 0.9 ng/dL
Thyroid Peroxidase AB less than 10 IU/mL
Thyroid stim. Immunoglobulin-105%
FSH 3.1 mIU/mL
Progesterone 0.9 ng/mL
Estrogens, total, Serum 196 pg/mL
LKM-1AB (IGG) less than 20 U

Symptoms:
-I have pain around my neck.
-I noticed more pain above my thyroid especially when it gets pushed during night.  
-I feel lots of little glands in my neck, which is I guess normal, however some of them hurt.
-no visible change around my neck(eg enlargement of thyroid glands)  
-loosing more hair than normally.
-mood swings,
-feel cold easily when others feel ok,
-I gain 5 pounds in the past year.
-Sometimes I feel some strange sudden heart beats only for few seconds.
-Some days(not always) when I stand up suddenly my vision goes dark for few seconds.  
-my cycle last usually 24 days, which I had for a long time.
-Probably the most important is that my sister and brother also had thyroid problems in the past. My sister had it about 18 years ago, no clear diagnosis, and my brother is just having this problem. He has hyperthyroidism, but not sure if it is graves disease or some specific kind. He has pretty serious problems, and had I treatment done half year ago. My sisters was lot more minor compare to him.

I had lots of changes in the past 1.5 year, finished my studies,got married, moved country, started a new job. So I wonder if stress contributed significantly to bring out these problems.? I'm not sure how long this problem is going on, as I never had a TSH test before. Would you please explain my blood test results, and see if you can see any relation between the test results and the symptoms? Also what additional tests would you recommend? How soon? Thank you.

[SophieDobos]

Hi I just had a look at your profile and I see that you are an MD. :) It is nice to talk to somebody actually knows about human body. I'm a water scientist, so know little human body...:)

I also read on your profile this: "i was diagnosed with thyroid issues in april of 2008 at age 29, but i really feel that i've had bouts of thyroiditis since i was a teenager." I was thinking maybe this is true for me too.

It was an "accident" that I find out that I have some problem with my thyroid. I just asked my doctor to take a thyroid test when I had my physical done, since my brother is going through some thyroid problems. But when I started to read about thyroid symptoms, I had problem seeing if I had any of them as it seemed like, I always had them(eg. strange period cycles, sudden heart beats, sensitive to heat and cold. etc.)

From your description above, it seems like you had more tests(I uptake), probably that is what going to happen to me as well, once I see the specialist. She is new in this office, but have really good education and experience, so I'm hoping. The other doctors in this practice have only appointments available from next year, which seemed a bit too long to wait for.

So the doctors can not tell if it is a some sort of virus or bacteria that is stopping your thyroid to take the iodine? But if you had it for a long time(teenager), maybe it is smth else...
What kind of symptoms you have? Do you have migraines sometimes? I get them often, especially if I spend a bit longer time on the sun.

[mtkst13]

i could have hashimotos, but my hyper phase followed by extreme hypo phase don't follow the typical hashis pattern.  it seems that most people with hashimotos don't have an acute hyper phase followed by an acute hypo phase.  usually people with hashimotos slowly become hypothyroid over a period of years.  hashimotos is a gradual destruction, whereas silent thyroiditis is inflammation followed by recovery.  

only time will tell if my issue is transient.  the same is with you.  that's why your doc said that he will test you in a few months (although it should be more like 6 weeks).  he's thinking and hoping your issue is transient and that your thyroid will recover.

hashimotos and silent thyroiditis are autoimmune issues.  it's possible for the silent thyroiditis to recur.  even if your thyroid heals (with your levels being a "little" hyper and a "little" hypo, it seems your thyroid will heal), you still need to have yearly monitoring of thyroid.  you're more likely to have thyroid issues in the future.

i initially was hyper.  the doctor did all the blood work you had, as well as an iodine uptake scan...this is what indicated the underlying condition...i had no uptake of iodine, which means that the thyroid is damaged/diseased and cannot absorb/use the iodine.  if i had normal to high uptake, that would've indicated graves disease.  

since it was thyroiditis and not graves, i waited out the hyper phase until i went hypo.  because i went so hypo, i took meds.  i'm still taking meds and get ft4 and tsh tests every 3-6 months.  labs are done every six weeks until the tsh normalizes.

it's good to see an endo.  you can discuss your family history, and then decisions can be made from there.  if any issues arise in the future, you'll be a patient and can get seen quickly.  otherwise it can take months!!!

[SophieDobos]

Hi,

Thank you so much for telling me about this. When my body attacks the thyroid isn't that hashimotos, which seems to me is difficult to treat.

Did you find out what is causing this problem for you?

I just talk to my GP about the results and he told me everything is fine and all I need to do is to take another test in few months time.

However because all this family history and not feeling great I decided to see an endocrinologist.

What kind of tests did you have?

[mtkst13]

hi,
you probably have silent thyroiditis.  i had/have this.  i'll explain.

for some reason, your body, a virus, or a bacteria attack your thyroid.  it becomes inflamed/damaged, and all of the t3, t4 spill out of the thyroid making you hyperthyroid.  eventually your body uses all of the t3, t4, and since the thyroid is still damaged and not producing new t3,t4, you become hypothyroid.

usually the hypothyroid phase is short because the thyroid heals and starts to produce hormone again.

i have/had this condition.  i had a hyperthyroid phase that lasted for months.  i had a tsh of .004 and high ft3.  then i went hypo with a tsh of 56 and low ft3, ft4.  i've been on synthroid since july of 2008.  however, i've tapered a little, and i'm hoping to eliminate having to take the med.

you have elevated antithyroglobulin...i also had this.  you have negative antitpo...i also had neg antitpo.

it's actually similar to postpartum thyroiditis, so if you have children, you need to monitor your thyroid levels after delivery.  it also can reoccur, so you should have your levels monitored once a year.