Thyroid antibodies elevated but not significantly high???

[JMC72]

Hi...

If antibodies are present does it really matter if they are high or low?
I was tested in December of 2010 and had none and then again a year later in January 2012 where I had them...

ATA - 46 (0-30)
TPO - 69 (25-60)

My TSH is 3.93 (.36 - 5.04)
My FT4 is .8 (0.8 - 1.8)

I wasn't tested this time for T3 or Free T3 because endo said it wasn't necessary but the last T3 I had was 201 & was elevated but I don't have the range for it...

Thanks!

[JMC72]

Thank you! I am just so tired of hearing it's in my head!

I was tested for RA and that was neg and I feel like I have seen so many doctors for this, from ENT, Neuro because they thought it could be MS, regular GP, Gastro... I mean I've been around the block so I feel like if I had another disorder they would have found it by now...

Who knows anymore...

Thank you for helping!

[goolarra]

Sorry...the coffee hasn't kicked in yet!

I should also mention that TPOab can be slightly elevated with other autoimmune conditions, e.g. lupus, RA, etc. Autoimmune disease seems to run in families, but it's not always the SAME autoimmune disease.  For example, one member of the family might have Hashi's, another lupus, another type I diabetes.  However, your family does seem to have gotten very "lucky" with the Hashi's!

[goolarra]

Antibodies are basically either positive or negative.  Raw numbers don't really matter a whole lot.  They vary wildly, even intraday.  What I always find more telling in labs than actual numbers is CHANGE.  A year ago, you had no antibodies, now they're elevated, albeit very slightly.  From another thread, I remember that you have lots of Hashi's in your family...another reason to take more than usual note of your "very slighly elevated" antibodies.

TT3 is of very limited use.  It tells the total T3 in your blood, but much of that is chemically bound by protein and thus unavailable to your cells.  FT3 tells what's actually avaaiable, and that's what you want to know.  I'd ask your endo to test FT3 since it's been shown to correlate best with symptoms.  See what his reaction is.  It's a very cheap test.  Why not complete the thyroid picture?  He should be willing to accomodate you.