Ummm i didn't mean to send a message to myself. LOL To add, reverse T3 is not an antibody test.
Times of hormonal change such as pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause are triggers for the development of thyroid disease. Research has found that if the TSH is above 2 mU/L, the thyroid gland is probably in the early stages of disease. In the United States, 90% of all cases of hypothyroidism are caused by an autoimmune thyroid disease called Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
In most cases, Hashimoto's thyroiditis is a progressive disease where the thyroid antibodies begin to destroy natural thyroid gland protein cells. Those with very high elevations of thyroid antibodies may see faster cell destruction and damage to the thyroid gland. Selenium has been shown to lower TPO antibodies in clinical trials so you might also see an improvement in TPO antibody levels.
Labs for hypothyroidism include: TSH, free T4, free T3, thyroid antibodies - TPOAb, TgAb, reverse T3. Hashimoto's thyroiditis can progress very slowly and doctors may not want to start thyroid replacement treatment until your labs are outside the reference range. Unfortunately, this can take many years. Some thyroid doctors will treat based on symptoms and will prescribe medication before labs are notably out of range.
Thanks for your response! I do not know if further tests should be run or if a endocrinologist should be consulted. I think all of my symptoms are related to the Thyroid but am not sure of the true diagnosis. What do you think?
can the high number of TPO ever be reduced or does this mean I have some sort of disease? If I take B vitamins will this reduce the TPO? What other tests need to be run to get a proper diagnosis?
When homocysteine is high, one or more of the following vitamins are low: folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6. The target range for homocysteine is under 6.3 umol/L. From your labs, folate and B12 are low. Thyroid antibodies can cause symptoms before affecting other labs.