Am i at risk for hypothyroidism?

[rchui2]

am looking over my blood tests from last year (2016), and my UTSH levels are at 2.60. they used the ranges of 0.27-4.20, which is the old range. the new range measures up to 3.0. so according to the new range, does it mean that I have hypothyroidism? I have almost all symptoms like: weight gain out of nowhere (at least 40 pounds) within a month, depression, anxiety, hair loss, fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain. I just wanted to know before I 100% decide whether or not to go see a endocrinologist.

[TheLightSeeker]

Forget about the UTSH test results and Lab ref. ranges
All this does not serve the patients well at all, as it indicates only the serum levels of a stimulating hormone.

Fault #1:  If the thyroid does not function well enough to actually produce healthy levels of thyroid hormones, the TSH levels are irrelevant.

Fault # 2: Assuming your thyroid produces enough thyroid hormones, there could be thyroid hormone resistance.
In other words they could be that they are only circulating in your blood and not making it into the cells, where those hormones do their work!
TSH levels again irrelevant!

Fault #3 : Your doctor and possibly the Endo will not do all the necessary tests (Free T3, Free T4 AND Reverse T3),relying mostly on TSH and T4 tests (inadequate/flawed) thus keeping you unnecessarily suffering AND in Limbo.

You may ask your Doctor for those tests ((Free T3, Free T4 AND Reverse T3) however, an Endocrinologist "may" be able to help you better, specially if s/he is familiar with thyroid resistance (type 2 hypothyroidism)
should this be the case.

While you're considering this and exploring your options, you may want to try on your own Dr. Barnes
Basal Temperature Test. Do an online search for that,
but please pay attention to all the details, to ensure this simple self-test for hypothyroidism gives you accurate results.

You do indeed have classic hypothyroid symptoms.

Let me know if you need any further information.

Best wishes,
Niko

[rchui2]

Thank you so much!

[TheLightSeeker]

I noticed that you mentioned  in another post you have very low vit. D levels.
I don't know your current treatment plan
but allow me to offer some valuable advice, so you can avoid major complications.

You may have vitamin D resistance, (VDR) considering :

1. your very low D levels.
2. Having gained that extra weight, puts you at a higher risk of  VDR
3. Should your cortisol levels be high,
VDR is likely

Vitamin D works synergistically with
Magnesium and Vitamin K2.

K2 is the easy one, so you can take
it along with your D3. The higher the dose the more K2 you need.

Magnesium levels (tissue not serum) are tough to increase because oral magnesium has a very poor absorption rate.
I suggest you look into transdermal
magnesium oil and magnesium bicarbonate water.
I only have personal experience with
transdermal mag. oil.
Making your own is very easy, by mixing  magnesium chloride 50-50
with hot water, wait till cooled down and then transfer to a spray bottle.
Spray your body and leave on for 20-30 minutes and rinse well after.

You may need a minimum of 25.000 IU weekly (preferably 5000+ IU daily), but also taking enough K2 and magnesium oil transdermal treatments daily.

Have your D levels checked frequently.

Cheers,
Niko

[rchui2]

thank you so much! your answers were really helpful!!

[Red_Star]

Vitamin D deficiency is common with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (most common cause of hypothyroidism in developed countries). You can read Hypothyroid Mom's article - "92% of Hashimoto’s patients with Vitamin D deficiency" - if you are interested in more info.

[Red_Star]

Excerpt from: The TSH Reference Range Wars: What's "Normal?", Who is Wrong, Who is Right...

"Drs. Wartofsky and Dickey defend the shift to the new range, with some caveats. They say: "We will probably never have an absolutely cutoff value for TSH distinguishing normal from abnormal, but recognition that the mean of normal TSH values is only between 1.18 and 1.4 mU/liter and that more than 95% of the normal population will have a TSH level less than 2.5 mU/liter clearly imply that anyone with a higher value should be carefully assessed for early thyroid failure."

A more indepth testing for hypothyroidism include TSH, free T4, free T3, thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb).