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Should I Call My Dr?
I have mentioned before that my dr says I have thyroiditis. My TSH is high an I have the antibodies also. I don't have the numbers because I have not been back but he did mention the fist time that my TSH was 6.5 where 5 is normal. The next time he said I had medium thyroiditis. He wants to check my blood easy month till Feb and decide what to do then. I had an ultrasound last week and if there were additional problems he said he would call. He didn't so I take that to mean nothing bad. He Said he expected inflammation.
My issue is I am having symptoms. Fatigue, weakness, cold feet. I also have times when I sweat and have bloating and cramps in my abdomen. Apparently night sweats can come with both hypo and hyper and they can happen during the day.
Do I call my dr and say I want to do something now or wait? Some days are better than others. I'm not good at being forceful.
My issue is I am having symptoms. Fatigue, weakness, cold feet. I also have times when I sweat and have bloating and cramps in my abdomen. Apparently night sweats can come with both hypo and hyper and they can happen during the day.
Do I call my dr and say I want to do something now or wait? Some days are better than others. I'm not good at being forceful.
The dr did check for antibodies and I do have them. I have booked an appt next week and we'll see what happens. I will post my numbers.
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The main value to TSH is to distinguish between primary and central hypothyroidism. Primary is associated with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, with which the immune system erroneously identifies the thyroid gland as "foreign" to the body and produces antibodies to attack and destroy the gland. This is most likely your situation. While this is happening the TSH starts to rise because the thyroid gland cannot produce enough hormone, and thyroid medication is necessary to prevent/relieve resultant hypo symptoms.
I'm not sure how it works in Canada, under National Health Service, but your TSH exceeds even the old range used here. Also, over 10 years ago the AACE revised the recommended TSH range down to .3 - 3.0. Also, since TSH is a such a poor diagnostic, the doctor really should test you for the thyroid antibodies of Hashi's. Those tests are for Thyroid Peroxidase and Thyroglobulin Antibodies, often denoted as TPO ab and TG ab. Both should be done. In addition, you need to test for Free T3 and Free T4, which are not the same as Total T3 and T4, so insist on the Frees. Also, since hypo patients are frequently too low in the range for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, those should be tested as well.
A good thyroid doctor will treat a hypo patient clinically by testing and adjusting Free T3 and Free T4 as necessary to relieve symptoms, without being constrained by resultant TSH levels. You can get some good insight into clinical treatment from this letter written by a good thyroid doctor for patients that he sometimes consults with after initial tests and evaluation. The letter is then sent to the participating doctor of the patient to help guide treatment. In the letter, please note the statement, "the ultimate
criterion for dose adjustment must always be the clinical response of the patient."
http://hormonerestoration.com/files/ThyroidPMD.pdf
So that is what you need to do. Get those additional tests done and then post results and their reference ranges here and let members help interpret and advise further. Also find out if the doctor is going to be willing to treat clinically as described above. If not, then you are going to have to become your own best advocate and feed the doctor info such as the above and try to persuade to treat clinically, or find a good thyroid doctor that will do so.