TSH results question

[PGphmtt75]

hello, I need some advice on my TSH level from a few years back.  I've been fighting bouts of anxiety and feelings on tenseness and edginess and bouts of sadness off and on for a couple year now and haven't been able to put my finger on why.  I've done some research and found thyroids can have that effect if off.  I talked with my doctor about a year ago and he did a thyroid blood test which came back normal.  But I found an old blood test from a few years before that with a different doctor with a TSH level of 5.90 which was labeled out of range but the doctor never mentioned it to me.  the T-4 level was normal at 1.2.  Any advice, thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!  

[PGphmtt75]

thank you very much!  I really appreciate your help!

[gimel]

Before you go searching for an endo and possibly have to wait for some time for an appointment, let me suggest that you have a look at this list of top thyroid doctors, by state and by area.  If you can find one that is in your area,  and you like some of the patient feedback that is shown, then that might be a better way to go.

http://www.thyroid-info.com/topdrs/

One of my friends used this list and loves her new doc.

Of course this list is not the only such source for thyroid doctors, it is just one that I have some experience with.

[PGphmtt75]

thanks for your help!  I will check with my doctor and probably will ask to see a specialist.  I looked again at my test results through out the years and found another record of high TSH which was never brought to my attention by my doctor!  So I have one test result from 2004 saying my TSH was a 5.9, and another one from 2007 saying my TSH was 5.712, and both were done by different doctors and different labs.  I have another result in the normal range which probably explains why the feelings come and go.  Hopefully this is the reason I've been sturggling with this stuff for the past several years!  Most of my test results are for cholesteral so only 3 have thyroid results on them.  But I did ask both doctors about the feelings I've been having over the years and neither mentioned it could be a thyroid issue.  I brought it up to my most recent doctor and asked if he thought it could be a thyroid issue but he dismissed it after one of my test results was normal.  He just wanted to put me on Zoloft which I didn't want to do and didn't do.  But last night I found the 5.712 TSH result and that was from that doctor!!!  So, I think I'm going to ask to be refered to an endocrine specialist.

[Jennifer1987]

My TSH was 6.5 and Iv anxiety to. Its torture...you need to get tested again and probably need to start some meds!!!
Good Luck! xx

[gimel]

Prior to 2001  the range for TSH was widely identified as .5-5.0.  Some docs even used a higher upper range limit.  After the Amer. Assn. of Endocrinologists decided that the data base used for determining the range limits probably included a lot of people that were suspect as hypo t.  After excluding those, the range was revised to .3-3.0.  Even now most labs and doctors seem to still be using the old range.  You reallyl need to be tested again.  If you do so, insist that the most important test, free T3, be run along with free T4 and TSH.   In the interim you can get a good idea of your thyroid state by checking your temperature.  Here's a link about that.

http://www.drrind.com/tempgraph.asp