Tell me about low thyroid

[Moxie]

I'm thinking I need to have my thyroid tested. My mom and sister both have low thyroid and I have some of the symptoms but not all of them. I know many hormone tests have to be done on certain cycle days; is that how a thyroid test works? I'm currently not cycling due to breastfeeding (my favorite part of breastfeeding!!). If I do get it tested, what should my number be? Where do I go for good information about thyroid levels?

[TheCoffeeChick]

I'm thinking I need to have my thyroid tested. My mom and sister both have low thyroid and I have some of the symptoms but not all of them. I know many hormone tests have to be done on certain cycle days; is that how a thyroid test works? I'm currently not cycling due to breastfeeding (my favorite part of breastfeeding!!). If I do get it tested, what should my number be? Where do I go for good information about thyroid levels?

 

It doesn't matter what day of your cycle it is to test. It is best to go in fasting though, like you would a cholesterol test.

 

New standards (which not all offices follow) say your THS range should be between .3 and 3.0 - but not all people are the same so you really have to experiment with different doses to get to the place that YOU feel the best. If I get to 3.0 I am absolutely exhausted, gaining weight by the minute, my hair is falling out, and my nails are peeling away. Old standards suggested a level of .5 to 5.0, I think.

 

When I was at 6 point something when I first was diagnosed, I was a zombie - most of the time just nursing my 6 week old baby was the most I could do in one day. No getting dressed, no chores getting done, the house was a disaster, laundry was piled everywhere, my kitchen was overrun by dirty dishes, and my sweet dh was working 80 hours a week and still trying to do everything I couldn't. :) I thought it was just having had a baby, but after I was put on medicine it was amazing the difference I felt. One thing that did clue me in that something else was going on was that I was gaining weight after giving birth instead of losing! :glare:

 

:grouphug: The best thing you can do is to find a good doctor who will listen to how you feel and not only the numbers on the test.

 

ETA: I have had testing done while nursing, while pregnant, while cycling, and while not - makes absolutely no difference.

[Robin's Song]

http://http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/bloodtests.htm

 

 

Mary Shomon's books and website are helpful. If they tell you your levels are fine but you still feel "off", I would wait 6 mos and get retested. I felt awful for a year before I was diagnosed. You can get tested at any time.

[Robin's Song]

It doesn't matter what day of your cycle it is to test. It is best to go in fasting though, like you would a cholesterol test.

 

New standards (which not all offices follow) say your THS range should be between .3 and 3.0 - but not all people are the same so you really have to experiment with different doses to get to the place that YOU feel the best. If I get to 3.0 I am absolutely exhausted, gaining weight by the minute, my hair is falling out, and my nails are peeling away. Old standards suggested a level of .5 to 5.0, I think.

 

When I was at 6 point something when I first was diagnosed, I was a zombie - most of the time just nursing my 6 week old baby was the most I could do in one day. No getting dressed, no chores getting done, the house was a disaster, laundry was piled everywhere, my kitchen was overrun by dirty dishes, and my sweet dh was working 80 hours a week and still trying to do everything I couldn't. :) I thought it was just having had a baby, but after I was put on medicine it was amazing the difference I felt. One thing that did clue me in that something else was going on was that I was gaining weight after giving birth instead of losing! :glare:

 

:grouphug: The best thing you can do is to find a good doctor who will listen to how you feel and not only the numbers on the test.

 

ETA: I have had testing done while nursing, while pregnant, while cycling, and while not - makes absolutely no difference.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Oops, duplicate account :/]

I've had my thryroid tested (T1) many times with no prob. found. It wasn't until I had a GOOD Dr. test for T1 AND T3, and T4 that we discovered the problem. My T1 was just fine, but the other two were low. I take a animal glandular (Armour) instead of the synthetic stuff.

[Oops, duplicate account :/]

http://http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/bloodtests.htm

 

 

Mary Shomon's books and website are helpful. If they tell you your levels are fine but you still feel "off"' date=' I would wait 6 mos and get retested.[/b'] I felt awful for a year before I was diagnosed. You can get tested at any time.

 

Yes. In just 3 months time my thryroid test scores finally dropped into the low range.

Edited September 9, 2010 by mommyjen

[Moxie]

I've had my thryroid tested (T1) many times with no prob. found. It wasn't until I had a GOOD Dr. test for T1 AND T3, and T4 that we discovered the problem. My T1 was just fine, but the other two were low. I take a animal glandular (Armour) instead of the synthetic stuff.

 

 

That is my next question. What is the difference in types of medicine? My mom takes the $4 stuff from wal-mart but I've heard others say that Armour is better??

[snickelfritz]

I've been on 2 types of "natural"-- armor and a different brand that I'm blanking on-- and a couple different synthetics. I honestly can't tell any difference. There were some supply issues with rhe natural brands, and the synthetics where all I could get. So, I switched and haven't looked back. My current doctor prefers synthetics, since you can get different amounts easily, but she was willing to work with me on the naturals. I often had to cut my armor pills to vary the dosage... Which is inexact. And then we couldn't get them at all locally. I think a friend said the supply is now consistent, but they have further reduced the number of dosage increments you can get.

 

FWIW-- My symptoms came on soon after my 2nd child. I think that's pretty common.

Edited September 9, 2010 by snickelfritz

[Ravin]

I've been hypothroid since age 11. I've always taken synthroid--generic, usually. I couldn't afford the more expensive natural stuff or even name brand, even if I saw a need, which I don't. Generic levothyroxine works fine for me.

 

I have had a few times I was off meds, and definitely saw a difference in energy level and weight retention. I went hyper after DD for a while which messed with my milk supply (I was overproducing which made it hard for DD to get the hindmilk) and wound up settled in on a lower dose than I took pre-kid. My doc checks monthly during pg and postpartum, and every six months to a year otherwise. You can expect to test every month to six weeks until your meds level things out.

[snickelfritz]

Ravin-- Exact same thing happened to me. I went hyper and had a huge oversupply, which gave dd some major tummy troubles. It took me 6 weeks to get in--I kept chalking all my symptoms up to post baby weirdness. By then, testing showed hypo.

[Negin]

I have lots of info on this and can post if you're interested. Also, you may want to look into Iodoral - fabulous product. I can give you more info on that also.