Thyroid numbers for 30 yr old female

[SFW]

Hi. a friend of mine recently had blood done and her thyroid results were as followed:

TSH 6.18

TG 214

What do you make of these results??

Thanks in advance.

 

[AMA Rider]

Hi. a friend of mine recently had blood done and her thyroid results were as followed:

TSH 6.18

TG 214

What do you make of these results??

Thanks in advance.

Hey SFW, just so you know i have been through the old ringer with this, half my thyroid was removed due to HashiThroidis. This is one of the hardest things to deal with Docs over. Lab ranges are .5 - 5.0 for TSH, so Docs say ' its all good '. That doesnt mean they are optimal for your wife ? My wifes TSH is 3.0, and she cannot lose weight even though she is in' range' ? Think of it like this. Your Pituitary is the thermostat - your thyroid is the furnace. Your wifes thermostat is asking her furnace for more heat ? She needs way more tests to find out why it's not ? Test like T-3 T-4, and reverse T-3 to see how her conversion is, also autoimunity ( sorry for spelling sucks ) tests for Hashimoto Thyroidis, and Graves disease ? Once shes diagnosed, and on meds, then tests don't mean shit. She needs to put numbers on her life. Like a 1 is she cant get out of bed, weight increase, feels like shit.Up her meds ? On the other side, like a number 10, Can't sleep well, losing to much weight, hands shakes, and beats you for no reason (lol), better drop the meds down. Shoot for a number 5 ? Man I hope this helps Bro. Good luck !

 

[sassy69]

I think this is the website I wanted to find - Ashley’s Story | Stop The Thyroid Madness - if you read around it, it illustrates a lot of what AMA Rider alludes to - thyroid is not as simple as just a couple tests and then determine hypo / hyper and treat. If there is a specific reason there is a concern about thyroid performance, then get the additional tests. Generally a doc will go w/ the more general testing. Over the last 10 years I've been told the basic tests are pretty accurate - but you still see enough crazy situations where it just doesn't seem like it is that simple, and if there is an issue, it may lead to several misdiagnoses while not looking at the right information.

Be careful about reading into test results, but also be thorough if there are specific reasons.

 

[SFW]

Ok thanks guys i appreciate the feedback. The doc is telling her (for now) that she focus on her diet and exercise as well as start taking niacin 250.

She does has more tests scheduled but this is what the doc recommends at this point. Niacin, eat clean and workout. But she has no energy to exercise anymore. This is a woman who went from 140 lbs 5'5" training with free weights, strong, ambitious and energetic to 160 lbs with no energy and lethargy In 3 months time.

Im going to fwd her that link for now, thanks sassy.

I was thinking an iodide defiency perhaps caused by some of the meds shes on? Albuterol, advair, cingulair...and she was on pregnisone for a couple of weeks.

I guess its all guess work until she gets more of these scheduled tests done.

 

[sassy69]

Out of curiosity - is there any chance she hit a point of overtraining or adrenal fatigue or something where she really just needed to take a break? Or this is more likely something else going on?

 

[SFW]

Adrenal fatigue perhaps from the albuterol she was using. But she had to endure a minor surgery around the same time things started to go downhill. A mole had become infected and she Needed to be put under anesthesia. There was a cancer scare for a while and she was very stressed out.

But Overtraining, not really. She always allowed enough time for her cns to recover.

 

[sassy69]

Adrenal fatigue perhaps from the albuterol she was using. But she had to endure a minor surgery around the same time things started to go downhill. A mole had become infected and she Needed to be put under anesthesia. There was a cancer scare for a while and she was very stressed out.

But Overtraining, not really. She always allowed enough time for her cns to recover.

And the diet / appetite has been the same? More stress eating? Less stress eating? Any change during this period of time? Does it seem like more water weight than fat?

 

[SFW]

And the diet / appetite has been the same? More stress eating? Less stress eating? Any change during this period of time? Does it seem like more water weight than fat?

Well, Her diet collapsed. She use to eat steamed veggies, high protein with Moderately low carbs. usually her carb source was from fruit and milk. Maybe some rice around her workout time.

Now everything is high carbs and fat. Basically cakes and pastas, shes Just insatiable. According to her, she says she is eating more while stressed. Which seems the opposite of what she was before. She would go long periods of time without eating when she felt emotionally stressed.

And it seems there is more fat gain than edema. Her waist is much bigger but her ankles do not look swollen at all.

 

[sassy69]

Yea, that's no fun. I've gone thru phases of the comfort food thing- for whatever reason. Esp w/ the extremes of competition prep, it amazes me how much I can binge when I get the munchies. But I've learned to relax that a lot by changing my associations with food. It takes a while to do it but just removing the "food as reward" vs "food as fuel" has helped a lot - takes the drama out of the whole food thing. Along w/ the doc's suggestion - its just not a bad thing - start by cleaning up the diet, establish a 1/week cheat meal and save it for a nice night out w/ friends, a few drinks, etc. Keep a food journal and realistically look at the areas that could be cleaned up. Where there is a stress response - find a different way to deal. At one point I would carry a deck of cards around w/ me and play solitaire if I started getting bored or stressed or somethign that would otherwise send me to the fridge. Or go hit the gym - I've had days where I am driving all the way up to the front door and still not convinced I feel like actually going in - but I always tell myself however shitty I feel, i'll feel a million times better when I'm out of the gym. At the very least I get to listen to some of my old school heavy metal and just enjoy that. Just find those little things that get her out of that nasty cycle of self-sabotage to get out of the rut and moving forward. Stay busy. Don't get moody. And then give it 3 weeks - takes about 3 weeks to establish a habit - and also to start seeing results from a consistent change in the diet. FWIW I've also always found that if there's a sudden weight change due to stress or some sudden change in your living environment, your body tends to be able to go back to that once the stress factor is gone - so she is more likely to get back to that old base weight and not be stuck where she is now - but gotta get out of the rut now - start w/ the simple food changes and continue checking w/ the doc for any medical issues. My guess is this is primarily food related - if she is noticeably changing her eating patterns, that is going to show up. Start there and I would expect to see changes.

I can appreciate the sense of getting in a rut. I have relocated my entire existence at least 5 times over the last 8-10 years w/ my job (I work in tech) - and I dont' just move to a different part of the city - I've literally lived in every end of the country and just this time of the last 5 moves, I've landed in the middle of the midwest instead of the edges. But starting over yet again where I don't really know anyone - and let me tell you about how effing hard it is to find someone to date as you get older. There IS a reason when guys my age are single. Ugh. So yea -- its a lot to get control of the moods, the time trying to reinvent yourself in a new place. I'm also living in the middle of a large city for the first time in my life - I can't just jump in my car and drive. I have to consider walking, the train, or the cost of parking anywhere I go. Its very different, less convenient to the gym, tho more convenient to my office and local grocery stores, etc. But just very different and outside my comfort zone. I just can't let food be my solace. I don't want to carry the extra weight ever again. I have gone up and down 30 lb every year I compete for the last 12 years. Its very hard on the body and gets harder as I get older. Shit starts falling apart after age 45. I'm seeing a chiro for a bunch of foot problems - keeping in mind I walk most everywhere & need to run and be able to do lunges for contest prep. Never thought I'd have sore feet be my biggest issue for contest prep. I'd pay cash money to have good ol' sore muscles these days!

Hope you got some ideas to start with. Take control of the things she has control over. The doc may or may not find actual health issues - but the food thing is an easy one to fix and actually does go a very long way towards getting back to normal when you remove the whole response to stress and everything. It literally becomes a non-issue after a while. Been there, done that. Just relax, dump the drama, reduce the stress eating and things start to fall back into place.

 

[Valkyrie]

What are the lab ranges? Any TSH over two is bad news.

Worse news, her doctor isn't even running the right tests. Full thyroid panel is Thyroid Panel II on healthcheck USA. FREE T3 and lab range, Free T4 and lab range, plus testing for the TPA/TPO antibodies to see if she has autoimmune hypothyroidism. She needs to ask her doctor for all of these tests. IF her doctor won't give them to her she should get a new doctor or order the lab slip from healthcheck USA.'

Strongly suspect her Free T3 which is the active thyroid hormone and the ONLY one that matters as far as how a person feels and how their metabolism runs is way low as in low out of range or at the very bottom of range. Optimized FreeT3 will be in the top 2/3-3/4 of the lab range.

Once she has a copy of the lab results you two get to search for a doctor. It is really ridiculously difficult to find a doc with even half a clue. Most of them look at TSH only then if you're lucky give a script for synthetic T4 on the premise that the body will perfectly convert it to T3 as explained to them in med school and as reinforced by big pharma with their patent on Synthetic T4. Gah I could vomit.

She's hypothyroid get the tests that prove it then find a doctor that has a clue.

She must feel like shit for real.

Unfortunately it may take a bit of effort and work on her part to get proper treatment. For many it takes up to two years and five doctors before the find one that actually gets it. Its either accept it and stay miserable or wake up that medicine can be a joke and thyroid treatment is especially heinous. There ARE good doctors for thyroid- they are ones that know to test for T3 and FREET3 and know how to proscribe it (T3) NOT T4

 

[sassy69]

BTW if the doc won't order the full thyroid panel, you can easily get it done yourself by just paying for it - its not all that expensive relative to worrying about ins paying for it.

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/a...heap-bloodwork-how-get-without-insurance.html

The last thing that should keep anyone from at least getting a complete set of accurate information to work with is an uninformed / lazy / unbudging doc.

 

[SheriV]

she should have her progesterone checked...its commonly overlooked as a source of an out of wack thyroid panel in women over 30
if its low she winds up estrogen domminant which is no good and suppresses the thyroid.
TSH is a terrible number to go by because that tells you what the pituitary gland is doing, NOT what available t3 there is
reverse t3 is a big one
I am like AMA, I'm missing half of my thyroid but luckily whats left does 90% of the work with some natural dessicated thyroid to keep things running smooth
diet is HUGE with thyroid function as is adrenal fatigue..
she needs to clean up her diet first and foremost
if shes craving simple carbs I would suggest oranges and apples for the time being
stop the thyroid madness is an excellent place to start.
If it turns out to be genuine thyroid failure of some kind AMA is also right, with meds the labs don't mean a damn thing and a DR that recognizes that is difficult to find.

 

[sassy69]

^^ Thanks for adding that in -- recently I started reading stuff on menopause / estrogen and impact to the body (e.g. ability to lift / train / do cardio / compete) and considerations for dealing with it all - and holy crap..... talk about a knife edge balance between estro / progesterone / thyroid / adrenals. And ALL of these are not what we'd call "well researched" areas, and even less for women. Case in point - 10-20 years ago the big push for Estrogen Replacement Therapy, followed by the more recent ANTI ERT push. And Progesterone - talk about the "forgotten hormone"! For women, the balance between estro & progest determines basically how much your joints are going to hate you during per-/ menopause. And Thyroid - as noted above - extremely under-understood area and so critical to our ability to function.

 

[SheriV]

yeah, I probably wouldnt have a scar on my neck if someone had bothered to figure out my progesterone was shot first

 

[Valkyrie]

All good points. My doctor now ran every test under the sun. Good to know I don't have scurvy, or any other hormone problems.

 

[AMA Rider]

^^ Thanks for adding that in -- recently I started reading stuff on menopause / estrogen and impact to the body (e.g. ability to lift / train / do cardio / compete) and considerations for dealing with it all - and holy crap..... talk about a knife edge balance between estro / progesterone / thyroid / adrenals. And ALL of these are not what we'd call "well researched" areas, and even less for women. Case in point - 10-20 years ago the big push for Estrogen Replacement Therapy, followed by the more recent ANTI ERT push. And Progesterone - talk about the "forgotten hormone"! For women, the balance between estro & progest determines basically how much your joints are going to hate you during per-/ menopause. And Thyroid - as noted above - extremely under-understood area and so critical to our ability to function.

This is so true. Not only with athletics, but women's sexual health can be a REAL not imagined problems. Good luck, and keep trying.

 

[s2h]

as others said the test taken were the bare min..not any real indication of what is really going on..in addition to the labs mentioned she should get a thyroid ultra sound..this will determine if there is thyroid scaring which can also be a signal of auto immune issues like hashimoto's disease..so check that avenue out also..good luck..

 

[SFW]

Well, she had the additional quest labs done as per her docs request. The lab results were forwarded to him and she went in for her scheduled appointment on monday. Before she could even see the doctor, they tell her at the desk that her insurance is no longer accepted and the doctor not only wont see her, but he wont disclose the new lab results! Wtf kind of shit!? She called the next day and spoke with the receptionist to ask the doc to disclose the results but he has yet to return her calls. This doc is a real fuckin jerk! Is there a way that she can request the quest lab results directly via fax or email even though it was done through that doctors prescription? Is that possible?


I have access to t3 and i dont want to dispense meds to her for obvious reasons, but if the lab results show hypo, would it be a good idea to get her on a low dose of t3 until she can reschedule with a new doc? I honestly dont understand, ethically, how this doc would not disclose the results as a gesture of patient health. Just to pop his head out from the office and give a thumbs up or down, at the very least.

Anyway, do you think its possible for her to contact the lab directly and request the results or is this against their protocol? If not, she will have to wait until next week to locate and schedule something with a new general practitioner.

 

[Valkyrie]

Well, she had the additional quest labs done as per her docs request. The lab results were forwarded to him and she went in for her scheduled appointment on monday. Before she could even see the doctor, they tell her at the desk that her insurance is no longer accepted and the doctor not only wont see her, but he wont disclose the new lab results! Wtf kind of shit!? She called the next day and spoke with the receptionist to ask the doc to disclose the results but he has yet to return her calls. This doc is a real fuckin jerk! Is there a way that she can request the quest lab results directly via fax or email even though it was done through that doctors prescription? Is that possible?


I have access to t3 and i dont want to dispense meds to her for obvious reasons, but if the lab results show hypo, would it be a good idea to get her on a low dose of t3 until she can reschedule with a new doc? I honestly dont understand, ethically, how this doc would not disclose the results as a gesture of patient health. Just to pop his head out from the office and give a thumbs up or down, at the very least.

Anyway, do you think its possible for her to contact the lab directly and request the results or is this against their protocol? If not, she will have to wait until next week to locate and schedule something with a new general practitioner.

Probably not on the labs if her doc didn't specify that to quest. Have her order her own labs fro. Healthcheckusa.com
Thyroid panel II
I would hold off giving her anything. It is best to get script from a doc if at all possible. New did will probably want her to have blood work again and her getting ty in the meantime mess that up. Sadly it usually takes two years and at least three docs before we find decent treatment.

 

[sassy69]

I'm curious if this situation basically makes this an out-of-network doctor now? Is it possible to say she'll pay cash instead and work directly w/ the ins company on any reimbursement? I would at least contact the insurance company and ask them what can be done w/ the situation.

If nothing, then go get her own tests as suggested above. Don't try to self-medicate at this point.

 

[s2h]

Well, she had the additional quest labs done as per her docs request. The lab results were forwarded to him and she went in for her scheduled appointment on monday. Before she could even see the doctor, they tell her at the desk that her insurance is no longer accepted and the doctor not only wont see her, but he wont disclose the new lab results! Wtf kind of shit!? She called the next day and spoke with the receptionist to ask the doc to disclose the results but he has yet to return her calls. This doc is a real fuckin jerk! Is there a way that she can request the quest lab results directly via fax or email even though it was done through that doctors prescription? Is that possible?


I have access to t3 and i dont want to dispense meds to her for obvious reasons, but if the lab results show hypo, would it be a good idea to get her on a low dose of t3 until she can reschedule with a new doc? I honestly dont understand, ethically, how this doc would not disclose the results as a gesture of patient health. Just to pop his head out from the office and give a thumbs up or down, at the very least.

Anyway, do you think its possible for her to contact the lab directly and request the results or is this against their protocol? If not, she will have to wait until next week to locate and schedule something with a new general practitioner.

she needs to contact her insurance company and have them look to see if the labs where paid for by her insurance..if so the labs are her and the insurance companies property..they have to give them to her..and at no cost..many docs try to make you pay for them so you wont and you have to continue to come back..insurance co will set it str8..

 

[SheriV]

wow...just wow

yes, she can contact the lab and requests the labs directly. They are not the doctors property.
If you look around for taiwan made desicated thyroid you can find it on amazon (no joke) this would be a better solution than straight up t3 because it will improve her overall values. The only contradiction to this would be if her rT3 was out of site high then a combo of the two would be best.

Labs are always the consumers property because they paid for them one way or the other whether it was out of pocket directly to the lab, directly to the dr or via their insurance. The mentality people need to keep when theyre dealing with healthcare is that they are a CONSUMER a Dr isn't some sort of god. They're paid for a service.
Before I get jumped for that statement I sincerely believe most Drs understand they are providing a service for the better good of a fellow human being but every once in a while you get some ass on a power trip.


If you look over on stop the thyroid madness they have a list of dr's that know their crap when it comes to this stuff. Also a sports medicine or BHRT dr is usually very good at optimizing everything but they are almost always out of network because they don't want to play insurance company games.

 

[AMA Rider]

Just a side thought. My gym sells seaweed ( Iodine ) suplements ? Supposed to increase thyroid production. I don't know if it works cause I'm on meds already. Might be worth a try IDK. Hope she got bloods going ?

 

[SheriV]

iodine does actually work for increased thyroid hormones...problem is if its fried already and NOT from a lack of iodine..it won't do dick