[Easnic43]

#1058898

Hi

I was advised to come and post on your forum from a member of tpa regarding my symptons test results. I am new to all of this and i really don’t understand whats going on so please bear with me.

I have been going to my gp for nearly two years with symptons of chest pain, breathlessness, diahorrea, difficulty swallowing, insomnia,, each time i went he would say i was having panic attacks or depression and wouls just give out medication,,,, i knew i wasn’t having panic attacks or depressed!!!! One weekend i called the out of hours dr as was feeling so unwell she asked if he had done blood tests etc told her no she then said he shouldn’t be giving out tabs for panic attacks when clearly you aren’t having those and i knew i wasn’t.

Back to gp who did a thyroid blood test the latest test results are as follows

Serum Free 5.7 pmol/l range (3.1-6.
Serun free t4 level 15.7 range 12.0-22)
Tsh Level 0.060 range 0.27-4.2)

Thyroid peroxidase antibody 20 range (<100 u)

I went to see an endo yesterday and she said i had subclinical hyperthyrodism and prescribed me 30mg carbimazole reducing down to 20mg after four weeks,,, i know my tsh level yesterday was 0.02 i forgot to get the other results from her,,, i am quite worried about taking carbimazole and haven’t as yet,, any advice or help would be appreciated as don’t want to take a drug i don’t need. Thanks for reading.

[Kimberly]

#1170765

Hello – I’m guessing that you are overseas, as methimazole (which is similar to carbimazole) is generally prescribed in the U.S.

Two American associations (The American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists) released some guidance last this year on treating subclinical hyperthyroidism. Here is a quick excerpt:

“When TSH is persistently <0.1 mU/L, treatment of SH should be strongly considered in all individuals >=65 years of age, and in postmenopausal women who are not on estrogens or bisphosphonates; patients with cardiac risk factors, heart disease or osteoporosis; and individuals with hyperthyroid symptoms.

When TSH is persistently below the lower limit of normal but > or = 0.1 mU/L, treatment of SH should be considered in individuals >=65 years of age and in patients with cardiac disease or symptoms of hyperthyroidism.”

Of course, these are U.S.-based guidelines, but perhaps they would be helpful in initiating a discussion with your endo. You can read the full guidance here:

[size 10](Note on links: if you click directly on the following link, you will need to use your browser’s “back” button to return to the boards after viewing. As an alternative, you can right-click the link and open it in a new tab or new window).[/size]

http://thyroidguidelines.net/sites/thyroidguidelines.net/files/file/THY_2010_0417.pdf

Hope this helps!

[Bobbi]

#1170763

The TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone — and it is the hormone that comes from the pituitary in an attempt to regulate thyroid activity. When the pituitary senses too little thyroid hormone, it raises it’s production of TSH. When it senses too much thyroid hormone, it lowers it’s production of TSH. So think of TSH and thyroid hormone as being on opposite sides of a teeter totter (seesaw). TSH is also a type of “running average” inasmuch as it doesn’t fluctuate quite as quickly as our actual thyroid levels. So, given that you have blood tests that show that your TSH is below normal, it’s an indicator that your endo picked up on — the subclinical terminology. An article I read a few years ago in a thyroid association bulletin, written by a doctor, said that doctors were beginning to think that even subclinical levels of hyperthyroidism need to be treated to avoid muscle wasting and bone loss associated with having too much thyroid hormone.

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