[Anonymous]

#1057846

My endo is not ordering T3,T4 tests for me, only TSH. Is anyone else noticing
a trend in testing involving relying only on TSH for monitoring. How can
I find out if my HMO is retricting testing for hypothyroidism? I don’t know
if the doctors are allowed to tell us if they are under testing restrictions to hold down
costs.
My past problems are not revealed by TSH tests. Those numbers are always
within the normal range. I also have not had any success in getting testing
for other possible thyroid problems, like transport mechanism and deiodinase
testing, even though I know my T4 is not converting to T3 because T3 levels
are always low even on Armour and on synthroid my T3 was 0.
Also, has anyone had the LATS antibody test done and do you know why this is not in widespread use?
I wish a doctor would jump in here and answer some questions.

[Anonymous]

#1167093

My doctor only checks my TSH and a couple of weeks ago I went to an eye spec. and he took some blood test and said he was going to do more than just Tsh so maybe he was going to check T3 and T4. Don’t have results back as yet. You sound like you are really informed about this disease. I have an appt. with a medical dr., not an endo as not in my area but hope to find one soon in another town. I noticed someone on the board talking about thyroid hormone-is there a test to check our hormone level?? Like to know so I can be prepared when I go to dr. next week. I had a blood test (tsh) thru my work and found it was 0.05-realy LOW! So now going to Dr. with some proof that my synthroid may need to be raised. I am tired of being tired. What is the LATS antibody test? Thanks for all the support.

[Anonymous]

#1167094

Hi Terri Sue,
I had a doctor friend from church explain the TSH numbers. According to him, it is when this number is HIGH, that it indicates we may need more synthroid. It is thyrroid stimulating hormone so when it is normal, it indicates that we have enough hormone. My doctor uses the TSH and the T4 each time I have blood drawn. This last time, my T4 was low and my TSH was high, so that justified an increase. Sorry, I do not know what LATS is, though. Take care. Debbie

[Anonymous]

#1167095

LATS stands for Long Acting Thyroid Stimulator which was thought to be the
cause of GD. I’ll have to look up more about it, but I haven’t ever been tested
for it and have only read about it in medical texts. If it is the cause,
I don’t know why it isn’t used as at least a screening device. Doctors
seem to be using only T3, T4 and TSH tests in recent years. However, I
just had the experience of only getting TSH and not T3 & T4 and was wondering
if anyone else had experienced this.
There are other tests for thyroid involving the proteins which transport it
in the blood stream and the enzyme which changes T4 to T3. I have never
had testing for these items either. Not in 44 years. Does anyone know what
to say to get these things checked or what indicators they need to trigger
these tests.

[Anonymous]

#1167096

I had the tsh done and it was normal . The doctor then preceded to say that nothing was wrong with my thyroid. Are doctors not covering thorough enough. or do they want to keep you coming back for more money. I had a positive history of of low throid level and a thyroid cyst that was aspirated. the MD said that I had all the symptoms of GD but since my thyroid level was ok then it is not likely .I tend to question this. My E-mail add:
gizmo@accucomm.net

Patrice

[Anonymous]

#1167097

Patrice, I would probably go to another Dr. and find an endocrinologist if you can. A friend of my family who is a psychiatrist said some doctors don’t know how to read the Tsh very well. I don’t know how true that is because I thought you get a reading (a number)and then there is a rangeone should be in. Did you ask the dr. what was your TSH number. The normal range is 0.24 – 5.40. Ask for your number and check yourself. Your health is important. Take care! Terri Sue

[Anonymous]

#1167098

I wonder why I see different ranges posted on here for the “normal” TSH range? Yours just said .24 – 5.4, the other day one said .3 – 5.0 and my last lab result said .4 -7.1 is “normal”. They don’t seem enough off to be in totally different units of measurement, anyone know what’s going on?

My last test showed 6.9 which is in my labs ok range, but not the others.

Bruce

[Author]

Posts