Thyroid Levels-What Is Normal For You?

[bkweavers]

So, my daughter has been sooo tired. More tired than she has ever been since getting POTS. For the last 2 years, all she did was improve! She had no changes with the weather or menstrual cycle. She was getting out more as the headaches, dizziness, and insomnia improved. Five weeks ago out of nowhere, it hit! Extreme fatigue. I've never seen her this tired.

She has congenital hypothyroidism and here's where I'm questioning her doctors. Her former endo used to always test TSH. Free T4, T4 and T3. The doctor now told me they never test for anything other than TSH and T4. That bothered me so I took Liz to her pediatrician and asked for the other tests to be run. He gave me the numbers and said they are within normal range. I'm not happy with his explanation since one of her levels was very high. He also ran a CBC on her and test for mono, all of which came back negative. After reading on here that some people feel "Potsy" when their thyroid levels are off, I'm wondering if some of her fatigue is due to the thyroid. She hasn't had her meds increased in 4 years and she's grown since that time. Her symptoms are fatigue, more frequent headaches.

Can anyone give me any insight into this? I don't know as much about the endocrine system as I should since all my energy for the past 4 and 1/2 yrs. has been on researching POTS. What would you do? I'm ready to take her to another endo with a more open mind to really look into this.

Thank you!

Brenda

[julieph85]

My TSH runs borderline low, usually about .50 ,when i'm in a flair my free T3 also tends to be low and my free T4 is in normal ranges.

[sue1234]

So, what was the "very high" number?? That would make a difference. If it was TSH, then that's hypothyroidism, but if it is FT3, then she could have a nodule that is putting out too much hormone causing hyperthyroidism. Even though that speeds you up, plenty of people are worn out due to the high metabolism.

And, with her congenital hypo, her odd results may have more meaning, as sometimes you can't judge by TSH levels in relation to the other numbers.

[MomtoGiuliana]

I don't know a lot about this even tho I have hypothyroidism--except that I feel best when my TSH is around 2. Lower or higher I have more persistent POTS symptoms, and even a little higher I feel depressed and have difficulty concentrating.

[bkweavers]

I believe it was the T4 that was high. It was 1.55 which was above the labs "normal" range. I wish right now that she still had the other doctor because he was so knowledgeable about this. March of 2008 was the last time that we tried increasing her medication. At that time, her doctor said she was right on the borderline. We tried more meds and it was too much. But that was 3 and a half years ago! She has grown since that time.

Sue-I agree with what you said about her results having more meaning due to the congenital hypothyroidism. I want one of her doctors to really take me seriously cause this kid is miserable. Someone close to us commented that she looks like she has gained weight. When I started to think about it, all last summer she exercised like crazy, ate healthy foods, and she still seemed to gain weight. This is frustrating me!

I think tomorrow I'm going to get all her past records of blood draws and do my own investigating into this. I'm also going to push her current endo doctor to take a better look at this along with getting her POTS doctor involved.

My motherly intuition just says that something is fishy about this. She was so tired again today that she slept 12 hours, woke up tired and dizzy and took a nap as well. Even at her worst days with this, she was never this tired.

Brenda