TSH monitoring

Hi Langdaleman

I can't help with your question but noticed you hadn't had any replies yet. Responding to you will 'bump' your post back to the top of the discussion list where it'll be more easily seen.

While you're waiting for replies it would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment so far into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

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Hello Langdaleman, good to see you again.

I’m quite surprised the docs relaxed your suppression so much so soon. I wasn’t allowed to creep up above about 0.1 until I was 5 years clear. Do you have other issues such as high blood pressure or other conditions that might have encouraged them to go higher sooner?

My docs always talked about ‘the lower side of normal’ which was 0.5 to maybe about 1.0. Usually I’m somewhere at the lower end of that.

However, that’s not your main question – so on to why things go wobbly and the TSH shot up.

Things that can happen:

1. Check the best before dates on your tablets – sometimes pharmacies can fob you off with stuff near end of life, or we can get our tablets out of order
2. Did you start taking any other medication that could interfere – including supplements like vitamins and minerals as well as plant extracts
3. Did you put on weight?

I’d suggest to get the blood tests done again. It’s not impossible that they come back more in range next time.  If they don’t then the dose probably needs to go up again IF you’re not feeling great at 2.7

Hi Barbara

Thanks for your reply. Oncologist view was 12 months at below 0.1. On basis that at my first annual review my thyroglobulin was below 0.1 I was put in the low risk category. As I am an old fella of 64 it was decided that my TSH should be in the 0.5 - 2.0 range and that my levothyroxine dose should be reduced very gradually to achieve that.For the first 6 months the reduced dose had little effect on TSH but my T4 did reduce slightly. Between February and April my TSH moved from 0.06 to 0.81 and dose did not change. In April TSH reduced to 0.61 and again dose was maintained. Thought that was me on a stable platform but without a change to levo dose TSH increased to 2.7 in August.

I do check sell by dates on meds and these have been ok. I do take a ppi but thyroid consultant advised me at outset to take my levo, wait at least an hour and then take my ppi. I then wait 30/45 minutes before having any food and I have maintained this since my surgery. Since the start of the year my diet has been pretty stable but I have gained 3kg or 4% so that would justify a small increase in meds but not that much. Still waiting for my thyroglobulin result from year 2 review and thyroid tests have also been redone. When I had half my thyroid  and not on levo I had bags of energy, felt great and was losing weight. Sadly without a thyroid I feel I will struggle to get back to feeling that good. Hope you are doing well.