Went to the Doctor!

[rivermom]

Originally Posted by judy

Being blue sounds like a normal response to me. The thyroid is really difficult to treat
because the meds have to be just right for your body and that takes time and patience.

We're here to listen, but you know you have to just put one foot in front of the other and get it done.

Venting here can really help!

Hugs

[Tink]

Since I totally screwed up WW last week, I thought I'd go to the Dr. and have some blood work done and then start WW again. Well I went this morning for the results and here is what we found:

Blood pressure was 120/88 not bad, since I'm in Diovan
At our age Janet, with any other complications, a diastolic of 88 is plenty high. When looking at your blood pressure, the top number (systolic) shows the pressure exerted on your arteries when your heart beats... the bottom number (Diastolic) shows the pressure between beats when the heart is at rest. So the higher your bottom number is, the higher the amount of constant pressure on your arteries which of course is harder on the heart to hold to that level, and wears on the arteries as well.

120/70 is perfectly normal blood pressure for an adult, but 100/60 is even better because it's less work and strain on the heart and arteries. My dr has mine down to about 100/60 with a combination of lisinopryl (a diuretic) and metoprolol which is a beta-blocker.

My TSH is 1.623 and T4 is 11.7 not sure what all that is but he's upping my thyroid meds (Levothyroxin from 125 MCG to 150 I'm Hypothyroid not the Hyper..lol
Currently, the recommended reference range for TSH is from approximately 0.3 to 3.0. A much wider range of approximately 0.5 to from 5.0 to 6.0 is being used by labs and doctors who are not following the latest recommendations by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. There's a lot of debate about the new range... as it's down from the 5or 6 which had been considered the norm for many years.

There are two types of TSH, TSH3 (T3) and TSH4 (T4). The doctors mainly are looking at the T4 because they believe this is the only one that matters, although there are many debates about this. Some doctors believe that both TSH levels need to be treated in order for the patient to feel "normal" again. Others believe that by correcting T4 only is all that is needed.
Once your TSH levels are determined, your doctor may recommend you see an endocrinologist. This is a doctor who specializes in the thyroid gland.
Your TSH4 is a bit high, so that would be why your dr is increasing your synthroid. It could be that your body doesn't like the synthroid and you'd do better with levothyroxine... if the increase doesn't help lower your TSH4, I'd ask about it.

It's kind of like one person does better with aspirin, another with ibupropen, and others with Naproxyn... no one is really the best for all and how you react to them is based on your unique body system.

My good cholestral was good, but my bad was just a little high. Maybe with starting WW again and losing some weight will help.
Having elevated "bad" cholesterol might well be yet another symptom of your hypothyroid. They often go hand in hand.

He's having me stop the Protonix for the GERD and start Nexium to see if that helps better.
The Gerd I'm not even educated enough about to comment on. I have friends who deal with it, but so far I haven't had to.

I'm to go back at the end of the month to let them know how I'm feeling with the new GERD meds and the thyroid med and to see if I lose any weight. I've gained 20 freak'n lbs since I was there last. SUCKS!!!

I hope this helps make it a bit easier to understand. The thyroid testing can be confusing because it sounds backwards... if your levels are high you need supplements? But it's high signals from your body telling itself to make more that's being picked up... not high hormones. so it's like when you're calling for something and the less you get the louder you call and it's the volume and frequency of the calling that's signaling more needs to be added. I hope that makes sense. lol

If you have questions, please ask... I'm not sure if I explained things well.

[Janet]

Thank you so much Tink. My Dr. explained it but not near as good as you...I think we know what your next calling may be.....lol. I go back at the end of the month to have it all checked again and see if the meds helped. I really appreciate your help.

[Tink]

I'm glad it helped Janet. My guess is with you having recently quit smoking that THAT is probably what's caused your weight gain. My cousin quit and had always been a skinny minny... he gained 40 lbs in a couple of months and looked like a totally different person! It's hard to quit smoking and often results in packing on the pounds for a while until you adjust to going without that habit. Please try to be patient with yourself. One battle at a time is plenty... and you've done so well to be winning the one.

[Janet]

Thanks Tink....I really think I've won the smoking one. But I quit on Aug. 30 so I don't think my weigh gain is all from that. I had gained 20 lbs since my last visit to the Dr. I'll just keep my eye on things until I go back to see him at the end of the month. Thank you again for all your help.