Hypothyroid TSH
By: LizzyTotal Views: 555, Word Count: 531,
TSH means thyroid stimulating hormone that is produced by the pituitary gland. The basic purpose of this is to stimulate the production of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland. The higher this production is the more stimulation it provides. It serves a negative feedback loop to the thyroid. So low TSH level means there is enough production of the thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland and when the TSH levels are high it means there is more requirement of the thyroid hormone in the body. This condition is hypothyroidism and if there is a low TSH level, it usually indicates the opposite that is hyperthyroidism.
The diagnosis of hypothyroidism gets difficult as people do not get to know the basic range of TSH required by the body. Your TSH should not be above 2.0, above that there is a strong indication that your thyroid gland is not working properly.
TSH test’s are available that are mostly suggested by the doctors to diagnosing hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism.
Many patients with TSH's of greater than 2.0 but below 4.5 have major symptoms of hypothyroidism. Sometimes a number of individuals have TSH even below 1.5, but their Free T3 and T4 as well would stay below normal. These are cases of secondary or tertiary hypothyroidism. TSH alone is not an accurate test of all forms of hypothyroidism but only primary hypothyroidism.
There are some problems associated with the TSH test. First is that the reference range is very wide in most of the labs. The upper range goes as high as 6 which according to major references have been compiled up to level 2, because of this sometimes lower levels also come under suspiscion. You need to take precaution whenever you get lab tests, do ask for a copy of the results. Don't rely on anyone if they tell you that your TSH level is normal. Another problem with going by TSH levels is that the TSH is a pituitary hormone that many times doesn't tell the actual problem. If there's a problem with the pituitary gland, or the hypothalamus, which controls the pituitary the TSH could be at an optimal level and your actual thyroid hormones T4 and T3 could be too low, or too high. Using the TSH test to check for thyroid problems in this situation is completely unsafe. It affects the medication procedure too.
Some doctors recommend little thyroid medication and wouldn’t increase the dose till the TSH level is within the wide reference range. This practice is not preferred, as too much of thyroid hormone causes health and functioning problems. Generally doctors don't even advise patients to lose some of their excess weight and this leads to under medicating a patient.
A TSH level at the higher end of the range (but within many reference ranges) may correlate with other health conditions like depression, heart disease, and high cholesterol. If you take a little too much thyroid medication, you can reduce your dose and still reach your target. You'll never get there, however, if you don't have enough thyroid hormone.
Treatments should be taken but with due caution. Look here to know more about some risk free medications.
About the Author
Lizzy has shown that treatment started with a TSH level in range accompanied by hypothyroidism symptoms have resulted in health improvements. She supports chemical free supplements only, as they are healthy and beneficial for treating major diseases.
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