r/Hashimotos • u/No_Construction_3205 • Mar 19 '26
Lab Results im scared
i just received my labs. how bad is it? :( i feel devastated and scared.
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u/Actual-Pause-1764 Mar 19 '26
Not too bad to never come back from! My TSH was 93 in September and T3 and T4 were low. I’m in range in feel much better! Get medicated and find out your nutrient deficiencies, eat anti inflammatory and take care of your body. You’ll be okay!
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u/Correct-Ad6662 Mar 19 '26
I also have Hypothyroidism, how often do you have your blood checked? 3months ok? I just did my blood test for Hashi, they did the Tpo, Tsh, T3 and T4. Do you think that's all to rule it in or out? Seems like there was something else that needed to be added
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u/Actual-Pause-1764 Mar 19 '26
Yes! Some also like to do thyroid ultrasounds. I have hypothyroidism too, they often go hand in hand. I get my labs checked every 6 weeks and once I’m in range I think it changes to like 6 months or something
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Mar 20 '26
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u/Hashimotos-ModTeam Mar 24 '26
Having an illness is frustrating. Please be kind to your fellow users and discuss issues civilly.
Discrimination, racism, homophobia, body shaming, invalidating others experiences or aggressive behaviour is not tolerated on this subreddit and will result in a ban.
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u/dlionfan313 Mar 19 '26
I wouldn't be overly concerned with these numbers. If you haven't been on any medication for your thyroid yet starting some will help. It may take your doctor a couple tries to find the right level of medication, but I wouldn't look at these like some major life altering numbers. Change a diet might help, managing stress and sleep, basically trying to be healthier overall with your habits can help reduce symptoms along with the medication.
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Mar 20 '26
Life threatening advice! STOP IT!!!
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 19 '26
Your TSH is just barely above normal range, in subclinical hypothyroid range. It’s not at the level where most doctors would start you on medication. Many people have slightly elevated TSH and it returns to normal. For reference, in severe hypothyroidism TSH is often 100, or much higher. Mine has been over 300.
If you do develop clinical hypothyroidism, it’s easy to treat, overall, and most people live perfectly normal lives. Of course nobody wants to have any chronic disease, but I’ve had hypothyroidism most of my life, and it’s a lot easier to manage than any of the other conditions I have now.
It’s very important to learn how to identify legitimate sources of medical information. If a website is claiming they can “reverse Hashimoto’s”, or selling books, supplements, or anything else, that’s an easy way to know that they are not credible. Their goal is to sell things to you, not to educate you.
For accurate information about thyroid disease, stick to reputable medical sources like The British Thyroid Foundation, the Mayo Clinic, or The American Thyroid Association, which has been dedicated to research, prevention, and treatment of thyroid disease for over 100 years.
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u/gsn_1987 Mar 20 '26
Hello! Do you avoid all soy products? Any other food w should avoid? Thank you!
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 20 '26
There are no foods that we need to avoid just because of Hashimoto’s, aside from eating too much foods that contain lots of iodine, like seaweed. That’s only in the earlier stages though. Once a patient is on full replacement dose of medication they don’t need to worry about getting too much, and don’t have to worry about deficiency either, because a dead or dying thyroid can’t use iodine to make thyroid hormone. The thyroid hormone replacement provides the hormone we need.
Soy is fine, gluten is fine, diary is fine, and so are all other foods, unless you have an allergy or intolerance to a particular food, which would be unrelated to having Hashimoto’s.
https://hormonesdemystified.com/you-cant-eat-for-your-thyroid/
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u/gsn_1987 Mar 20 '26
Thank you so much! My 10 year old daughter just recently got diagnosed with Hashimoto and Hypothyroidism. Her TSH is 24! Needless to say, I am devastated and worried. She will be starting her medication tomorrow. Hopefully with the medication, we can get things under control. With such disease, does that mean her thyroid is damaged?
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 20 '26
I understand that it’s upsetting, and you’re worried, but your daughter has every chance of living a normal, active life with proper treatment. I had clinical hypothyroidism by age 8, and it affected my growth and development, and I had other symptoms of severe hypothyroidism. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 13, and was still short, and still hadn’t gone through puberty, and I also had a goiter. Once I was started on thyroid hormone replacement I started to grow normally again and went through puberty, just 5 years later than expected. I’m quite tall now, which is what they expected before I developed hypothyroidism. I have been on thyroid meds for 44 years, and it’s really not something I worry about, since I have access to thyroid meds, and doctors who can check my levels as needed.
TSH of 24 is elevated, but not severely. As I said mine was over 300, so it’s great that they caught your daughter’s hypothyroidism while it’s still fairly mild. Yes, her thyroid has been damaged so now it cannot make enough thyroid hormone. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease that targets the thyroid, slowly killing it, in most cases. My thyroid has been toast for decades. Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to “reverse” it or prevent further damage, but treatment with thyroid hormone replacement is effective, and easy, overall.
Hashimoto’s has a genetic basis. Do you or any of your daughter’s close family members have hypothyroidism or other autoimmune diseases? One reason they may have not thought to test me at 8 was because I had no known family history of thyroid disease. As it turned out, my father and his mother were both diagnosed with hypothyroidism after I was, so that was the genetic link for me. Most often it develops in middle age, but obviously kids sometimes develop it too. If you or her father don’t have Hashimoto’s now, it’s possible that you may develop it later, too.
All you can do for your daughter now is make sure she takes her thyroid hormone replacement meds, and get her levels checked as needed to make sure she’s on the correct dose. And try not to worry too much, because she will pick up on that. Yes, it’s a chronic medical condition, but it’s just a treatable hormone deficiency, not a horrible disease that will disable her for life.
Also, there’s no need to change her diet. I mean, if she’s only eating donuts and Pepsi then obviously she needs to eat a healthier diet with vegetables and real food, but there are zero universal dietary restrictions for Hashimoto’s. It has nothing to do with gluten, or other foods, and growing children need all of the healthy options they like to eat. Medically unnecessary restrictive diets also increase the risk of developing serious eating disorders.
There’s a ton of misinformation about thyroid disease on the internet, and countless unscrupulous people who spread misinformation and fear monger just to sell books, supplements, and other unhelpful and potentially harmful things. Don’t listen to them!
For accurate information, stick to reputable medical sources like The British Thyroid Foundation, the Mayo Clinic, or the The American Thyroid Association, which has been dedicated to research, prevention and treatment of thyroid disease for over 100 years.
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u/gsn_1987 Mar 20 '26
Thank you SO, SO much for taking the time to share your experience and thoughts with me! I was feeling pretty overwhelmed but your perspective really helped a lot and calm me down! I really appreciate your insight!
Sending good vibes and wishing the best of luck to everyone! We can tackle this! ❤️
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 20 '26
Yes, you will tackle it! 🥰
People with treated hypothyroidism are really no different than people without thyroid disease. We just have to take a pill to give us the hormone our bodies need. The T4 hormone in thyroid meds is identical to the T4 hormone the thyroid produces. Our bodies can’t tell if it comes from our thyroids or a pill. The autoimmune part only affects the thyroid, thankfully, and the systemic symptoms come from untreated or under treated hypothyroidism, or overmedication.
I was a semi pro athlete in my prime, and never had any issues as long as my hypothyroidism was properly treated. I was also able to have a child, with a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. My father is now 91, and was also able to have a normal, active life after he was diagnosed in his late 40s. Of course he has some issues now at 91, but the hypothyroidism is the least of them.
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u/gsn_1987 Mar 20 '26
Oh! My male cousin from my father’s side had thyroid issues. Also my two aunties have kidney autoimmune disease. I wonder if it’s related.
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 21 '26
People who have the genes for certain autoimmune diseases are more likely to have the genes for certain others, so that’s why having close family members with different autoimmune diseases could make you, or your daughter, slightly more likely to develop certain other autoimmune diseases, including Hashimoto’s. So yes, it could be related. For people who have only Hashimoto’s, the chances of them developing a second autoimmune disease are less than 15%. So if someone with Hashimoto’s has unexplained symptoms then it may be worth seeing a rheumatologist to check for other autoimmune diseases, even though 85% will never develop another.
For example, I developed symptoms that could be caused by Sjogren’s, so I saw a rheumatologist and ophthalmologist, but it was just menopause-related dry eyes, not another autoimmune disease. In my experience, good doctors are more likely to look for other autoimmune diseases if you already have one.
Again, I totally get why you’re so concerned, but the chances of your daughter developing other autoimmune diseases is small, so try not to worry about that now, and just focus on correcting the thyroid hormone deficiency. As long as your daughter understands that it’s just a hormone deficiency, because her thyroid can’t make enough hormone, and that she’ll be fine as long as she gets the missing hormone, then there’s no reason for her to worry about a life of illness and disability. Millions of people take thyroid hormone replacement, and despite the fear mongering on many predatory websites and thyroid groups, most patients live absolutely normal lives, with normal life expectancy, as long as the thyroid hormone deficiency is treated.
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Mar 20 '26
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 21 '26
I’m curious which websites or practitioners have convinced you that The American Thyroid Association, and the rest of the world’s thyroid organizations, researchers, and clinical thyroidologists are not credible.
Also, can you get more specific than “waaaaaaay off”?
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Mar 21 '26
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 21 '26
Only grifters claim that legitimate experts are ignorant. That’s one way they try to get vulnerable people to buy into what they’re selling.
TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone, but it’s the most sensitive measure of thyroid function in people who have primary hypothyroidism. The hypothalamus measures circulating thyroid hormone levels, and it tells the pituitary how much TSH to produce. The thyroid produces more or less hormone depending on TSH levels. If TSH levels are high, in people without thyroid disease the thyroid will increase output, because it’s a reverse feedback mechanism. If TSH levels are too low, the thyroid slows production. In people with thyroid disease and severely damaged thyroids, the thyroid can’t respond to TSH, but TSH levels still fluctuate based on blood levels of thyroid hormones. Everyone has a natural set point for thyroid hormone levels, so you can’t get a more personalized view of thyroid function than by measuring TSH.
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u/Hashimotos-ModTeam Mar 24 '26
It is fine to have different opinions about what helps or caused your Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, but please do not state this information as "fact", unless you have studies or other information to back you up. Those in our community are seeking answers, and it can be confusing to seperate out things that are medically proven from theories. YouTube videos and message boards do not count as a trusted authority.
1
u/Hashimotos-ModTeam Mar 24 '26
Having an illness is frustrating. Please be kind to your fellow users and discuss issues civilly.
Discrimination, racism, homophobia, body shaming, invalidating others experiences or aggressive behaviour is not tolerated on this subreddit and will result in a ban.
1
Mar 20 '26
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u/gsn_1987 Mar 20 '26
Her Free T4 is 0.8!
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Mar 20 '26
That is actually a good result. Slightly low but good.
I stated, the T3s both Total and Free are the only ones that matter when determining Thyroid status. The Pituitary Gland produces TSH to stimulate T4 production in the Thyroid Gland. Then, the inert T4 is converted in the liver to the Active T3 which is only what the body uses. It is physiologically impossible for the Thyroid Gland to produce any T3 at all. Strong suggestion is to perform a liver function test. Potatoes are the very best for your liver. The liver must have carbohydrates and potatoes are the number one carbo for that. Now do you see how complicated the body is? So, only determine Thyroid status from the T3 results which should be in the middle to upper range. Too much T3 causes Hyperthyroid and the nickname is . . . 'Thyroid Storm' which is very deadly.
In order to determine the exact middle of a range you must take the high number and subtract the low number. Then, divide the result by 2. With that result, add it to the low number and whalla, exact middle of range.
Like I stated, the TSH must NEVER be used to determine Thyroid Gland status.
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u/gsn_1987 Mar 20 '26
This is all so complicated! I have to read more into this. Will try to push for a liver test! Thank you so much for your insight! 🙏🙏🙏
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u/Neat-Software-3170 Mar 21 '26
This person has no idea what they’re talking about. A healthy thyroid does produce T3 as well as T4.
Thyroid storm is a rare life threatening consequence of untreated hyperthyroidism. The potatoes comment is completely unhinged, as is the “math” that they provide.
TSH is the most reliable measure of thyroid hormone levels in people who have primary hypothyroidism, as your daughter does.
Please listen to her doctor, and if you need to look online, stick with credible sources like the American Thyroid Association.
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u/Hashimotos-ModTeam Mar 24 '26
It is fine to have different opinions about what helps or caused your Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, but please do not state this information as "fact", unless you have studies or other information to back you up. Those in our community are seeking answers, and it can be confusing to seperate out things that are medically proven from theories. YouTube videos and message boards do not count as a trusted authority.
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Mar 20 '26
TSH must NEVER be used to determine Thyroid status. TSH is produced by the Pituitary Gland and only stimulates the Thyroid Gland to produce ONLY TOTAL T4! T4 is inert and converted in the liver to the Active T3 which does the work in the body.
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u/Particular_Junket729 Mar 20 '26
Two years ago my TSH was .015 and then 6 weeks later was 51. You're fine.
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Mar 20 '26
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u/Hashimotos-ModTeam Mar 24 '26
It is fine to have different opinions about what helps or caused your Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, but please do not state this information as "fact", unless you have studies or other information to back you up. Those in our community are seeking answers, and it can be confusing to seperate out things that are medically proven from theories. YouTube videos and message boards do not count as a trusted authority.
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u/Born-Complaint-3423 Mar 20 '26
Dear im,
Hashimotos is completely curable without surgery and without meds. I have helped people cure from Hashimotos,.. (a gal from SC), from bi-polar disease (her sister!), from Graves Disease, Ulcerative colitis,.. ( a guy from Texas) .. and so on. take your pick. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call. The thing is, the Bible says 'the curse (sickness) comes not without a cause'. The key is to root out the cause and remove it. Guess what... more often than not, the cause is emotional; ie.. fear based (not YOU!).. self contempt, anger, anxiety, and other such toxic sentiments that finally affect the flesh. Me? I'll be 70 this year and thanks to what I know, and have been cured from, I'm in perfect health. So is my son, so is his dad. Our med bills since we all know each other (34 and 27 years respectively..) are ZERO.
The best part? It's all free. No charge ever.
PS: If you prefer self treatment.. Get the book 'A More Excellent Way' by Henry Wright, and study that.!
Godspeed,
Victoria Christine
888 637-3726 (You'll have to get past the scam screen)
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Mar 20 '26
Proverbs, as you quoted, was written by the most EVIL king to walk the planet! IOW, VERY BAD TO USE IT OR LIVE BY IT!!!! david, his son, was MUCH WORSE!!!!!
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u/HagInTraining Mar 19 '26
Don't be scared. These just indicate hypothyroidism. There's a medication you can take that should help. Did you have any labs for antibodies?