Questions about thyroid test

[El Hefe]

My daughter goes in this afternoon for bloods to check her thyroid. Last time they checked it was hyper and they prescribed her medication. However, her old symptoms (shaky, shortness of breath, etc) seem to be coming back.

It also seems that my wife may be having some thyroid issues as well, only hypo in her case - gaining weight, loss of energy, etc while improving diet and exercise.

It seems like (in our limited exp and from what I read) the docs have trouble testing thyroid functionality. Not that it's difficult but that many don't fully understand it.

Both times they (my wife and daughter) were initially tested - docs said everything was perfect. Even though we felt different.

It seems like I've seen it mentioned on EF that there are specific tests that should be run to evaluate thyroid functionality that the docs rarely run.

Are there any tests in particular that we should ask for? Is there something I should request them to look at?

Please advise.

 

[shirlene29]

tsh
t4
t3
rt3
and thyroid immune tests

if those are out of line then there is further testing, iodine uptakes, ultrasound etc

usually it runs in families among the women but if a man in the family has issues its almost certain every direct female relative has thyroid issues as well

 

[El Hefe]

Thank you, that's the info I needed.

 

[El Hefe]

I wrote that down and gave it to my wife and daughter for the appointment. We'll see what happens.

My wife just got her thyroid results back from last week. I wish I had that info to send her in with. All I could suggest to her at that time was to make sure they're thorough and run multiple Thyroid tests.

Well my wife came back with her 'thorough' test results which consisted of tsh (14) and that's it. No other numbers.

 

[Tennisgal33]

I wrote that down and gave it to my wife and daughter for the appointment. We'll see what happens.

My wife just got her thyroid results back from last week. I wish I had that info to send her in with. All I could suggest to her at that time was to make sure they're thorough and run multiple Thyroid tests.

Well my wife came back with her 'thorough' test results which consisted of tsh (14) and that's it. No other numbers.

Yup...you have to ask specifically for all the extra tests (which aren't extra, but many docs think they are) From my understanding, I'm no expert fyi, but trying to figure out my own issues, TSH readings are rarely right. You can have a 'normal reading' but show all/many of the symptoms. It seems to be difficult to diagnose, yes. Be firm and specific with your doc. Read and research. I'm in the same boat and I'm pretty sure I was mis-diagnosed years ago when it was my thyroid. I'll be posting in my thread what results I get. Good luck!

 

[shirlene29]

well that's because TSH is really a pituitary test and doesn't paint the whole picture