# Please help me interpret this.



## triskele (Feb 18, 2011)

Hello, I am new here, and hope that perhaps someone here can help me make sense of my situation, or make suggestions.

Here is my nutshell of a story. I am a 44 year old woman, pretty much always been in very good health. Diabetes and Graves disease do run on one side of my family.

Nearly three years ago to the day, my once full and trouble free hair began shedding alarmingly fast (piles of hair every morning, the likes of which I'd never seen before). This, along with a somewhat less sudden, but noticeable, decrease in strength (I have been weight training for years and years so I notice small changes), led me to seek out a doctor back in 2008. He suggested I was possibly hyperthyroid, yet by and large seemed to view me as a hypochrondriac more than anything else. My labs at that time indicated TSH, Free T3 and free T4 all to be low normal. ALL of them.

Over the past three years, I have lost over half my hair, and have lost a LOT of the former strength I used to have, and have mild (10 pound-ish) weight fluctuations, which I never had before. I have had a few self ordered tests and a few doctors ordered tests; I consistently have tested the same way - TSh between 0.3 and 1.0, free T4 and Free T3 hovering around the bottom of the lab range. I am also consistently low in ferritin (outside normal range low) and vitamin D.

About 6 months ago, I began seeing a new doctor; an 'outside the box' thinker of an MD. He put me on a protocol of time release T3 alone, to treat the controversial 'Wilson's Temperature syndrome' of chronic low body temperature (which I have). I took a very low dose, ramping up over time, of T3 for about 3 months (cycles of 7.5 --> 30 mcg time release T3 - larger doses gave me side effects). Two weeks after stopping the protocol, I had new labs.

Well... my free T3 and Free T4 are just as low as always, but NOW my TSH is ... 0.04. (yes I got all the zeros right) And I now have slightly elevated thyroglobulin antibodies (lab range: < 41 is ok. I measured 58). Thyroid antibodies were tested in me 2 years ago and were non-existent.

SO what on Earth is going on, here? My doc is beginning to think I might have a pituitary problem. He thinks I cannot have/be developing Hashimotos, since my TSH level and my hormone levels track all low. Is this accurate of him? He wants to mull over my results some more and possibly refer me to an endo. I just want a clue as to what to think. What do you guys think might be going on?

thank you,
Triskele


----------



## lavender (Jul 13, 2010)

I would agree about the pituitary problem. It's actually what I was thinking before I got half way through your post. I know nothing about Wilson's Temperature Syndrome, but it sounds like the alternative doc misdiagnosed/mistreated you. Have you had labs for TSI and TPO antibodies that would help to further diagnose your thyroid issue? 
IF your ferretin and Vitamin D are low, you would benefit from supplements followed by testing to check your levels after you have been on them for a month or so to see if your levels are improving and to make sure you don't over shoot the mark.


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

triskele said:


> Hello, I am new here, and hope that perhaps someone here can help me make sense of my situation, or make suggestions.
> 
> Here is my nutshell of a story. I am a 44 year old woman, pretty much always been in very good health. Diabetes and Graves disease do run on one side of my family.
> 
> ...


One would think pituitary at the outset but I am going to suggest that you firstly get TSI (thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin) test.

TSI
Normally, there is no TSI in the blood. If TSI is found in the blood, this indicates that the thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin is the cause of the of a person's hyperthyroidism.

http://www.medicineonline.com/topics/t/2/Thyroid-Stimulating-Immunoglobulin/TSI.html

Here is why you need to check for this. There are binding, blocking and stimulating antibodies and autoantibodies. They all work against one another on the various receptor sites thus skewing the lab work on the usual thyroid panel. I have seen this a jillion times.

Now mind you, I can't guarantee that you have TSI; but it is speculation based on a lot of observation.

Also, please read this as in truth, cancer needs to be at the very least ruled out for it too can skew the labs. (and cause hyper symptoms)

Thyroglobulin Ab and cancer
http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/59/2/429.full.pdf

Another Thyroglobulin and cancer
http://www.mdlinx.com/endocrinology...963/?news_id=811&newsdt=092010&subspec_id=419

I do recommend Thryoglobulin Ab labs and at the very least a sonogram of the thyroid and at the best case scenario RAIU (radioactive uptake scan.)

What are you doing about the Ferritin? I hope you are taking iron? Floradix is a liquid which is fast absorbing and comes in flavors. Ideally, Ferritin should be 50 to 100; the closer to 100, the better.

No wonder you have been losing your hair!

Welcome to the board. I hope you find the info you seek here!


----------

