[cat265]

Has anyone ever hear of someone being on synthroid for 3 yrs. for hypothyroid and sunddenly their thyroid becomes normal?? My doctor took me off synthroid for 2 weeks and then did alot of test and eveything came back normal. I thought hypothroidism was for life?

[LIZARD]

Originally Posted by cat265

Has anyone ever hear of someone being on synthroid for 3 yrs. for hypothyroid and sunddenly their thyroid becomes normal?? My doctor took me off synthroid for 2 weeks and then did alot of test and eveything came back normal. I thought hypothroidism was for life?

I would keep an eye on it. You never know. My free T3 was only "slightly" low, and it just tested normal, but my symptoms were kicking my @$$, so I'm terrified of missing a dose! Don't abandon your endo yet.


Good luck!

LIZARD

[cat265]

When I started synthroid 3 years ago, technicaly, I was in the normal range. The doc. started me on a small dose of syntrhoid because of my symptoms. I still have the same symptoms. I have been playing phone tag with him. I hope he wants to put me back on somthing for my thyroid.

[mrsD]

mostly from women after they deliver their babies.

Hypothyroidism is often diagnosed after a pregnancy, and when done then,
can be a temporary thing. The thyroid can wake up with time and be normal.
I had a friend have this happen.

If you take hormone when you don't need it, it just suppresses your own
TSH and you then make less, and it all balances out with time.
Remove the hormone, and you may go back to normal yourself.
(of course people with damaged thyroids don't spring back that way).

[HEperson]

Were you on the synthroid for Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis?
If so, then yes, your thyroid function can change over time.
Hashimoto's thyroidiits is a chronic, life-long condition where your white blood cells produce antibodies (special proteins) that attack your thyroid gland.
Roughly 5% of patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis lose their thyroid function per year, so most patients actually have some thyroid function even though their gland is under autoimmune attack.
But thyroid levels can fluctuate over time. It is sort of a balance between how badly your immune system is attacking your gland, how well your gland can still produce thyroid hormone (i.e. how much of the working gland is still left after the immune destruction), and how much your brain responds to the destruction by the feedback loop:
When your thyroid level drops, say from autoimmune destruction, your brain senses this and releases TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone. TSH in turn acts on your thyroid to tell it to crank up it's thyroid hormone production.
Many people with untreated Hashimoto's disease will have high levels of TSH, since their brains are trying to tell their thyroid to crank up the production of thyroid hormone.
Typically, the endocrinologist will check your TSH level and use this to help decide/monitor how much thyroid hormone to give you. Many endocrinologists keep the TSH at the lower end of normal- about 0.5... This can help keep you energized, and it can help prevent a goiter from forming (where your thyroid gland gets too big because it is trying too hard to make hormone)
If your TSH drops too low on the thyroid replacement, they may back of for a while, since it is very dangerous to have too much thyroid hormone (it can cause a lot of problems).

As if this weren't complicated enough, sometimes with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, your gland can just dump out large amounts of thyroid hormone, and you may get temporarily too much thyroid hormone in your blood. This may drop your TSH temporarily too. It's called "Hashitoxicosis".

And then even more complicated are the rare cases where you can actually have not just the antibodies of hashimoto's disease, but those of Grave's disease as well, which bind to the TSH receptors and stimulate (or sometimes inhibit) them...

It's a complicated illness with so many reasons for the thyroid hormone levels to fluctuate.
Great fun, as thyroid hormone controls the metabolism and functioning of virtually every cell in the body!

You have my deepest sympathy!

[cat265]

My endo just checked; FSH, LH, cortisol, prolactin, T4, T3U, TSH, T3 RIA and anti bodies. He just left a message on my machine saying everything was normal. Iam going to call him form work tomorrow and ask for copies of blood work from my very first appointmen and the results of this last test.

Thank you so much for the information everyone.

[cat265]

TSH 3rd generation 1.75 ref. range 0.40-4.50
T4, total 7.0 4.5-12.0 ug/dl
T3 uptake 31.8 22.0-35.0 percent
LH 6.7
FSH 3.2
prolactin 6.4 3.0-30.0
cortisol 15.6 4.0-22.0 mcg/dl
Thyroid AB (ATA,TPO) <10 < or=35
Thyroglobulin AB <20 <20

I don't really know what to make of these #'s but I was told everything is normal. These tests were done 2 weeks after stopping 50mcgs of synthroid tHat I was on for 3 years. I don't feel any different and now my hair is starting to fall out again.

[watsonsh]

Ok just a thought...hair starting to fall out can also be overproduction of testosterone or PCOS...polycystic ovary syndrome or something.

You shold really have your sex hormones tested...

testosterone (total and free)
estrogen and estradiol
progesterone
IGF1 - human growth hormone

And I was in a similar situation as you. Was hypothryoid and recovered for a while, came off the meds. lasted about 7-8 months and then bam TSH went back to hypothryoid.

I went back on meds and then it made me hyperthryoid....and developed Hashitoxicosis just ike HEperson described. I was orginally dx with hashimotos thyroiditis and a goiter

Had my thyroid taken out. Feeling better but if one set of hormones is out of whack for a long time then another set can follow. Its like a 3 legged stool, thyroid hormones, sex hormones and adrenal hormones. If one off then stool unbalances and others compensate.

Now that thryoid is out and controlled I am trying to regain balance of sex hormones. Low estrogen and I am likley in perimenopause but its a bit more exaggerated.

So get those sex hormones tested and be sure to remember what day of your cycle (that is if you are female)

[cat265]

LOL! Iam female creeping up on my 43rd b-day. I was tested for PCOS and it was neg. Some else also suggested that I have my testostrone tested. About 8 years ago I went through in-vetro, I seem to remember them saying somthing about low testostrone levels. I'll have to look into that. All the other test were done in the first week and 1/2 into my cycle. It turnes out the LH was mid range and the FSH was low range. I guess I have to research this whole thryroid thing for myself and find out what is going on.
Thanks for your help.

[watsonsh]

Yep all this started for me when I was 42 (which was 2 years ago). Although I must have had thryoid disease for a while since it is a slow moving organ and a slow disease. The other intersting thing is the thyroid is where most of the iodine in your body is. After that its your ovaries so they are connected.

My FSH is low too as is my testosterone. My estrogens are very low regardless of the day of the cycles. Doc put me back on BCPs and I felt better. Its trial and error though with BCPs

Was also dx with possible endometriosis. Posible because until you go in through surgery its only a guess. BUt I feel closer to better managing my symptoms

I just read two good books by Dr. Elizabeth Vliet. And there is a good book by Dr Shames on balancing sex, adrenal and thyroid hormones. Perimenopause sucks!


Good luck.