It takes awhile to get your thyroid meds adjusted.
Hashi's is a disease that requires some patience.
Once you have begun on a dose of thyroid hormone, it can takes 2 months for your blood levels to fully reflect the dose (especially if you are taking a T-4 med such as Synthroid, Levoxyl, or Unithroid).
Then, with newer testing, often your dose is adjusted. Once in awhile, some people come to a good place with their levels & their TSH and stay on the same dose.
Then, after the dose adjustment, you wait 2 months for another blood test & possibly another dose adjustment. Now, be aware this every 2 to 3 month testing and adjustment may be required for awhile. My doc tested me that often for three years before my thyroid levels stabilized. Even after that I had dose increases -- with testing every 6 months.
You see -- even if you are on medication, your levels can still rise. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune illness. That is, your bodies' protective autoimmune system has turned on the thyroid. The damage continues even after you are on thyroid hormone replacement. Thus, your need for more and more thyroid hormone can continue.
Many, like me, have completeinly lost thyroid function, but over time. A few people manage to hang on to some thyroid functioning.
Usuallyl, as time goes on, your thyroid gland may do less and less and less as it succumbs to autoimmune illness.
Doctors do not treat antibodies, as the missing thyroid hormones are so easily replaced by a pill. Limiting your bodies' immune system can leave you vulnerable to other illnesses. Other autoimmune illnesses are rheumatoid arthritis & Type I Diabetes.
However, doctors can and do test levels of antibodies (tho usually only with diagnosis -- you can, tho, request additional tests).
You may possibly be able to reduce the action & presence of these thyroid destroying antibodies by including selenium in your diet, or by taking a supplement. Many say that this also helps reduce the symptoms of thyroid ills -- <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />
Many vitamin & mineral supplements sold at your local drug store have selenium. You would want somewhere between 150 & 200 units. You may also want to look up which foods contain selenium to be sure you don't get too much.
Warning -- one good source of selenium is bad for you. Certain foods oppose the thyroid hormone that you have in too short supply -- nuts are on the list. There are also other foods.
There are some basics that you may want to learn about hypothyroidism. Keep visiting forums & taking advantage of the information that is richly available.
One book often recommended is Mary Shomon's Living Well with Hypothyroidism.
For now -- begin saving your test results in a folder or notebook -- jot down on them how you feel. You may later want these for reference. Once your TSH is to where you feel well (often this is as low as .3 - 1.0, the standard in the Thyroid Manager, an online medical text, but each person is unique) -- then be sure that your doc is also measuring your thyroid hormone levels of Free T-3 levels and Free T-4 levels.
Your doc is right -- symptoms count. The TSH is not the end-all or be-all -- but only an indicator. It is not a precise measure of how ill or well you are -- but does signal the illness before other indicators do.
Think your diagnosis should help you towards feeling truly WELL! The best --
~ Maureen [color:"blue"] [/color]
