BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Thyroid Health Once diagnosed hypo, what tests need done yearly?

Hi- I just had my blood work today. My doctor is only testing free t4. Is this usual? My free t4 is 1.02. I told them I felt like I was not in the "normal" range since I have been having sypmotoms: swollen hands, face, toes, forgetfullness, not able to lose any weight with diet and exercise, fatigue, thinning eyebrows-the usual stuff. What do you all think? Thanks!

Hi kcrown08, welcome to the BellaOnline Forum and GLAD to see you have startd to post. Awesome!

Hi kcrown08, and welcome.

If you are female, are you pregnant or maybe want to become pregnant? The reason I ask is that newly diagnosed hypothyroidism in pregnancy is rare because most women with untreated hypothyroidism have ovulatory problems, which make it difficult for them to conceive.

Did your doctor put you on thyroid hormone replacement? The ideal thyroxine replacement dose (Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothroid, Unithroid) during pregnancy may rise by 25%-50% during pregnancy. It is important to have regular checks of T4 and TSH during pregnancy to make sure you are at the correct medication dose.

If you are not pregnant (or female) I apologize. If you are pregnant or may want to be, it would be a good idea to check with Vanessa, our Pregnancy site editor in her forum. Since there is no Thyroid Health editor at this time, Vanessa may be able to give you more information.

The important thing to do is to keep in touch with your doctor and ask a lot of questions.

Thank you, I am female, not pregnant. I was diagnosed hypothyroid 8 years ago shortly after the birth of my fourth child. I have been on levoxyl for eight years. I just don't feel that it is doing it's job (see symptoms listed in original post)-yet my doctor says that my free t4 is in the normal range. That is the only test they conduct each year and I am wondering if they should be conducting more tests.

kcrown,

Here are a few links to sites on Hypothyroidism that may give you the answers you are seeking. It seems like if you have questions that your current doctor cannot or will not answer and your meds may not be helping, then it might be a good idea to get a second or even third opinion from other doctors/specialists in thyroid problems.

Click on the following links for more info:

http://www.medicinenet.com/hypothyroidism/article.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000353.htm

This following link has articles on Hypothyroidism written by editors on our Thyroid Health site:

BellaOnline Thyroid Articles

Good news! We have a new Thyroid Health Editor, Rita M. Kralik, MD.

Watch for her to start posting in this forum. It may take awhile, for she is new to BellaOnline, but she is an MD, so I am sure she will be able to offer further advice for you.

I have had hypothyroid for alot of years and have listened to the dr. like a good ol girl. then started doing research and asking alot of questions and telling them I want answers not just a pat on the head and told not to worry. Finally my family dr. listened to me and together we found out just being in the "normal" range on the t4 wasn't enough for me. I needed more synthroyd to feel normal. WOW for the first time in 20 years I actually have to shave my legs and armpits again. That actually is one of the curses not a blessing of finally feeling good again. I am almost 65 and have had alot of health issues that quite possibly were related to an unhealthy thyroid but went misdiagnosed because my t4 was in the "normal range". Keep learning as well as listening to the dr's.