Quote:
Originally Posted by Jenn218  Regarding thyroid, I started gaining weight about three years ago and could NOT lose it for anything. My hair got dry, finger nails weak, tons of other stuff too. After bloodwork, scans, etc. they still say my thyroid is fine.
What other tests can they do?
One scan did find a lump, but that doctor said it was more of a muscle mass, not a lump in/on my thyroid.
I went to four different doctors and one endocrinologist (sp). I heard that sometimes getting the doctor to determine a thyroid issue can be hard - some people, the first blood test finds it, but others, not so easy.
Any ideas?? |
Jenn -- Some docs will only do the TSH test. That finds many problems but not all. The TSH is the pituitary hormone that tells the thyroid to produce more. The idea is USUALLY when the body is low in thyroid, the TSH will be high, and when there is too much thyroid hormone, the TSH will be low. But that does not always work. My TSH took a long time to rise. But, my T4 and T3 levels were low. Another thing to check is the thyroid antibody levels. Asking for Anti-TPO and Anti-Tg antibody tests can help determine if an autoimmune thyroid problem might be the source of symptoms. An endocrinologist can help with detailed testing, but really any doc can order them. Some find more help with alternative, osteopath, or even their GYN docs. As long as they have experience with thyroid hormone problems, they can potentially help.
A muscle mass in the thyroid is odd! Did he maybe just compare your nodule to a muscle mass? Nodules are actually fairly common -- 50% of people will have one or more. Some are solid, some cystic, and some mixed. Most all are benign -- but I have heard of many folks with nodules being hard to diagnose for hypo or hyper-thyroidism. Sometimes these nodules can burst and give the person intermittant and irregularly dispersed spurts of thyroid hormone. That can play havoc with blood test results. Some antibodies can interfere with test results. Other hormones can affect thyroid levels too -- such as estrogen -- it may create more bound hormone. It is there, but it is not "free" for the body to use. Thyroid problems are not as easy to pin down as some would like us to believe. Lots of varibles.