>Simple enough -- blood test come up with a TSH of 5.98; a repeat test a few 
days later got a 5.66.

Welcome.

You seem to have an elevation in your TSH. This can mean different things, 
depending. TSH is your bodies way of asking your thyroid gland to produce 
more thyroid hormone.

Your quick re-test confirmed that the lab did not fail - did not mix your blood 
up with somebody elses blood, etc. Distrusting labs is something you may need 
to consider, in the long run.

It is important that you find a doctor that you can team with, to find out 
exactly WHY your TSH is elevated.

Three months is the typical wait time that most doctors use today between 
thyroid tests. It takes weeks for your body to come to a new level with a new 
thyroid hormone supplementation dosage. Three months has always seemed 
like twice as long as necessary, to me - but it probably is cautious or 
conservative, and doctors should be cautious or conservative, generally. 
Sadly, sometimes I fear that the three month wait is due to insurance 
company desires to keep down the cost of lab tests.

Although you have not yet got a good basis for understanding your own case, 
it is quite typical for hypothyroid folks (thise who have elevated TSH) to be on 
lifetime thyroid hormone supplementation. If you merely have a hypothyroid 
condition, you'll still need to research T3 and T4, and discover the various 
possible ways to add thyroid hormone to your body.

Iodine supplementation is tricky - don't accept every idea on iodine without 
careful research and critical thought. There are some old ideas about iodine 
that, while partially/slightly true, might end up slowing down your progress 
toward health if uncritically applied to the wrong situation.

Good luck!

 Pax,
Ballew Kinnaman <[log in to unmask]> +1 425 788 5337
LISTSERV Discussion list owner: Allergy, Rubber, Thyroid

Thyroid
Discussion Group http://www.Emissary.Net/thyroid/index.html



_______________________________________________________________
  Thyroid Welcome Message (Instructions) Always Available
 Anyone can obtain a fresh, new copy of the Thyroid Welcome
 message at any time (24/7) by sending an e-mail message
 saying only "get Thyroid Welcome" (remove quotes) to our
 sleepless robot at <[log in to unmask]>. Its free.
_______________________________________________________________