Anyone who wishes to help:
 
I need a little help on what to ask my doctor for.
 
History -- about 2.5 months ago I had a routine blood test that came up with a TSH of 5.98; a repeat test a few days later got a 5.66.  I understand that the normal range used to be 0.4 to 6.0, but it has recently been reduced to 0.3 to 3.0.   I have no other symptoms that I can detect.
 
My doctor wanted to prescribe someting that she described as "life-long treatment."  I decided against it and she set me up for a repeat test in three months.
 
I have read up a little on it, but not being of medical background, a lot of it is very difficult to understand.
 
I have another blood test scheduled in a few weeks.  I would like anyone's help to answer the following questions:

*	
	Should I ask for special T3 and T4 tests to be run ... apparently they were not run last time so this does not seem to be part of the normal testing.  
*	
	Should I get the updated TSH first and then follow up with these if it is still abnormal.
*	
	Can excessive workouts prior to testing drive the TSH results up?
*	
	Does taking the standard prescription for a high TSH tend to shut down your thyroid?  If so, I would very much prefer to determine if I really need it, or to perhaps seek alternatives.
*	
	Would getting referred to a specialist help?

I am 63 and otherwise in very good health.

Thanks -- dave

 


________________________________________________________________
 Thyroid messages contain only the opinions of their authors.
 Opinions expressed on Thyroid do not necessarily reflect the
 opinions of the management, publisher, or our advertisers.

 Change your own account here
   http://www.Emissary.Net/Thyroid/index.html

If a question isn't answered on Thyroid, check the Thyroid Archives:
<http://LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG/archives/thyroid.html> and ask again!
________________________________________________________________