General Medicine

» Elaine Moore - Thyroid test

In response to Thyroid test posted by station26:
Hi,
Even though the major thyroid groups recommended lowering the TSH range to 0.3-3.0 most test kit manufacturers are still using the old ranges. Some labs use ranges as high as 4.5.

So I'll assume by borderline that your TSH is slightly higher than 3.0 and that both your FT4 and FT3 levels are in the normal or reference range. This would be considered subclinical hypothyroidism.

If you have thyroid antibodies your condition would be considered autoimmune. If you were tested for other antibodies and only TSI was positive, it could be that you're in the hypothyroid phase or first stage of Graves' disease.

If you have other thyroid antibodies and have subclinical hypothyroidism it would be subclinical Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The presence of TSI suggests Hashitoxicosis, a condition that's primarily related to hypothyroidism with transient hyper symptoms caused by bursts of TSI raising thyroid hormone levels.

If you have blocking thyroid antibodies as well as TSI you may have atrophic thyroiditis that's being kept from becoming overt hypothyroidism because of TSI. When both of these antibodies are present you can have simultaneous symptoms of both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism but have normal thyroid levels. If you have these antibodies and devel the associated eye disease but continue to have normal thryoid hormone levels you'd be said to have euthyroid Graves' disease.

In your case most doctors would repeat the thyroid function tests in 2-3 months and run other thyroid antibody levels if you haven't had them yet. If symptoms changed, the tests could be run sooner. Best, Elaine