I posted a question before about my hair falling out and many suggested having my thyroid checked and what I read seemed to indicate the same. My tests came back "normal". I requested a copy of my labs and my tsh (thyroid stimulating hormone) was 0.646 and the normal range is .350-5.50. From what I've read I think this is still pretty low. I have a call in to the doctor but I wanted to see if any of your know how to make sense of these numbers? Thanks.
Thank you for all the responses. The doctor did not test the t3 and t4 and had the nurse call me and refer me to an internal medicine doctor. My ogyn is fairly new to me (mine retired) and I am not happy with him and will seek a new one. Thanks again.
Also make sure they tested T3 AND T4 levels! Most dr. only test T3! My mom had thyroid issues for years but they only checked her T3. When a friend told her to have T4 checked and did it was too late. She had to have her thyroid and a gorder (sp?) removed.
Another thing to check is your Ferritin level (long term stores of iron). The "normal" range is huge (from 10-200), but if you are losing hair you should bump up the iron to around 50 (do some searches on the internet, many doctors are not familiar with low Ferritin symptoms). Best of luck!
The higher the number, the lower the thyroid function. Could it be stress instead? If so, try some B complex. It helps not only with stress but hair and nail problems.
TSH really does not tell us what your ACTUAL thyroid levels are! Although in many people, a low TSH can indicate a higher thyroid level, in my daughter, a lowish TSH just meant she also had a low T3 and low T4 because her problem was not coming from the thyroid gland itself.
TSH IS **NOT** a thyroid hormone!!!!!!!! She even had blatant symptoms of a thyroid hormone problem the doctors ignored (here is something a later doctor of hers wrote: http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2011/01/childhood-onset-... ) (She had low thyroid hormones from hypothalamic origin so her TSH remained low-ish, as well).
Your thyroid hormone levels can still be too high for you, OR too low.... you need to get the actual levels checked.
But that's for thyroid hormones.
There is also the possibility of a problem with estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, something nutritional - Celiac maybe, reaction to a medication.
You need to get a doctor that looks at all of you together - NOT just a number on a lab sheet. He/she needs to use that in conjunction with your symptoms.
With that number, I'd think your thyroid might be over-active. Most women feel best with a TSH number around 1.2 - 1.6 or so. Check out http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ for some good information on thyroid problems. Please note that the "normal" range you were given is NOT really normal. That range includes many, many people who are undiagnosed, but have abnormal thyroid function - therefore for many years, the TSH "average" numbers have been extremely skewed. My doctor basically said she almost doesn't care what the test results say, if a patient presents with multiple thyroid malfunction symptoms, she will treat for it until the patient feels better.
ETA: Here's something I found on Stop the Thyroid Madness which may explain both your symptoms and your low TSH value:
"WHAT IS THE TSH??? In your body, the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is synthesized and secreted by your pituitary gland…i.e. it’s a PITUITARY hormone, NOT a thyroid hormone. You can view the TSH like a messenger sent to knock on the door of the thyroid. And its purpose is to regulate your thyroid gland–to tell it to produce more, or to tell it to produce less. In a healthy individual, its message is based on whether your blood levels have too little thyroid hormones to meet the demands of your body, or too much.
When the thyroid gland becomes diseased or disabled and fails to do its job adequately (called hypothyroid), the TSH knocks and knocks on the door, and theoretically, the TSH lab will show a high number. Or, if the thyroid gland gets on its exercise bicycle and overproduces thyroid hormones (called hyperthyroid), the TSH lab will theoretically go low to show that the TSH in your body isn’t knocking.
Occasionally, patients will have a very low TSH with raging hypothyroid symptoms, and that can point to a problem in the Pituitary gland, called Hypopituitary. The latter is usually due to a diseased pituitary gland, or a problem with the Hypothalamus, which is the organ that sends it’s messenger to the Pituitary. (The Hypothalamus, Pituitary and Thyroid glands make up with is called a Feedback Loop.)"
there are actually two thyroid chemicals that need to be considered T3 and T4, I believe the tsh is the T4; both need to be in the normal range. TSH is the stimulating hormone, the other is the amount of hormone present and that number should also be on the lab results.
Yes, in one sense you are on the lower end of normal, but the important word here is NORMAL. Have you considered seeing a dermatologist? We often forget that our skin itself is an organ, and if there are skin problems they can affect multiple other systems. Are you under stress? Is there a history of hair loss in your family?
I want to share my experience with my hair falling out. At the time I was eat too much soy in some high protein bars. Unfermented soy does damage your endocrine system. The type of soy most Asain people eat is fermented and thus the toxins are removed and is healthier. I stopped eating soy and my hair recovered.
