Thyroid function tests?

scottienme

Hello! New worry! ( For those who are interested, my level 2 U/S went very well this morning and my LO is developing perfect - a blessing to my ears!)

However, I couldnt just be happy about this, no... of course I would get a call to tell my my blood tests came back weird form my endocrine appointment last week. Anyone on here ever have a blood test come back low for TSH? It's supposedly a hormone that plays a role in thyroid function? She said it normally drops a little during pregnancy but mine was very low so she had me come in and pull labs on me again for a retest. This made me very nerous as my mom has to be on medication for hypothyroidism... anyone else had anything similar? Any insight would be very helpful!

Gherkina

I have hypothyroidism...I was diagnosed a few years ago.  I'm confused by your post, though.  If your TSH is too low, you actually have hyperthyroidism and if it's too high, you have an underproducing thyroid which is hypothyroidism.  It's a little backwards.  Was your TSH low or is your thyroid not producing enough?

It's not a bad condition at all.  I've been on synthroid for years and I just take it every day.  Because of the pregnancy, they've been watching me closer and they had to increase my medication a little but as of my last test, I was fine (my TSH was 1 which is great for me...when I was first diagnosed, my TSH was 18!).

Oh, and if you have to go on Synthroid, it's totally safe during pregancy.  it's just a synthetic version of the thyroid hormone that your body would normally produce.  I don't get any side effects from it, either.

Good luck!!

Chelsie Lee

I had to have these tests several times during my pregnancy due to having pre-pregnancy tryroid masses and other thyroid issues.  I had a couple tests come back slightly off but they didn't want to do anything unless it was a real problem.  As my doctor put it "Why start you on medication if we don't have to, there is no reason to possibly endanger the baby or misdiagnosis you."  I know that when you are pregnant a lot of things can be triggered as possible problems but once pregnancy is over they go away.  I think it is a good thing your doctor is being careful and retesting you.  Don't worry.  There are actually several blood tests that they may run before they decide anything.  My best suggestion is to just relax and wait to see what the final verdict is then talk to your doctor about all options.  They will be able to explain what it means the best.

mysticporter

Gherkina:

I have hypothyroidism...I was diagnosed a few years ago.  I'm confused by your post, though.  If your TSH is too low, you actually have hyperthyroidism and if it's too high, you have an underproducing thyroid which is hypothyroidism.  It's a little backwards.  Was your TSH low or is your thyroid not producing enough?

It's not a bad condition at all.  I've been on synthroid for years and I just take it every day.  Because of the pregnancy, they've been watching me closer and they had to increase my medication a little but as of my last test, I was fine (my TSH was 1 which is great for me...when I was first diagnosed, my TSH was 18!).

Oh, and if you have to go on Synthroid, it's totally safe during pregancy.  it's just a synthetic version of the thyroid hormone that your body would normally produce.  I don't get any side effects from it, either.

Good luck!!

This, in it's entirety (although my thyroid problem was diagnosed over 15 years ago).  Maybe the OP was talking about a T3 or T4 test being low?

Either way, though, as much as no one likes to hear that anything is wrong, most thyroid conditions are fairly minor to manage during pregnancy, and most thyroid conditions which develop during pregnancy are a result of the pregnancy and not an underlying or persistent condition.  Try not to worry too much!

 

mysticporter

Clarifying for OP..TSH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, T3 and T4 are produced by your thyroid gland.  If your body is working correctly, if the thyroid hormones drop too low, your pituitary puts out more TSH, which stimulates the thyroid to produce more hormone, and less TSH goes out if there is enough/excess thyroid hormone.  If you are hypothyroid, the poor pituitary is sending signals, but the thyroid doesn't respond, so you have a very high TSH level (pituitary in overdrive) and a low T3/T4 (thyroid not answering).  Conversely, if you are hyperthyroid, your TSH gets very low, but your T3/T4 is very high.  (Some people can have both be low, which means the pituitary gland is the one with the problem, not sending out enough and thus not stimulating the thyroid enough.)  TSH is usually the first test done, but if you were at an endocrinologist they probably ran a full panel.

(Probably way more than you wanted).

scottienme

mysticporter:

Clarifying for OP..TSH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, T3 and T4 are produced by your thyroid gland.  If your body is working correctly, if the thyroid hormones drop too low, your pituitary puts out more TSH, which stimulates the thyroid to produce more hormone, and less TSH goes out if there is enough/excess thyroid hormone.  If you are hypothyroid, the poor pituitary is sending signals, but the thyroid doesn't respond, so you have a very high TSH level (pituitary in overdrive) and a low T3/T4 (thyroid not answering).  Conversely, if you are hyperthyroid, your TSH gets very low, but your T3/T4 is very high.  (Some people can have both be low, which means the pituitary gland is the one with the problem, not sending out enough and thus not stimulating the thyroid enough.)  TSH is usually the first test done, but if you were at an endocrinologist they probably ran a full panel.

(Probably way more than you wanted).

No this is actually pretty helpful. Thank you (and pp!) My TSH was really low in the first lab she drew ( weird since my mom had hypo, not hyper thyroidism!) so today she had me come back for a panel to check my T3 And T4 tests as well. She said TSH normally drops a little during pregnancy, so hopefully thats it!