Guest guest Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Hello everybody!I had a question about thyroid ultrasounds. I just got one done and the doctors, like always, say that the results are normal.I really don´t know what or how to read them. For what i understand my left thyroid is 4,27 cm and my right thyroid is 4,24. I´ve been reading online about what normal results are and i have found a "rule of the thumb" that says that if your lateral thyroid lobe is larger than your distal thumb, then it´s enlarged. (goiter)i measured my distal thumb and it´s 3 cm. Does this mean i have an enlarged thyroid? is it a rule that i can follow? because on other pages i read that 4cm is a normal size for a thyroid...Please, any help or suggestions will be great!!thank you so much in advance!hugs to everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Hello!!i was wondering if maybe my question from the other day was forgotten? i don´t want to seem ungrateful or impatient. i know you are helping a lot of people and you do it on your free time. i know i have to be patient and i really don´t want to sound demanding, i just wanted to remind the question, just in case it fell in forgefulnes. :)I also had a new question... you had sent me a list of doctors that had an open mind about treating thyroid... i remember there were a couple doctors in Spain. I wrote there contacts down but my purse got stollen a couple of weeks ago and my notebook was in it. Could you please send me their contacts again? Thank you so so much for everything!And if somebody had read my question and just hadn´t had time to answer it.. i´m so sorry for being unpatient, answer whenever you have time. I don´t want to rush you with this e-mail at all, i just wanted to make sure my question wasn´t forgotten.hugs to eveyone!Responder a: thyroid treatment Hello everybody!I had a question about thyroid ultrasounds. I just got one done and the doctors, like always, say that the results are normal.I really don´t know what or how to read them. For what i understand my left thyroid is 4,27 cm and my right thyroid is 4,24. I´ve been reading online about what normal results are and i have found a "rule of the thumb" that says that if your lateral thyroid lobe is larger than your distal thumb, then it´s enlarged. (goiter)i measured my distal thumb and it´s 3 cm. Does this mean i have an enlarged thyroid? is it a rule that i can follow? because on other pages i read that 4cm is a normal size for a thyroid...Please, any help or suggestions will be great!!thank you so much in advance!hugs to everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Hi , I am sorry that nobody has responded to your question. I don't think it has been ignored or overlooked, but rather that nobody knows the answer to it – I certainly don't. Please tell us a bit about your history – have you been diagnosed with thyroid disease? Was the ultrasound the only investigation? Have blood tests been done and have you got copies of all the results (incl. of ref ranges – important!), and also copies of your thyroid scan? – if not, please ask your doctor for it all. Whilst an ultrasound scan is helpful in making a diagnosis, thyroid disease cannot be ruled out on the basis of a 'normal' ultrasound alone.... I will send you the names and contacts of those 2 doctors in Spain in a private mail. Best wishes, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I´m seeing a nice doctor who believes that i have hashimoto´s but is not willing to treat me until ths levels raise. Hello again, , Your nice doctor is correct – you DO have Hashimoto's disease (also called autoimmune thyroiditis) and he should diagnose and treat you on the strength of your symptoms and positive thyroid autoantibody count. To wait for your TSH to rise could be a long wait or pot luck....you need to be treated now. Untreated Hashimoto's just increases the risk for you to develop other autoimmune diseases or cancer, apart from the obvious – that you feel bl**dy lousy! Hypothyroidism often gets misdiagnosed because a person with Hashimoto's can present with a perfectly normal TSH. As the autoimmune condition fluctuates, the TSH levels will fluctuate wildly – up one day, down the next. To "catch" a TSH when it happens to be high, would be "lucky" indeed. This is the typical presentation of autoimmune thyroiditis, but sadly, very few doctors know this.... When you experience a flare-up, the autoantibodies destroy thyroid tissue and hormones stored in the gland are pushed out into the bloodstream... et voila, your blood results look "normal". For the above reasons the mere presence of thyroid autoantibodies (TPO and/or TgAB) is diagnostic for Hashimoto's and should be treated, particularly when clinical symptoms are also present – and you have both in abundance. Your TgAB count is definitely positive with 166.1 and your TPO count was not quite positive on this occasion, but I would not mind betting that on subsequent blood tests the number would rise above the ref range. Autoantibodies fluctuate all the time – up when they launch an attack on the thyroid gland, down when the deed it done.... until the next time! However, to diagnose Hashimoto's one positive count – be it TPO or TgAB – will suffice. Positive TgAB is enough to diagnose and treat you for autoimmune thyroiditis. TSH____________ 1,10 mU/L (0,35-5,5) T4______________ 7,9 ug/dL (4,5-11,5) FT4_____________ 1,10 ng/dL (0,8-1,8) T3_______________0,9 ug/L (0,6-1,9) FT3______________2,99 ng/L (2,3-4,2) When you ignore the TSH - and it should be ignored with Hashi's – your T's and FT's are on the low side of "normal", particularly the FT3, which is the most important parameter as it tells you how much active hormone there is available... not much in your case. I´m taking some supplements now. Vitamin D, folic acid, b12, iron and magnesium. (because my levels are kind of low): Yes – well done. You need it. Make sure you take about 4000 iu of Vit D3, and for B12 take Solgar's nuggets, 1000 iu., Magnesium is best tolerated as Mag citrate, take about 400 mg per day. If possible, take your iron supplement in the evenings, always together with 500 or 1000 mg of Vit C (to avoid constipation). The reason for taking iron in the evenings is because you will be (or should be !) soon on thyroid medication and thyroid hormones and iron don't mix. You need to keep them as far apart as you can. – so thyroid hormone in the mornings (and if taking natural thyroid, in the afternoon as well), iron in the evenings..... I wanted to take the saliva 24h cortisol test. What kind of test should i take? A salivary adrenal stress profile would be best. You can order this with Genova UK from Spain if you want, but you would need to use a courier service like FedEx or other to send the samples back to the UK (samples need to be in the lab the following morning) and that would push up the price quite a bit... but apart from price there is nothing stopping you. An `Adrenal Stress profile' with Genova would cost your £ 64.29 as a member of the TPA and since you would state the TPA-UK as your "practitioner" (it's just a formality) you do not need any doctor to order it for you – you can just phone or email Genova and they will send you a kit and when you send it back you can pay by card and the results will be emailed directly to you, not to any doctor, and of course, not to the TPA. All the details you will find in our files. Here is a "sample" report.... DHEA check is included, btw... http://www.iwdl.net/files/profile_assets/sample_report/HOR01%20ASP%20Sample%20Report.pdf If you can't use Genova, perhaps you can find a similar test in Spain ? With best wishes, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Hello !Thank you so much for all the good information, the good explanations and for taking all the time to answer me.It is sooooooo nice of you to help other like this! :)Sheila sent me the list of Doctors. I have tried to find one near my home that will treat me, but they are not willing to. So i think my next step is to try with one in the list! It will also be an excuse to go to the beach :)I don´t understand why Doctors are so reluctant to learning new things. They just send you home with your pains, even if you take them a whole bunch of information to read and learn. Thanks for all the information on how to take the supplements. It´s very good to know that i need to take vitamine C with Iron. I was sick this week and maybe that was the cause. Also very good to know that thryoid medications has to be taken apart from iron. And also thanks for the information on the salivary test. And the great discount through TPA!I knew i had to insist on a treatment for hashimoto´s, but you have encouraged me even further to insist and insist until i get it!Thanks again for everything!Love,El 02/03/2012, a las 18:04, escribió: I´m seeing a nice doctor who believes that i have hashimoto´s but is not willing to treat me until ths levels raise. Hello again, ,Your nice doctor is correct – you DO have Hashimoto's disease (also called autoimmune thyroiditis) and he should diagnose and treat you on the strength of your symptoms and positive thyroid autoantibody count. To wait for your TSH to rise could be a long wait or pot luck....you need to be treated now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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