Good evening. This is my first time on here. I have questions about my thyroid. It is up and down all the time for years now. I am finally for the last 6 wks been put on Levoxyl .25 daily. I have started feeling better, but, not yet like normal. I got my lab results today and now my TSH is 0.057! This is not good, but, I feel better than I have in years. I am having no hyper symptoms. I have a pituitary adenoma on the posterior side, it is small 5mm. Could this be causing me all this fluctuation? I am seeing a neurosurgeon and he seems to think I am having no issues since the 'tumor' has shrunk, it was 5 cm. And, the IM Dr I see for my thyroid doesn't seem to connect the two. I am now wondering. I see the IM (internal med) Thurs the 3rd and I am worried she will take me off the medication, I feel better on it. What should I be asking her about this? I have had 7 yrs of hyper then hypo then hyper then hypo then about 3 mos of wonderful 2 yrs ago. Please help. Thanks
For some people the meds seem to work quickly in lowering the TSH. The goal once on meds is to have the TSH suppressed (which your is), where are your FREE levels, does your dr check them? The FREE T3 and FREE T4 are your actual thyroid hormones, these are the tests you want to base treatment on. The TSH is a pituitary response and quite often can be very deceiving once on replacement hormone. Both FREE levels should be in the upper 1/3 of the labs range.
If you are feeling well I would stay on the meds. Your DR NEEDS to be testing your FREE levels and also should have tested you for antibodies. If you have been hypo/hyper symptoms chances are your may have Hashi's.
If your dr wants to take you off meds and hasn't tested your FREE levels, either request that it be done first and insist you feel better on meds, or find another dr that will treat by symptoms and free levels, not TSH.
Thank you for responding, I will ask my Dr to test both T3 & T4. She has only tested my T4, which was 1.15 prior to medication and now after 6 wks on meds is 1.54. She only tested one antibiody Thyroid Perox AB whic was 12 with a range of 0-35 as normal. She also tested my parathyroid (PTH) which is 46 with a range of 7-53 as normal. I do want to stay on the medication since I feel so much better. I will ask about testing the Free T3 & T4 and all the antibiodies before she takes me off the meds. Thank you for your advice. Will keep you posted.
Your pituitary is what releases TSH so yes, your pituitary tumor can totally mess with your TSH levels if the tumor itself is secreting TSH. That little tumor is probably the cause of your trouble with the up down up down effect.
Your pituitary sends signals via TSH to the Thyroid to release hormone or not. If that tumor is interferring with those signals, as it appears it is doing, then you would get that kind of wildly fluctuating TSH, particularly if you've been tested for antibodies and nodules in the past and the results were negative. Essentially if you have a healthy thyroid and you are getting those symptoms, then absolutely yes, that little tiny tumor can cause those fluctuations.
Last edited by nastyhashi; 02-03-2005 at 06:51 AM.
You should ask your doctor about getting a TRH test done to measure communication between your hypothalamus and pituitary because from what you describe, the signals are not making it to their destinations correctly.
Last edited by nastyhashi; 02-03-2005 at 06:51 AM.
That sounds like a good idea. I will ask her to fax me an add'l Rx for that. I have never heard of that test. Thank you, I will definitely get this test done. My mother told me years ago when I was having all these symptoms that I needed to have my Pituitary checked. That was before my Pituitary Tumor was diagnosed. But, the Dr's have not said anything about my symptoms being from the tumor. And, since it is small, I didn't think it was either. Thank you, I will post further info when I get it....
Thyroid troubles 
