Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - The practice of medicine: What's wrong with it?
View Single Post
 
Old 08-19-2014, 11:29 AM
Villages PL Villages PL is offline
Sage
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Belvedere
Posts: 5,279
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by tippyclubb View Post
I would also like to know what changes you made for your tsh. According to my doctor over 4 is high and keeps my level between 1-3. 1 being ideal, which is where I am now. How did you feel when your tsh was 8?
Good question. This is really strange; when my TSH was over 8 I felt perfectly fine. In one of my thyroid books I read a long list of symptoms pertaining to hyperthyroid. I had none of the symptoms. For example, not only was I not overweight, I was at my ideal weight with a BMI of 18. I wasn't cold all the time and I didn't lack energy etc.

Yes, over 4 is considered high but I found some information online that recommends we should go by how we feel. I don't have that information handy at this time.

From memory it goes something like this: If you restrict calories by not eating high-calorie processed foods, your metabolism will slow down considerably. And when your metabolism slows down your thyroid function does the same. It may have some implications for longevity: When they tested a large group of centenarians, they all had slow thyroids.

Admittedly, it's a bit complicated so I'm not completely settled on what my TSH should be. Should I try for a lower TSH? The accepted TSH number is based on averages taken from a large population of people. Should I try to be like everyone else? Is there a downside to not getting it lower?

In the mean time I feel well so I'm not going to worry about it.