Q: My 26 years old wife had elevated TSH – 11.18, T3 was 112.6 and T4 was 6.8. The doctor asked her to start Thyronorm 25 mcg once daily (fasting) for the first week and then 1.5 tablets for the successive 5 weeks. Now, after 6 weeks, I again got her thyroid tests done along with anti-TPO and the report showed T3 - 98.7, T4 - 7.3, TSH - 3.69 and anti TPO - 1300.0. What are the implications of this report? Does my wife need further treatment?

A:Normal TSH while on treatment means that this dose is the right dose for your wife. TSH is used for monitoring therapy while treating a patient with hypothyroidism. Now she should use the same dose and get her TSH estimated only after 3 months. Anti-TPO tells about the cause of disease. Higher values mean that autoimmunity is responsible for her hypothyroidism, which is the commonest cause. The disease is likely to persist and she may need replacement of thyroid hormone lifelong.