There are allegedly ways you can test your blood at home for a thyroid condition (see below), but I would definitely see a doctor first. There are so many different things that could be wrong with your thyroid that I’m fairly certain a box kit that is ordered over the internet won’t be able to tell you. And, there is much greater liklihood of human error in interpretation of the bloodtest when you’re the one reading your own results. Not to mention, if you do have hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, you’ll likely need medication to keep your hormones at the right levels, and that means you have to see a doctor for a prescription.
Your doctor will probably start by feeling your neck to see if there are any obvious signs that your thyroid isn’t in check, and will also probably ask you some questions like, if you’ve been getting tired a lot lately or have lost/gained a lot of weight over a relatively short amount of time. After that, if your doctor thinks you might have a thyroid problem, you may have to have a sonagram, to check the shape of the thyroid and do some blood tests after that.
You have to see your doctor & he’ll give you a prescription that will work. First you will need to have bloodwork done to determine what dosage of medication you will need
you probably might want to go to the doctor so they can take tests. i dont think there is a home test for a weak thyroid. a weak thyroid usually indicates a hormonal imbalance, one that your doctor may be able to find and correct…
There are tests you do at home with a pin prick from a pin they give you and a blood collector. I don’t know if they work well… my mother tried, but the blood just collected on her dry hands, actually rose up…
but they’re $40.00 on the internet if you want to give that a try.
Basically, your doctor is your best bet, but there are some who won’t run every test under creation because HMO’s s**k.
There isn’t…but you can get a blood test for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) done very easily which will help determine if there’s a problem. See your doctor. Also check out websites about thyroid conditions to see if you have other symptoms.
You can try taking your temp for a week, first thing in the morning. If it’s consististly below 97 then you may have a thyroid problem. Years ago, body temp diagnosed thyroid problems and it was a way to adjust the dosing of thyroid medication. Today they diagnose it by blood work. If you decide to have blood work, do it first thing in the morning only. Get a TSH, free t4, free t3, and an antibody test. Find ut the numbers, don’t just accept normal or abnormal. Labs are going by outdated ranges for TSH. TSH should be below 2.0
You didn’t mention which thyroid condition, so I’ll list symptoms of both.
Hypothyroid – (underactive) symptoms include, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, IBS with constipation, dry skin, dry thinning hair, sensitivity to cold, low bp, low body temp, slow pulse rate, depression, fatigue, muscle and joint ache, sensitivity to light, thinning eyebrows, and ridged fingernails with no moons.
There are allegedly ways you can test your blood at home for a thyroid condition (see below), but I would definitely see a doctor first. There are so many different things that could be wrong with your thyroid that I’m fairly certain a box kit that is ordered over the internet won’t be able to tell you. And, there is much greater liklihood of human error in interpretation of the bloodtest when you’re the one reading your own results. Not to mention, if you do have hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, you’ll likely need medication to keep your hormones at the right levels, and that means you have to see a doctor for a prescription.
Your doctor will probably start by feeling your neck to see if there are any obvious signs that your thyroid isn’t in check, and will also probably ask you some questions like, if you’ve been getting tired a lot lately or have lost/gained a lot of weight over a relatively short amount of time. After that, if your doctor thinks you might have a thyroid problem, you may have to have a sonagram, to check the shape of the thyroid and do some blood tests after that.
This is a pretty good article that will give you the basics on the thyroid and what it does:
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/basics_starthere/a/thyroid101.htm
You have to see your doctor & he’ll give you a prescription that will work. First you will need to have bloodwork done to determine what dosage of medication you will need
you probably might want to go to the doctor so they can take tests. i dont think there is a home test for a weak thyroid. a weak thyroid usually indicates a hormonal imbalance, one that your doctor may be able to find and correct…
There are tests you do at home with a pin prick from a pin they give you and a blood collector. I don’t know if they work well… my mother tried, but the blood just collected on her dry hands, actually rose up…
but they’re $40.00 on the internet if you want to give that a try.
Basically, your doctor is your best bet, but there are some who won’t run every test under creation because HMO’s s**k.
There isn’t…but you can get a blood test for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) done very easily which will help determine if there’s a problem. See your doctor. Also check out websites about thyroid conditions to see if you have other symptoms.
You can try taking your temp for a week, first thing in the morning. If it’s consististly below 97 then you may have a thyroid problem. Years ago, body temp diagnosed thyroid problems and it was a way to adjust the dosing of thyroid medication. Today they diagnose it by blood work. If you decide to have blood work, do it first thing in the morning only. Get a TSH, free t4, free t3, and an antibody test. Find ut the numbers, don’t just accept normal or abnormal. Labs are going by outdated ranges for TSH. TSH should be below 2.0
You didn’t mention which thyroid condition, so I’ll list symptoms of both.
Hypothyroid – (underactive) symptoms include, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, IBS with constipation, dry skin, dry thinning hair, sensitivity to cold, low bp, low body temp, slow pulse rate, depression, fatigue, muscle and joint ache, sensitivity to light, thinning eyebrows, and ridged fingernails with no moons.
Hyperthyroid – (overactive) symptoms include, diarrhea, weight loss, fast heart rate, anxiety, increased sweating, feeling shaky
You have to get bloodwork done, it’s the only way to know for sure