I went for my 6 month endo appt week before last. I finally got my bloodwork back in the mail. That's one thing I really dislike about my doctor. I think it would be so much more effective to have the test results in front of us for the discussion.

By the way, where I write "doctor", feel free to substitute "physcian's assistant". As with most doctors who are in demand, he has 4 PAs that also see patients. The office tells you that you can make appointments with anyone, but if you want to see the actual MD, it takes a couple more months of waiting or accepting the oddball times, like 7:45 am on a Monday or 11:55 on a Friday - they close at noon on Fridays.

My HbA1c went up from 5.5 to 5.7. I realize that is still an awesome result and nothing to complain about, but I'm sure it's directly related to the 12 lbs I have gained in the past 6 months. That dreaded holiday weight that I was so afraid of? Yes, that would be about 8 of those pounds.

My liver and kidney results were all in range, no problems there. My Thyroid results were quite a change. My TSH has doubled in 6 months. My ob/gyn had requested we keep my TSH below 1.0 during my pregnancy. 6 months ago, at 4 months post-partum my TSH was still 0.528. Now I'm 1.136. Supposedly the acceptable range is 0.35 to 5.5.

I've previously researched this and while 5.5 is considered normal by the AMA and lots of other groups, the endocrinologists society wants anything above 3.0 to be considered suspect. Obviously I'm well below that, but I'm already being treated with synthetic thyroid. A result that doubled in 6 months seems worth a mention, but my PA just wrote "labs look great!".

I'd like to hang my hat of fatigue and lack of energy on this TSH result. Probably it's more a result of A) the weight gain on top of the extra weight I'm already carrying, B) not exercising (the ultimate paradox is you have to exercise when you don't have any energy in order to have more energy) and C) being a working mom of a pre-schooler and toddler.

I bet my doctor is just THRILLED that I get copied on all my lab results. :-)