Test results - help needed, please.

[Hiphypo]

These are the first test results since I started on T3 only on 12 April. The dose now stands at 100mcg a day. I really do not feel confident in reading these, and would be so grateful for any input.

Albumin 36 (30 – 45)

Calcium 2.5 (2.1 – 2.6)

Adjusted Calcium 2.60 (2.1 – 2.6)

Cholesterol 4.93

Hbalc 40 (20 – 42)

Vit B12 480 (180 – 2000)

Folate 5.2 (no range given)

TSH 0.01

FT4 -5

FT3 6.2 (0.9 – 2.62)

I have no idea what Hbalc is – please could someone enlighten me?

GP has not called me in, so she must have been happy with these results.

I have tried to write these in an easy format but the post keeps on pushing them up together.

[puncturedbicycle]

HbA1c = glycosylated haemoglobin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyca...

I'm afraid I'm not much of an expert but your FT3 seems very high - ? And the FT4 looks like some information is missing (maybe when you were having problems formatting the results?). Hopefully someone who knows more than me (there are many here!) will be along soon to be more helpful.

My doctor would say that your b should be higher (mine was high as I take supplements but I was told that was a good thing).

How do you feel?

[Hiphypo]

Thank you for replying - I thought I had been consigned to the great blog graveyard in the ether!

So - blood sugar? The receptionist's first words were, 'Well, you are not Diabetic" and I was taken aback because I was not told that was why I was being tested. It was supposed to be for a) Thyroid levels because of being on an increasing dose and b) for a raised marker - 'high ro' (?), because of suspected Sjogren's Syndrome, but that was nowhere in the results.

I queried the FT4, and it was repeated that it was 'minus 5', and told there was no range. Odd. FT3 is high but without knowing what 'high' is, I have no idea what it might mean other than it might be because I'm on T3 only. I did not take any for 30 hrs prior to the test.

I will start taking B12 now I've had the test, but didn't want to mess about with ad hoc vits until after the test had been drawn, so there would be a clearer picture.

I am on an increasing dose, and am feeling steadily a bit better with each rise. No bad symptoms - racing heart, etc - and I take it in one go at 6 am (hence the 30 hr gap, test at 12). My legs are getting stronger, and can get up and down stairs without hauling on the rail now - great.

When my memory improves, then I'll know I've made it!

Jenni x

[puncturedbicycle in reply to Hiphypo]

Good luck! And enquire again about the SS markers. It seems odd that they were meant to take tests that didn't show up on the results.

[shaws]

This is what Dr Lowe says about tests when on T3 alone:-

For someone taking 100 mcg of T3, we expect your pattern of lab results—a low TSH and high T3. However, your TSH and T3 levels are irrelevant to whether you're overstimulated or not. Two studies we just completed confirm other researchers findings: these tests are not reliable gauges of a patient's metabolic status. Many patients taking T3 have TSH and T3 levels like yours but still have severely low metabolic rates. Their metabolic rates become normal only when they increase their dosages further. Their metabolic rates become normal and they have no detectable overstimulation.

web.archive.org/web/2010122...

[Hiphypo in reply to shaws]

Great - thank you so much. I will print off for when I next see the GP - who is, I must say, very ok with me doing T3 alone.