Hi, I am a 50yr old male and for some time I have suspected that I have an issue with my thyroid as I have many of the symptoms associated with hypothyroidism (fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, muscle pain etc).
Given that my TSH is 1.4 I figured I would have no joy with my GP so on the recommendation of a friend who belongs to this forum I have a thyroid profile done at Genova.
I would be extremely grateful if any of you knowledgable folk could look at my results and give me your opinion.
TSH 1.4 (1.0 - 2.0)
T4 53 (77 - 150)
FT4 12.7 (12 -20)
FT3 3.6 (3.4 - 6.0)
FT4:FT3 ratio 3.5 (2.5 - 4.5)
TG 20
TPO 10
My T4 is below the lower end of the range and when I look at what this means it seems to perfectly describe my problems and that I would benefit from thyroxine.
Grateful for any thoughts, also is a GP likely to help or will I have to go elsewhere?
Thanks
Mark
Written by
Trademole
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More concerning that your FT3 is on the floor. That is the MOST active thyroid hormone and needed in every cell in your body. Around 13 trillion of them Don't understand your TSH range - unfamiliar to me....
Have you had the Famous Five tested - Ferritin - Folate - Iron - B12 - VitD - they all need to be high in their ranges for you to feel well and for your T4 to convert into the T3. It may give you more of an idea what is going on when we have those results with their ranges.
Stick with this forum and you will soon be sorted....
On my Genova profile the 1-2 range is the optimal range. Overall it is 0.4-4. I think your other ranges are the optimal ones too. But as Marz says, your free t3 is terrible and will be making you feel awful.
I agree with you that your FT4 and FT3 seem low. Whether your GP will help is a moot point - the bottom line is that you can only ask! Some people (like me) are lucky to have GPs who listen and,more importantly, trust them. Others hit brick walls though, and my thoughts on that are to change GP and then,if necessary, consider self-medicating. It would be very hypocritical of me to criticise the self-med route,because I was prepared to go that way myself if no-one medical would back me. It isn 't something just to leap into,but you sound like the sort of chap who researches thoroughly and will go slowly.A low dose of T4 will not do any harm (though I'm not saying just think ****s to safety!)as your body should convert what it needs and just get rid of any excess.All the best in your search for a return to feeling human!
Your FT3 is low and that's the problem. You may be one of those people who has trouble converting t3 to t4. You can forget about any NHS GP helping you - sorry to say so. Don't waste your time and energy. You are better off researching conversion issues and acting accordingly. levo (t4 only) will not help in your case, you need either t3 or ndt.
Good on you for being pro-active, i only wish i had not wasted so mych time leaving my precious health in the hands of nhs gps
The free t3 is what your cells actually use so that is the most important thing! I think your ratio of t3 to t4 is OK, so you might be OK on Levo, if you can get it. But I doubt you will from a gp. But NDT would be better as it actually replaces what your own thyroid produces.
As to why your TSH is fairly low, just that everyone is different I guess
Hi Trade, Your thyroid seems to be working but not optimally. There are cofactors that assist the thyroid, in fact, I think there are a plethora of them and that is why GP's and even Endos do not want to plow into all the evidence. Do you have any adrenal issues? Do you have low acid which seems to happen as we age and therefore do not get all the nutrients from our food. Probably taking some form of Thyroid would make you feel better at least for a while but here is another side to the story. Short 5 min. video from a functional medicine perspective.
The biggest problem you have is if you have a doctor who treats only on the basis of TSH. If they ignore free T3 and free T4 then they are unlikely to treat you - they will just say you are normal and don't need treating.
With a TSH which looks "normal" and low FT3 and FT4, there is a possibility you have pituitary damage. There are lots of reasons this could be the case - disease, tumours, head injury, whiplash, autoimmune problems, and probably others I don't know about. The only one that can definitely be ruled out in your case is excessive blood loss during childbirth.
Look up secondary or central hypothyroidism for more info.
TSH is low given the low fT3, fT4. A higher TSH would promote T4 -> T3 conversion and so you would have more fT3 which is the active form of the hormone. This suggests your pituitary is underperforming and would require an endocrinologist to investigate. I'm assuming you do not have any other concurrent illness which might disrupt your hormone system. Also, events such as whiplash can upset the pituitary functioning quite some time after the accident.
There is a chance you could have a mutation in the igsf1 gene, which means no matter how dire your production of thyroid hormones, the tsh doesn't rise accordingly. This is a problem if the doc only measures tsh. More info here....mcgill.ca/channels/news/new...
TSH 1.0 - 2.0, is that the range of your lab? My lab puts 0.45 - 4.50 as normal range. If your TSH is at 1.4 with that normal range I would conclude you're a little high, but TSH is not that reliable anyways. With my lab range and my TSH at 3.47 I felt I was dying. Totally shutting down.
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