Blood Test Results - are they ok?

[JanieJ]

Hi everyone and thank you for this great Forum where so much help is on offer. Can someone please make sense of my blood test results? I have requested the full works after reading the need for this on here and which are:

Serum Free T4 15.59 pmol/L 9.01-19.05 pmol/L - tell patient normal

TSH 0.18 mlU/L 0.35 - 4.94 mlU/L - slightly overcompensated

Anti Thyroid Peroxidase 0.5 IU/ml - tell patient normal

HbA1c levl - IFCC standardised 38 mmol/L 20.00 - 42.00 mmol/mol - tell patient normal

Plasma fasting glucose level 5.0 mmol/L 3.00 - 6.00 mmol/L - tell patient normal

HDL and Cholesterol 4.3 mmol/L

Serum Vit D 75.5 nmol/L 80.00 - 15.00 nmol/L - bit low suggest supplements

TSH (again?) 0.09 mlU/L 0.35 - 4.94 mlU/L - overcompensated

Serum Vit B12 464 pg/mL 187.00 - 883.00pg/mL

Serum Folate 11.4 ng/ml 3.10 - 20.50 ng/mL

Serum ferritin 225 ng/mL 20.00 - 204.00 ng/mL - marked !

Serum transferrin 2.85 g/L 2.00 - 3.20 g/L

Serum iron level 15.2 umol/L 4.40 - 27.90 umol/L

Transferrin saturation index 21%

Haematocrit 0.446 L/L 0.36 - 0.44L/L - marked !

Erythrocyte sediment rate 19 mm/hr 1.00 - 15.00 mm/hr - marked ! ok

I am awaiting results for ferratin, Vit D and I think Haematocrit.

I was diagnosed over 40 years ago and have been fine for all the time until I hit 50 and then they said I was over compensated and have reduced the dose and I now take 100 mcg pd. I haven't felt myself for since then and feel I am still under compensated. I am going to the GP today as I now have gallbladder symptoms and have been quite unwell over the weekend. I also keep getting fatty lumps under the skin which I am told is common. They have been scanned and confirmed as such but it worries me as I now have about 20 of them, in differing places! I might add that although I weigh more than my younger years, I would not be considered over weight.

I would appreciate it if anyone who understands these results could please offer any comments as I now realise that my knowledge is very limited and my GP is becoming less helpful. Many thanks Jane

[ivy77]

i am no doc just patient, but have learnt this

high ferritin means inflamation!(haematocrit indicates that too i think)...maybe your gallblader??

you are 50 means you probably shifting in other hormones, and estrogen can affect the balance significantly.....maybe some progesteron could help there....but def needed to be checked by doc

your vitamin d lvls slightly lower not uncommon at all.....you need more sun exposure 15 mins around noon plus supplelemnts(d3) but not too bad i suppose

inflamation, bad thyroid and water retention go hand in hand....i would buy very good b complex vitamins too, and try taking betaine hcl pepsine since they inhance methylation in kidneys and liver...and maybe taking pancreatic enzymes to help digestion of fats and carbs...but def need to treat inflamation! wherever it comes from

there is no ft3 lvls in your results! which would tell bit more about your thyroid, if thats lower part of range then you have problem

[JanieJ in reply to ivy77]

Hi Ivy77, thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate your input. I went to see the dr this morning, though not my usual one (I rang on the dot of 8am and both the dr's I see at my surgery were already booked up!) I had to go to the next village to see a dr I've never met. He looked at all the tests ive had done recently and said well you've been tested for everything. He is sending me for another scan (nothing has shown up previously) and wasn't going to do a liver function test until after the results of the scan until I requested that he did I now. I still have to wait until next week as they booked up until then! He told me my blood results were ok but after studying the printout they hadn't done ferratin which I will have to get done next week with the other and the Vit D is a little higher at 85.9 (80.00 - 150.00) and my bone profile was normal apparently.

You mention ft3 lvis - i'm sorry but I have no idea what this is - do I just go and ask for it as you've typed it?

I have been putting on weight which I am having trouble shifting, have low mood, low energy etc. but when I discussed some of the things mentioned on this forum to my gp re not just looking at the TSH results she seemed to get fed up with me and lose interest.

However, I really want to get to the bottom of this and make sure I am being properly medicated.

I think I read somewhere that if you have been on synthetic thyroxin for a long time that it can become less effective, do you know anything about this?

Ps. I am 57 so have gone through the menopause quite easily apart from as you rightly mention my hormones interfering as it is since this time that everything has gone haywire, I have previously enjoyed good health for which reading of others problems I consider I have been very lucky.

Anyway, thank you again and would appreciate your answers to the above.

J

[ivy77 in reply to JanieJ]

yes as reallyfedup just mentioned , i think you entered real menopause just now, becasue you are becoming estrogen dominant, and it creates inflamations....so its absolutely not unusual that in this stage you need your thyroid hormons adjusted again to the new conditions in the body!

FT3 is free T3 hormone, its thyroid hormon that is ACTIVE, t4 is the one from which it is created since your is already lower on t4 you would benefit from increased therapy,probably....or combination therapy. so the solution is to increase ft4 to 17-18, as well as fT3 to above the half of its range.....and one has to see which kind of therapy will do that.....i read in your ages progesteron can be really helpful since its also antiinflamatory , and inhances effects of thyroid therapy.....this is what i will ask when i will be your age :).....

yes this amazes me too about docs they all feel so offended when you actively participate in your own well beeing, so you can tell her, look doc arent you glad i am actively participating in my treatment? ....i would just insist on fT3...and if she says no, then ask her to explain why it is not relevant to check on the ACTIVE thyroid hormon? ....and then ask her about what supplements you could take to increase conversion from ft4 to ft3

the bottom line of ALL thyroid treatments is to increase fT3 intake into the cells! and some treatments like T4 only dont do that task, and thats repeatedly in many patients,,,,that i still wonder where they loose 9 years of their studying? what books they read?....i learnt that after just 3 months of reading!

you can increase your t4 but maybe it wont do the trick, yes you were very lucky that it worked all so nicely until now :))

[JanieJ in reply to ivy77]

Thanks again for the info. I have been feeling unwell again with the stomach/gallbladder whatever is going on! I have been reading up and the symptoms seem like gallbladder related but when they examine me I have no obvious pain. I did read one article that said underactive thyroid can be responsible for gallbladder problems. I am not a person who eats lots of fats, I try to eat healthily most of the time but have not had time to exercise for some time as I like to do. I have noticed a growing number of fatty lumps under the skin (approx 10), no just in the obvious areas around the waistline etc! which I am told are common but no one can tell me what causes them. Again this concerns me and I don't want any more! I am having a scan on Thursday and bloods on Wednesday and will ask for two missed last time and for FT3 to be done as well and report results back.

Unfortunately, I am not the most assertive person around and the GP does not directly say she wont do anything she just says the usual well we've done all the tests and i'm at a loss what to do now. Would it be worth asking for a referral to an Endo?

[ivy77 in reply to JanieJ]

i know for sure a combined t4/t3 therapy would help you.....and you have to find a way to get it.....find a doc who prescribes it...and

yes i think you have right to ask for ft3 lvl becasue it is ACTIVE thyroid hormone, and you need it .anyone who tells you differently is extremely stupid doctor...i wont hesitate to say this anymore, am fed up with their ignorance....and they could have learnt this by now..

[JanieJ in reply to ivy77]

Hi again, just looked up ferratin and haematocrit and both indicate inflammation so will definitely ask for these to be rechecked next week. Why am I having to do this? If I hadn't asked for a print out I wouldn't know. There should be a system in place that your gp follows up on you, is this not what they get paid for?

[JanieJ]

Thank you for your message. This is what I feel but unfortunately I think the doctors think either I am a hypochondriac or because I suffer form anxiety and stress due to a very hectic and complicated life that this is another manifestation of this but in part it is this that is causing anxiety. My anxiety and stress has only got this bad since they decreased the dose.

As I mentioned above the gp and the lab seem to use the TSH readings as the definitive guide when deciding on treatment.

[ivy77 in reply to JanieJ]

anxiety and feel of beeing overwhelmed by life tasks ARE THE SYMPTOMS! of badly treated thyroid and maybe some other hormonal imbalances......btw i reject in disgust any attempt to make diagnose on my psychiatric state becasue someone who can not see the value in ft3 is really not the one who will evaluate your mental state :)----

docs only goal is to spend less on your treatment :)and that you dont come so often.....most of them are in practical knowledge below the level where docs were in 1900, they are also not well balanced in homrones so ......when you ask for good quality of life they think you ask too much :)) and in the end if you dont ask, insist etc you will rarely get it just so :)...this is what i learnt, i pay for my treatments! and i dont get the level i think would be normal for that money! its all ahuge huge shame if you ask me....we live in 21st century , but i have a feeling i am beeing treated with the same knowledge docs had in 1900s....or even worse, where are those times when docs gave you some helpful tips? instead of tucking in some medicine.....