These are all normal apparantly? I feel far from normal and was sure I had a thyroid problem. Now I just don't know what to do feeling exhausted all the time, hair loss, light periods, irritability, depression, anxiety, maybe I just need the anti depressants the doctors keep throwing at me after all!😢 ferritin is currently 26
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Laralou29
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Laralou, It's low T3 which causes hypothyroid symptoms but your FT3 is very good, in the top third of range, and doesn't indicate a thyroid problem. Antibodies are negative which rules out autoimmune thyroid disease.
However, ferritin is very low and that can cause musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, low mood and hair loss similar to hypothyroid symptoms. You need to supplement iron to get ferritin half way through range. Take each iron tablet with 500mg-1,000mg vitamin C which aids absorption and mitigates constipation.
Hi thanks so much for replies. So sorry tsh should be 1.46 not 148. I thought my ferritin seemed on the low side but doctors told me normal so I haven't been taking anything. Unfortunately all I can tolerate are iron drink sachets. I will start them again
I'm trying (and failing) to understand how you can have a TSH of 148 and yet your free T4, free T3, reverse T3 and antibodies are within the reference range. I've never seen results like these. Is the TSH value a typo?
With a ferritin of 26 I'm not surprised you feel awful. How are you trying to raise it? What kind of diet do you eat? Are you eating gluten-free?
Things to consider that might also be contributing to feeling awful - low vitamin B12, vitamin D, folate levels. Have you had these tested?
Have you looked into protocols for helping to deal with methylation problems and/or chronic fatigue?
Hi so sorry should be tsh 1.46 not 148. I haven't been doing anything about my diet because doctors told me 'normal'
I eat red meat etc. Why do
You say about gluten free? Since having my son I haven't been able to tolerate some gluten mainly in bread and pasta but I haven't been avoiding it completely. When I first had my son my ferritin was about 7 Iv only been able to raise it to 26 in about 18 months which seems strange
I have read about quite a few people who gave up gluten and their vitamin and mineral levels suddenly shot up. In my own case, my ferritin crept up achingly slowly for 18 months, then I gave up gluten and it suddenly went up quite a lot. I do feel better for being gluten-free as well, even though I've never had a positive test for gluten sensitivity. But that is quite common apparently - people still benefit from giving it up. Unfortunately it has to be done 100% to have a good effect. You can't have days off or "cheat". Give it a try for 6 - 8 weeks and see whether it helps. You can always go back to eating gluten if it doesn't help.
Your problem seems to be a high reverse t3..happened to me. You are not converting well and thus have symptoms. There are so many reasons this can happen. Maybe the low iron could cause it. Get the iron up and see if there is improvement.
This is a tricky one, Lara. Your TSH looks Goodish, but could be lower. Your T3 looks Goodish, but could be higher. And your T4 looks a bit low to me. Not even mid-range. But I can see that a doctor would say these were all normal.
Your rT3 is near the top of the range, though. Have you been ill recently? I mean, apart from all your symptoms. That could account for it. Or, it could be due to your horribly low ferritin.
So, seems to me that you need to get the ferritin up and then retest, see how the levesl are and how you feel. Given that symptoms of hypo often precede the blood levels, you could be on your way to becoming hypo. But only time will tell.
Hi all, there is no history of thyroid problem In my family. My doctor actually told me that my ferritin level would not be causing these symptoms. They have been so useless and won't help me
Any longer! I'm so angry and fed up of feeling ill for so long. I am going to try and get my ferritin levels up and hope to feel better
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feeling exhausted all the time, hair loss, light periods, irritability, depression, anxiety, maybe I just need the anti depressants the doctors keep throwing at me after all!😢 ferritin is currently 26 
Feel rubbish, all blood results \"normal\"
Blood test results: “normal”
Normal blood test results
blood test results look normal but I still feel ill
Normal blood test results with symptoms
