Thyroid test

[sameerpatel]

My wife is pregnant and Dr asked for thyroid tests and her report shows results as

Test results Normal range

TT3 145. 80-200 ng/dl

TT4 14.4 4.5-12.5 ug/dl

TSH. 0.911. 0.3- 5 u/ml

Is this normal ?

[jimh111]

The TSH 0.911 is normal. The TT3 (total T3) and TT4 (total T4) figures are of no use. It is the free T3 (fT3) and free T4 (fT4) that are useful measures. The total figures includes all the hormone that is bound to proteins, hormone that is not available for use. It is the free hormones that matter, not the total.

If you wife does not have any symptoms of a thyroid disorder and this was just part of normal pregnancy screening then there is no problem, just measuring the TSH is OK for screening purposes. However, the doctor needs to brush up on their understanding of thyroid blood tests.

[Hidden]

Thyroid levels in pregnancy seem to be a very tricky subject. They vary from normal thyorid levels, and even vary from trimester to trimester. It is a very specialist subject, but if you hunt on Google you will find some background to it. It is clearly important to have good thyroid function during pregnancy, and it is also crucially important to have good iron and vitamin D levels - in pregnancy and afterwards, if breast feeding.

It is good that the doctor is keeping an eye on the thyroid. I think I would want to ask whether the test ranges take into account the pregnancy and the trimester she is in. I would assume they do, but I would just check.

If you go into Pubmed and search thyroid function pregnancy you should find something to help - but please don't scare yourself or your wife while doing so! Pregnancy can seem like a period when the whole world sets out to terrify you.

Best wishes