I have been told that they came back 'within normal range' but wasn't given full details at first, however, on pushing for my TSH levels, I was told that my TSH levels were 2.6, which, on my last 3 checks have been the same, though before that were 4.3, and before that, were 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, and 1.1 ~ Can someone have symptoms of an underactive thyroid yet not have the results show in blood tests?
Anthea13, I think you are a little undermedicated. TSH is a little high, FT4 is low in range, and FT3 is also low in range. The goal of Levothyroxine is to restore the patient to euthyroid status and for most this means TSH just above or below 1.0, FT4 in the upper range, and FT3 in the top third of range.
Antibodies are borderline. They are currently negative for autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's). It may be worth asking for antibodies to be retested in a year's time.
Read Treatment Options in thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_... Email louise.warvill@thyroiduk.org.uk if you would like a copy of the Pulse article to show your GP.
I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical guidance from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions.
Athena13, my apologies, I made the error of assuming you were prescribed Levothyroxine. Unfortunately symptoms can precede abnormal bloods by months/years. Your results are currently normal although TSH >2.0 indicates your thyroid is struggling to produce hormone. NHS is unlikely to diagnose hypothyroidism until TSH is over range or FT4 is below range.
Arrange future thyroid tests early in the morning when TSH is highest, and fast (water only) as TSH drops post-prandially.
I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical guidance from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions.
I've been ill for 13 years now. My weight has been going up, doubling since a collapse, (banging my head in the process).
My face and neck are constantly swollen these days, (though they vary in swelling size), and recently my legs, ankles and feet have been badly swollen too~Thanks to a post on here I did stop taking Omeprazole as my doctor had put me onto that from Lansoprazole, (I'd been taking that for 12 years thanks to post nasal drip, but initially I kept being sick and so the hospital believed I suffered badly with acid reflux from the collapse). All last year I spent asleep thanks to the Omeprazole and suffered badly with swollen feet, ankles and legs amongst other side effects-The doctor put me forward for an overnight oximetry test to see if I had sleep apnoea as I had been, (and still do), falling asleep whilst doing things. It came back negative.
I've other symptoms that correspond with those on the check list with the Thyroid UK site and yet my doctor won't listen. Perhaps that's the wrong thing to say, he will listen to a point-It's my old doctor who won't. I saw her before Christmas with the pain in my legs and feet, and found my weight had gone up again and she said 'it's a good job you have come in before you put more on'....I'd been seeing her for most of the 13 years!
I've seen 2 dieticians in this time. The first told me I was fine with what I was doing and the second a few years later, well, I believed she was listening to me~She decided I was lying;That my weight was down to me overeating one week and then another week she thought I was starving myself and thought I should see a psychologist. My doctor bribed me into seeing them by saying she would let me see an endocrinologist so I did-Of course, I passed with flying colours and my doctor didn't send me to the endocrinologist after all!
Anyway, thanks to my visit to her with no help, I ended up at A & E on Boxing Day in so much pain because my feet and ankles were so swollen despite taking water tablets they hadn't gone down. I was seen by a lovely doctor who said I needed more investigations doing-He said the swellings shouldn't be happening but because of all this, I'm walking with a limp.
Thanks to seeing the hospital doctor, another doctor at the surgery decided to do the thyroid test. I just wish this would be solved.
Make an appointment but send the last two to your GP before your appointment saying you have taken advice from Thyroiduk.org who are NHS Choices for advice and support in the hope that she will prescribe. If not you might be forced to self-medicate like many on this forum. Probably do better than many doctors/endos.
You will see that your FT4 is so low it cannot produce the life-giving T3 which is the active hormone required in all of our billions of receptor cells - your FT3 should be towards the upper part of the range.
No wonder people want to take action against incompetent doctors when lives have been ruined by those we expect to diagnose and treat. Instead the look at one number the TSH and pronounce a wrong diagnosis with the resulting ill-health.
Thank you. I have an appointment with an endocrinologist, early March, as long as they do not cancel it-I've had one cancel in the past thanks to ignorance. :/
I hope he/she is sympathetic and knowledgeable. Before your appointment ask your GP to do a Full Thyroid blood test TSH, T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3, B12, Vit D, iron, ferrtin and folate (he may refuse) and follow advice above i.e. early morning, fasting etc. and say you want it for the Endo.
Because the Endo might want to do a blood test at the hospital you can produce your early morning copy. I don't think Endos are aware TSH is highest early a.m. and lowers throughout the day.
Your FT4 is suspiciously low for a TSH of only 2.6.
My results looked like this for years before I was finally diagnosed with central hypothyroidism.
Demand to see a good endocrinologist.
A healthy FT4 should be mid range or slightly higher. Your pituitary seems to struggling to send the message to make more T4.
Central is notoriously undiagnosed but a red flag should always be inappropriately LOW FT's with a LOW TSH.
it is a common misconception that the TSH always remains low with central it can be within the normal range or even just slightly above but the FT's will be suspiciously too low.
As it progresses the FT's will fall below range ( making one profoundly hypothyroid) but the TSH may only increase to about 6 . A number which most GP's wouldn't bat an eyelid at and declare you fit and well!!! Urghhh!!!
Central is treated with Levo Too. With Central all other pituitary hormones should be investigated. I am of the belief that Central is much more common than it is documented.
I'm not medically qualified but i do suggest that you ask your GP for a referral as GP's are just not knowledgable enough to diagnose or control this specific condition.
Please don't be alarmed. It's just another form of hypo. X
Thanks for this info. I would have replied when I liked your post at gone 3am but I'd woken up sitting up yet again and had severe pins and needles in both hands and fingers. Grrrr....Sick of the pins and needles every day.
Just glad they weren't in my feet and legs at the same time else I'd not have been able to have gone back to sleep!
At my appointment with my own doctor last week, (I had to go a week early as I had yet another skin infection that had cropped up), he decided to send me to an endocrinologist. This one is in Halifax, as the ones in my town had cancelled the appointment no sooner as it had been made, (I think that may have been in 2014-my memory is ridiculously poor these days), stating they believed my problem was down to calories. This was thanks to seeing someone somewhere at the hospital who had suggested a gastric band to me. I was horrified at the time and even since then one of the doctors I've seen has suggested the same!
I'm glad you're seeing an ENDO. Good news. You have every symptom of hypothyroidism going!
When you see him/her you must be tenacious! Be firm! Don't cry, don't shout, just be be persuasive!
If you mention Central Hypothyroidism....say you are not prepared to wait till your FT's drop below range and that they are well on the way to doing that.
the very least you want is a trial of levothyroxine tell them! X
Athena13 and others too, my heart goes out to you, it really does. These situations are a disgrace beyod belief, but, and thank God for them, with all the wonderful admin and people on here you are sure to get there, they are angels ... pease hang on in there and take care x
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
just need to understand what these results mean in simple terms. thanks no results on t4
What do these results mean?
Help me to understand what my results mean...please
