Doctor says normal but test results are hypothyroid

[Dramlouie]

My friend has been really tired recently and I told her it could be low thyroid. So she took my advice and asked the doctor for a thyroid test and has just got the results. Free T4 12.8 (12-22) and TSH 4.3 (0.3-4.2). I said it wasn't normal and that I would ask the wonderful members on healthunlocked for your opinions. She is 44 and in good health generally just very tired.

[Hidden]

The issue in the uk is that GPS don't treat until a tsh goes over 10. In my experience anyway. Has her gp marked them as normal? He shouldn't but it does fit in with what most gps say that it's normal until hits 10 which is wrong. My tsh was 5.35 and I was told I was fine.

[Dramlouie in reply to Hidden]

It has an exclamation mark by it but also normal. Were you tired with a TSH at 5.35?

[humanbean in reply to Dramlouie]

The exclamation mark is a standard code used on test results to indicate to a doctor that the result is out of range.

When I had a TSH between 5 and 6 I was absolutely exhausted and felt really, really ill.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

My tsh has been 5.35 and now 6.54. T4 was 10.2 and now 14. How was your t4? My gp won't treat me.

[Hidden in reply to Dramlouie]

Yes very and still am.

[shaws Administrator]

If your friend is in the UK, the updated BTA guidelines state (apparently they're copied from the American Thyroid Association):

An abnormally high TSH means hypothyroidism (but don't now give a figure).

Previously the BTA said that the patient had to have a TSH of 10 before being treated whereas the USA was much lower so it might have a better effect on UK patients. Have they left the decision to the physician? So does that now mean UK GPs have flexibility thus benefiting patients enormously?

This is the new guidelines on Armour ot T3/T4:

british-thyroid-association...

The best guide, I think, is from Thyroiduk.org.uk

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Read about Free T3 in particular. T3 is the active hormone required by every single receptor cell in our bodies. Without efficient conversion from levothyroxine we wont have sufficient and will suffer many clinical symptoms: a few - insomnia, pain, fast heart rate, low pulse, cold, etc. etc. There are about 300 clinical symptoms in all but doctors rarely know the most common and only treat according to the TSH and adjust up/down to try and keep TSH within range when the majority require a TSH of around 1 or lower or suppressed to feel normal health. Hormones which aren't at an optimal level for the individual will result in being unwell and prescribed 'extras', i.e pain relief, antidepressants, sleeping tablets etc etc etc.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/diagno...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

.

[shaws Administrator]

Dr Toft of the BTA made a statement:-

If there are no thyroid peroxidase antibodies, levothyroxine should not be started unless serum TSH is consistently greater than 10mU/l. A serum TSH of less than 10mU/l in the absence of antithyroid peroxidase antibodies may simply be that patient’s normal TSH concentration.

(Thyroiduk wrote a letter condemning this as so many people remained (remain) undiagnosed due to this statement).

Hopefully this is now outdatded.

[Dramlouie in reply to shaws]

I have so many friends on levo and having problems. I am finding one by one they are listening to me and taking action. One can hardly walk, she is only 62 and says that each step is painful and she can't walk far. I was like this for over a decade and now I am walking with no pain whatsoever, I was told it was arthritis, poppycock, it stopped me playing with the kids or even on the beach I just sat there all day watching everyone enjoying themselves. Sadly my children are in their late teens and don't want to go with me to the beach anymore, so now I can walk I walk on my own! How sad is that. We need a famous advocate who can take this to a higher level because it is affecting our lives and our old age, its so simple and yet no-one is listening to us. It enrages me to think I missed out on playing with my children. We only had one good holiday to Florida because I was in so much pain I had to go from seat to seat in Disney. I am so angry about it. Here is what the doctor today said about the advice from Dr P when I took my Mum to see him on Wednesday - 'Really surprising to me that an endocrinologist will recommend this to a patient when we have had very clear guidance locally in Brighton and Hove that we should not be using these alternatives and we should not be prescribing them for patients. The advice we are getting from Dr Peatfield is so much at odds from the national advice from the ....…and local advice so we have to question it as a …...... We need to be guided from the local endocrinologist.' Notice the gaps and he didn't complete the sentences!

[shaws Administrator in reply to Dramlouie]

Even if we don't have our thyroid gland removed some of us do need T3. If rats can improve (following link) surely we can be allowed at least a trial.

This is an excerpt from research (on rats):

Their animal research involved removing rat thyroid glands. When the scientists tried to normalize hormone levels with just levothyroxine (L-T4) they were unsuccessful. The animals demonstrated signs of hypothyroidism, especially within the brain, which might account for why some humans complain of cognitive dysfunction on T4 alone. The investigators were able to normalize circulating T3 levels and improve symptoms by supplementing T4 with extra T3

hypothyroidmom.com/new-stud...

[Treepie in reply to Dramlouie]

Bear in mind that Dr Peatfield ,as i understand the situation,resigned before he was faced with being struck off for his unorthodox treatment of patients .Orthodoxy takes years to change. Hundreds of years before it was accepted that earth went around the sun.

[Dramlouie in reply to Treepie]

Dr P was brave enough to risk his career to carry on helping those with hormonal problems. I now realise that I started being hypo when my children were born 18 years ago and went undiagnosed by doctors despite all the symptoms of hypothyroid. I couldn't even walk and was told it was arthritis. I lost years of their childhood. I was only diagnosed in 2014 just before I had a heart attack. I felt awful and got worse on levothyroxine until I went to see Dr Peatfield. He sorted me out, diagnosed adrenal fatigue and I am now on NDT and flying, I can walk again with no pain whatsoever, I don't fall asleep at my desk anymore, I have energy, no more panic attacks, anxiety, my hair has stopped falling out, no more palpitations and I am so much happier. So if he has unorthodox treatment then it works, no other doctor listened to my heart after my heart attack, no-one gave me encouragement and gave me a reason. He gave me confidence and I will back Dr Peatfield up with all my now well heart. He works tirelessly to help us and without him I would still be a tired quivering wreck. He is now helping my friends who have seen me go from nearly 15 stone barely eating anything as the doctors told me to cut down my eating to lose weight, to eating much more and I am now at 11.5 stone, I have gone from a size 20 to a 12/14. Shame no-one listens to his lone voice and the doctors act like sheep following protocols that keep us from getting well. My 91 year old Mum has suddenly gone from sleeping all day to reading the newspaper, getting herself up and cooking just after an hour of seeing Dr Peatfield and he suggested adding NDT to her levothyroxine, she was toxic and not converting to T3. I have my Mum back.

[Hidden in reply to Dramlouie]

dram, so are u now on just ndt, no levo? And what did u do for the adrenal fat.??

Well done...

[Dramlouie in reply to Hidden]

I am on NDT now only and multi dose every 4 hours or as to how I feel.

[Hidden in reply to shaws]

Toft oft daft.

[PeaPod3]

If your friend lived in the USA, she would be diagnosed as Hypo as their cut off /upper limit of TSH at which they treat is 3 I believe. The T4 is very low too.