Blood tests results

[saloplass64]

Well I now have my blood test results. My gp says I have borderline under active thyroid.   Results are T4 8.0 pmol/L (8.0-16.0)

Serum TSH level 6.66 mU/L (0.54 -4.25)

What does it mean????? 

[Ruthi]

Not what I would call borderline! Your T4 is right at the bottom of the range, whereas optimal is near the top, and your TSH is way over range - meaning your body is crying out for thyroid hormone that you aren't able to produce.

Is there another GP in the surgery? I'd go back, exaggerate the symptoms a bit - I doubt if you are feeling too great with those readings, and ask how, when your TSH is so far over range you aren't being treated?

So no free T3 or antibodies? Your antibodies really should be tested, because if they are high that would be another reason to treat.

Just as a comparison, by the time my TSH reached 3.5 I was sleeping 13 hours a day, gaining weight despite starving, constipated, dry skin etc. If it had topped six I would probably have topped myself! It is true there are a few men who end up very hypo with few symptoms, but few women an stand it.

[saloplass64 in reply to Ruthi]

Thanks very much. I am always tired and depressed.  Same gp put me on anti depression tablets a couple of months ago and have been referred for CBT. I don't feel well at all.

[Ruthi in reply to saloplass64]

You are unlikely to be depressed, other than from feeling rubbish. 

Definitely find a different GP!

[Pixielula in reply to saloplass64]

It might help you to know that an under active thyroid will cause depression or low mood that's normally one of the earliest symptoms. My daughter was borderline for a year during which time her symptoms slowly got worse, I took her into the Drs and insisted they do the antibody test, her GP tried to tell me her thyroid might "fix" itself ( that seems to be a favourite of GP's) anyway she tested positive so we knew her thyroid was distroying itself and I got her on medication, why Drs leave people to struggle on feeling progressively worse before they start treatment is nothing short of criminal. It is very difficult when you are feeling so low but you must insist that they start treatment. My own story in short by the time I was finally tested by not my dr but a locum, my GP wouldn't even do a blood test. I had put on 8 stone in weight my skin was so dry it would crack and bleed I had developed t2 diabetes was clinically depressed and barely able to function. I was so ill I thought I was dying. So you need to get it sorted, maybe take a friend or you partner or mum someone that will support you if you get upset. Someone that can point out the changes in you..... Good luck 

[Marz in reply to Pixielula]

thediabetessummit.com/

The above summit starts tomorrow - you may find the topics to be discussed interesting !

[shaws Administrator in reply to saloplass64]

You are definitely hypothyroid. First of all your TSH result is 'over range'. Your doctor is following the stupid rules of the BTA not to prescribe until the TSH is 10. There are some sympathetic doctors who do take notice of symptoms first and foremost (rare).

They will prescribe anything to patients hoping it will pacify the patient, instead they ignore the true reason.

'Depression' is a clinical symptom of hypothyroidism and with a T4 at the bottom or the range you do not have sufficient to convert to T3 which is the Active hormone. We can do without T4 but not T3 it drives everything in our body.

You now have to read and learn like most of the thousands of members on this forum. Many know much more than those who are supposed to be 'knowledgeable'.

Take copies of the following to your GP and ask for levothyroxine.

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

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

Tell him your T3 which is the Active Hormone (may be unaware of this fact) is probably so low that's what's making you feel so bad. Also, if it was true depression, psychiatrists would prescribe liothyronin (T3).T3

evolutionarypsychiatry.blog...

Extract from above link:

Why would T3 help? What does T3 do in the central nervous system? Well, a lot. The thyroid has fingers in almost every physiological pie, after all. And T3 not only may act as a direct neurotransmitter, but it also seems to increase the efficiency of serotonin signaling, much like a modern SSRI. T3 also enhances neurogenesis in the central nervous system and could also enhance noradrenergic signaling. The conversion from T4 to T3 occurs all over the body, but in the central nervous system it uses different active genes than in the periphery and occurs within the cells. These differences could explain my own clinical observations--that T3 augmentation seems to work best in folks already diagnosed hypothyroid that are on T4 monotherapy. And the literature (such as it is) seems to support my observation (1). 

When you're next due a blood test for thyroid hormones it should be the very earliest appointment and don't eat before it.

[shaws Administrator in reply to shaws]

I forgot to say tell your GP you have got information from the NHS Choices Thyroiduk.org.uk.

[spongecat]

You probably don't need anti-depressents but you need your hypothyroidism treated.

Been there got the t-shirt! Once I was off the AD's and my hypo-t addressed I was a different person. I was also offered "online CBT" and found one session so patronising I told them it was about as much use as a chocolate ashtray (well for me anyway).

Try and see a different GP. You might also need your B12, folate, ferritin and calcium levels checked as these levels can plummet like a stone due to hypothyroidism and can give you a whole raft of symptoms too.

You are not borderline in any shape or form as far as I can a see.