Yet another blood test.

[dianef2303]

I visited my doctor on Friday after having a blood test that showed high cholesterol 7.4, I had to wait 3 weeks for appointment. When I got in the surgery he said I needed to take statins, I asked him about the side effects and that I was not happy with taking them yet. I also have psoriais and psoratic arthritis. I asked him what the T3 and T4 results were and he said that for the 2nd time they had not been done at the hospital as my TSH was 1.4 and that was normal.  I then asked him about the goitre which had been investigated and dismissed as one of those things, other symptoms, fatigue, brain fog, constipation, extremely cold, weight gain and he said it could be menopause.  I then challenged him with isnt high cholesterol also a symptom of hypothyroid or Hashimoto's? UPshot of it is that I have to have yet another blood test this week and he is once again asking for T3 and T4 to be done. Has anyone else experienced the blood testing lab not carrying out the test that the doctor has asked for?

[shaws Administrator]

Yes, seems to be the answer to your question. I believe the instruction to many labs (money saving maybe?) if TSH is in range there's no need for other hormones to be checked. It is the Free T4 and Free T3 which is best rather than T4 and T3 but any of them is better than none.

You've done well to fight your corner.

A higher cholesterol level is a classic symptom of hypothyroidism which reduces when optimally medicated.

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

Tick off list for GP if you've not already done so:

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

Give a copy of each to GP and say that Thyroiduk.org.uk is an NHS Choices for information.

You do know to get the blood test at the very earliest and don't eat before it. You can drink water. If you were on hormones you'd allow about 24 hours approx between the last dose and the test. I assume GP has tested B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

[dianef2303 in reply to shaws]

Thank you for the two links, very interesting reading I will definately be printing them off and taking them along when I have my next appointment for blood tests on Wednesday.

[ITYFIALMCTT in reply to shaws]

As in my reply below, just to say that the GP's blood draw request included B12, vitamin D, iron, ferritin, folate, transferrin etc. but the lab only reported the serum folate, B12, and vitamin D (I'm increasingly surprised that I obtained results for the latter 2).

[shaws Administrator in reply to ITYFIALMCTT]

That's unusual and I don't know why. The B12 and Vit D are actually pro-hormones and there's been a lot of publicity recently about the effects of deficiencies in both of these, i.e. Alzeimers or dementia etc. or osteoporosis/multiple sclerosis etc.

[ITYFIALMCTT]

Yes! Back in March I made a rare visit to my GP who made such a thing of it that he ordered a very comprehensive number of labs (all the ones typically recommended here for thyroid) plus some other ones to assess me for Rheumatoid Arthritis/one of the inflammatory arthritis disorders (symptoms of this were the reason for my visit), ANA for autoimmune disorders, as well as HbA1c, fasting blood glucose, fasting cholesterol etc.

Long story short: the lab didn't run a fair number of the tests and haven't provided an explanation so it's pretty much educated guessing as to why they weren't done.

The lab didn't run the FT3 or FT4 nor the antibodies, just the TSH and not even the TF4 and TF3.

It seems that I was lucky that the lab ran the vitamin D test but, bizarrely, they didn't run the bone profile tests so altho' it's clear that the result shows deficiency it's difficult to assess it without information about the serum calcium level etc.

The restrictions and limitations in my area are notorious (e.g., each practice is allowed to fund 1 vasectomy every 3 months) but deciding not to run labs that GPs specify and not even providing an explanation is beyond unhelpful.

[Marz]

In days of old - pre 70's - if a patient presented with raised cholesterol then they treated the thyroid with NDT.  Sadly most of those Docs that trained at that time have retired - been banned or passed away ....

Blood testing is a comparatively modern science and has taken over medicine along with the computer screen !!   So we too must learn from the screen !!

[dianef2303 in reply to Marz]

The doctor was not impressed when I challenged him on taking statins and also about the symptoms I was suffering pointing to hypothyroidism. He just wanted me to nod my head to statins and walk out with no treatment or explanation for my other symptoms

[Marz in reply to dianef2303]

Oh dear that's a shame !  Maybe they are better rewarded for prescribing statins than thyroid meds !  Hopefully you have read all this forum has to offer on Statins - if not then I am happy to point you in the direction of Dr Malcolm Kendrick.  He has a website by the same name ....

[Glynisrose]

Doctors are rewarded for prescribing statins.  Recently I was in hospital after what they tell me was a heart attack ( no pain nothing ) I was offered statins and I refused.  I had a bad experience with statins and would NEVER take them again.  I was informed that neither hospital nor GP can do anything against your will.

[SmallBlueThing in reply to Glynisrose]

I was woken in hospital at 4 a.m.  and ordered to take a statin for the rest of my life.  Informed consent?

Six months after a change to Atorvastatin, I gave them up.

[Glynisrose in reply to SmallBlueThing]

You should have refused them.