Test results from lab:

[sweetsusie]

Hi, all..hope you are doing good today! It's a nice, sunny day in the good ol' USA.

Just had some blood tests done and would like some feedback on the results if you don't mind (ranges are in parenthesis:

Magnesium: 2.0 mg/dl (1.5 - 2.4 mg/dl)

Free T4: 40 ng/dL (0.70 - 180 ng/dL)

Ferritin: 185 ng/dL (13 -150 ng/dL)

Iron: 92 ug/dL (30 - 150 ug/dL)

Folate: 7.4 ng/mL (> 2.2 ng/mL)

TSH: 3.730 uIU/mL (0.320 - 5.500 uIU/mL

) (listed this one yesterday saying that doctor says I'm with in "normal" range now & just continue on 25mcg for a year, then get tested again. CRAP! Oh..excuse me!

[greygoose]

Your doctor is a moron. Knows nothing about thyroid! Sack him and find one that does.

25 mcg levo is not even a starter dose. It's bound to make you feel worse, rather than better.

3.730 is hypo. It's hypo as soon as it hits 3. And when you are on thyroid hormone replacement, it should be one or under.

Something not quite right about that T4, though. Are you sure it's Free? Looks more like TT4, with that high top end. Even so, that's the widest range I've ever seen! No FT3?

Your ferritin is high. Are you supplementing? If so, time to stop. If not, you probably have inflammation somewhere - possibly due to that high TSH.

Your folate is too low. Did you not have the B12 tested, too? That is probably low, too. It's really, really important to optimise B12.

No point in testing magnesium, because it's always in range, due to the way the body handles magnesium. It doesn't mean you aren't deficient. If I were you, I would just take some. Most people are deficient, anyway.

[sweetsusie in reply to greygoose]

HA! I love you, Greygoose! According to the lab "labeling" it is indeed Free T4. Ferritin is high, huh? GADS!!! That's what I thought, but didn't know why? I am not supplementing, so it probably is the hypo. (Why is this so hard??) Yes..my B12 when tested was 323 pg/mL; range: >=350 pg/mL

, so this doctor that I just switched from ordered Vit. B12 shots for a year...do them once a month...just had my 2nd one on June 13th...feeling no different. The only reason they did the magnesium test was because the new doctor wants me to get Reclast infusion for my osteoporosis, which was probably caused by my low thyroid all these years! Anyway, i've decided I am NOT going to do the Reclast...way too much scary info. out there. I'll email my new doctor today, again, & see if I can get him to up my levo to 50mcg. I do not understand why thee doctors are so ill-informed! Drives me insane! Thank you so much for your help!

[greygoose in reply to sweetsusie]

They are so ill-informed because that's the way Big Pharma wants them to be. Big Pharma calls the shots, and subsidises medical training. So, the doctors learn what they want them to learn - i.e. how to keep the hypo patient sick! They are making a fortune out of treating our symptoms - with statins, for example! - and they don't want to lose all that money but making us well!

It's very good of your doctor to prescribe B12 shots for you, but they might not be enough. It might be better if you took some sublingual B12 between shots to keep the levels up. You should also be taking a good B complex - and by good, I mean one with methylfolate in it, not folic acid.

I have no idea what Reclast is! lol Never heard of it! But, to have good bones, you need good levels of vit d3, and vit K2, along with magnesium and zinc. Have they tested your D3? Hmmm... just googled Reclast, and I don't think I'd fancy it, either!

You're probably right that your osteoporosis is due to continued low thyroid. So why are they continuing to under-treat it? You ought to be on a much higher dose. Keeping it low like that, will just make things worse.

[sweetsusie in reply to greygoose]

Good advice and I will look into getting a good B12 supplement with all you mentioned. I had low vit d, but am now told by my doctor to take 2,000 ui a day, which I do..might up that, too, though. I just got a message from my new good doctor. He's more than happy to up me to 50mcg..no problem! That other doctor was indeed a moron. I have to go have the TSH level checked again in 6 weeks, but I'll stop the levo two days before..I think that's what I've read on here. I have semi-high cholesterol, too, so hoping that the levo will bring down that a bit. Thank you so much for your advice!

[greygoose in reply to sweetsusie]

Your new doctor does seem good! But, only stop the levo for 24 hours. No more, or you'll get a false reading.

Don't worry about the cholesterol. It should come down, and even if it doesn't, it's not a problem.

[sweetsusie in reply to greygoose]

Thank you, Greygoose! Roger...willco....hehe...

There's no way I would EVER take a statin.

[greygoose in reply to sweetsusie]

Good!

[hunny59 in reply to sweetsusie]

Sweetsusie - if you D is low, you should really think about 10,000IU per day for at least two weeks to increase the level. Make sure you take it with K2 as well as this will redirect the improved calcium uptake to your bones and teeth instead of your arteries

[sweetsusie]

Wow! I feel like most of these doctors live in the dark ages...