Blue Horizon results-please help me understand.

[winallthethings]

I've just had my Thyroid+11 results back. The comment says thyroid function is normal (I'm recently diagnosed hypo on 50mcg Levo daily) and there are antibodies present. From what I can tell (very new to this, please bear with), my TSH is still not great, T3 isn't either and I don't know what the thyroid antibody reading indicates. I would very much appreciate any input.

CRP 0.30 (<5)

Ferritin 28.8 (20-150)

TSH 2.97 (0.27 - 4.20)

T4 100.6 (64.5 - 142)

FT4 13.87 (12 - 22)

FT3 4.03 (3.1 - 6.8)

Anti thyroid H 295.2 (<34)

Anti Thyroglobulin 25.5 (<115)

Vit D 64 (<50 is insufficient)

Vit B12 252 (<250 is insufficient)

Folate 33.54 (10.4 - 42.4)

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

winallthethings Positive antibodies indicate autoimmune thyroiditis aka Hashimoto's disease. Antibodies will periodically attack your thyroid until it is destroyed, during these times your symptoms will fluctuate as will our thyroid test results. Many Hashi's patients find that going completely gluten free helps dampen down the antibody attacks, some need to be dairy free. Supplementing with selenium also helps reduce the attacks.

Your B12 is very low, the Pernicious Anaemia Society recommends 1000. You can supplement with Jarrows or Solgar sublingual methylcobalamin lozenges. Start with 5000mcg daily and when optimal level is reached reduce to 1000mcg as a maintenance dose. Also when supplementing B12 you should also take a B Complex to balance the B Vits.

Your folate is good.

Vit D is too low, it would be better around 100+. You can supplement with D3 and also take K2. Vit D aids absorption of calcium, K2 directs it to bones and teeth.

Ferritin is also very low, it needs to be at least 70 for thyroid hormone to work properly, a bit more wont hurt. You need an iron supplement and should take that with 1000mg Vit C, four hours away from your thyroid meds.

How long have you been on Levo? Have you had an increase in your meds since your starting dose? 50mcg is a low dose and you are not yet optimally medicated. The aim for a medicated hypo patient is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper parts of their ranges, generally FT4 in the upper third and FT3 in the upper quarter. You need an increase in your Levo and re-testing 6-8 weeks later to check your levels and maybe another adjustment will be needed then.

[winallthethings in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much for your reply - that's a lot of info! I've been on levo for 6 weeks, 50 was my starting dose. Problem is, I know my GP will look at "normal" TSH and say I'm fine to stay as I am. Do I make an appointment and take this results printout with me?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to winallthethings]

winallthethings Some doctors wont consider private tests at all, others may. If you GP knows anything about thyroid then he should be retesting 6-8 weeks after starting you on levo. Yes your levels are within range but they are not optimal. He needs to take into account how you feel, what signs and symptoms you are still showing and increase your Levo until you get to a place where you are feeling well and your FT3 is still within range. Unfortunately, not many doctors know this and many labs refuse to do the FT3 test even when requested unless the other results are very unusual.

If you email [e-mail] she will send you the article in Pulse magazine by Dr Toft which states something about where people's TSH and FT4 sometimes need to be to feel well. You could show that to your GP, Dr Toft was past president of the British Thyroid Association if I remember correctly so it may carry some clout as he is an endocrinologist.

ETA: This is what he wrote (just found it ):

"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.

In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.

But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.

This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."

This page on ThyroidUK's main site is interesting for newbies to thyroid disease;

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

For Hashimoto's here are a couple of links to get you started on understanding what it's all about and how to deal with it:

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

Plenty more out there. And if you look to the right of this page and up a bit you will see "Topics". They're in alphabetical order - look at "Hashimotos" and click on it to get links to lots of previous posts on this forum about it.

Any more questions, just ask. Plenty of members here who are happy to help

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to SeasideSusie]

winallthethings I've just edited my above post as I found the information about the article Dr Toft wrote. Still a good idea to get it from Louise so you can print it off and show your GP.

[winallthethings in reply to SeasideSusie]

This is all so incredibly helpful and kind of you to explain. Thank you.