Please could I ask for help in interpreting my recent blood test results

[Steni]

I would love to know what the results of my blood tests show and what might explain the unbelievable fatigue I am suffering from.

Thank you

[Heloise]

Hi Steni, I'll just comment on your thyroid tests and say your TSH should be around 1.0 and yours is almost 3. This means your pituitary is increasingly asking for more thyroid hormone but your gland is either not producing enough hormone or something is interfering. Your thyroid hormone is basically T4 and T3 and T3 is what enters your cells and keeps your metabolic rate adequate for all your bodily functions. If you look at your FT3 and FT4 tests, they are barely above the minimum. This slows everything down from your digestion to the way you burn calories, brain cells, hair cells, skin cells.

There are many causes and many people have Hashimoto's when your immune cells attack some part of the thyroid gland but unless you see a functional medicine most GPs and Endos just offer a synthetic drug, levothyroxine and call it a day. It's not satisfactory so by educating yourself you may do much better. Here is a start:

youtube.com/watch?v=nZ_CP7l...(Not working as expected?)

[Steni in reply to Heloise]

Thank you so much for this, I have just been on the Thyroid UK site and read this....

“There is no evidence to support the benefit of routine early treatment with thyroxine in non-pregnant patients with a serum TSH above the reference range but <10mU/L.” which in layman’s terms means that patients who have a TSH of less than 10 need not be treated because it doesn’t help.

So as mine is 3, does that mean I don't have a thyroid problem??. Sorry to be so confused but, well I just am!

[gabkad]

Steni, also your hemoglobin is rock bottom. You need to find out what's going on here because you red blood cell count is also at bottom. This all will make a person feel like doggie doo.

You need to have your ferritin, serum iron and iron binding checked. In case you have low iron in the body because that all will result in zero energy, huffing and puffing on exertion, etc.

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

Whilst you are having the additional testing suggested by gabkad - also add B12 - Folate and VitD. All are needed to be optimal for you to feel well and for the thyroid to work well.

[dialife in reply to Marz]

Agree with Marz here. Vitamin B12 is essential for anaemia. I recovered from severe anemia of nearly 30 years due to Vit B12. Do take for a year regularly (aboot 1000 mu) and continue while checking your haemoglobin levels .

[Steni in reply to Marz]

Thank you I will

[Steni in reply to gabkad]

I have just come back from the GP who said your hemoglobin is 'fine' Who is right?

[humanbean in reply to Steni]

The people who answered you above are right.

Doctors don't understand statistics or reference ranges. They think any number within the reference range is perfectly fine and they treat numbers anywhere in the reference range as if they are all equally good.

In an ideal world reference ranges are calculated from people who are completely healthy. But that is never done because it is too expensive to thoroughly test people. So sick people end up being included in reference ranges, altering the numbers and widening the reference ranges.

With the haemoglobin reference range you've given above, 97.5% of the (allegedly) healthy population will have a haemoglobin level of 117 or above. 2.5% of the healthy population will have a hamoglobin level below 117.

But that isn't the whole story. The bulk of the (allegedly) healthy population are likely to have a result somewhere in the middle of the reference range (assuming the distribution of results is normal). The lower or higher in the range your level is the less likely your result is to be normal.

But doctors act as if a result at the bottom of the reference range is just as likely and just as healthy as a result in the middle of the range, and is also just as likely and just as healthy as a result at the top of the range.

But if you asked people with a haemoglobin level of 117, or 136 (mid-range), or 155 how they felt, I can guarantee the person with a level of 117 would feel the worst of the lot, and the ones with a level of 136 would feel the best.

[Steni in reply to humanbean]

Thank you so much, I felt helpless to object the the Drs opinion even having learnt from this site so much.

[Marz in reply to Steni]

Steni - your GP needs to go to Specsavers

[Heloise]

Steni, we are not doctors here but having read hundreds of posts and articles, it is rare that once the tsh begins to rise that it goes back to normal without treatment. A TSH of 3 will probably only climb. Usually the treatment is thyroid hormone support. The co factors like B12, etc. probably won't reverse Hashimoto in my opinion although the functional medicine perspective in the video I am posting thinks you may be able to restore thyroid function. Conventional medicine lags behind research and what they say is very often proven false.

youtube.com/watch?v=T_Re4ja...(Not working as expected?)

[Steni in reply to Heloise]

Thank you for the link and advice.

[LiaDiGee in reply to Heloise]

Wow, I just watched Dr. Bergman's video. I'm stunned!!! His information contradicts everything we've been told about hashimotos and hypothyroidism!! Where has he been all of my life? I wish he wasn't in CA. I'd kill for an appointment with him. Do you know if he does long distance appointments? This man is amazing! Why don't MDs and Endos know about all of this? It's insane.

Thank you so much for sharing.

[Heloise in reply to LiaDiGee]

Hi Lia, I was pretty impressed myself and have watched many of his videos which he shares on you tube. He has patients from all over the world I think. It's a difference mindset because they know the body isn't doing anything wrong when you become ill, usually we have done something wrong. The complex part is to change what we are doing. His video on neuropathy is very revealing so be sure to look at that one and he has many for women only. His ideas have been out there for years but never taught in medical school. I wish I could even find a chiropractor who is a "corrective" chiropractor. His knowledge of anatomy is outstanding. Enjoy more on you tube.

[LiaDiGee in reply to LiaDiGee]

Hi Heloise, I so agree with you - I'd love to be able to meet with Dr. Bergman for an appointment. He knows so much about the body, he's amazing. My daughter battled breast cancer last year at age 32. I watched his video on cancer which was over 3 hours long. But I was fascinated by all the information he shared and couldn't stop watching. My daughter had chemo, radiation and surgery - the works. I wish I had seen his video before all of that happened, I surely would have advised my daughter to take another approach. I've never trusted the American Medical Assn., Big Pharma, none of them. But to hear what he had to say about chemo made me furious!! All the hell she was put through and it may have been totally in necessary. I believe they've had a cure for a long time but they're not going to share their findings with us. Dr. Bergman said it is a $100 billion/year business. Cancer and chemo is an industry, as he put it and they'll do whatever is necessary to protect their profits. It's such a corrupt system and there's nothing we can do about it. How do those people sleep at night? We are talking about people's lives!!!

Thank you so much for sharing, I'll be going back to watch all of his videos. It's wonderful to be told the truth finally.

[Heloise in reply to LiaDiGee]

I totally understand your anger. It's always worse when it comes from the people you are supposed to trust. At this point we have to arm ourselves with information. In fact, Lia, you should take a look at this video I just sent to my daughter from Dr. Mercola's site today if you haven't seen it. Remember how they railed again poor Dr. Atkins and his ketones? Well burning ketones actually assists in healthy mitochondria. If you skip to the 20 min. mark I think. This man has a huge understanding of cancer. youtube.com/watch?v=DaCZ3iv...(Not working as expected?)

[Steni in reply to Heloise]

Fantastic video