Thyroid results.

[Marymay2]

Could someone please look at my thyroid panel results please..thanks. I am on 3 grains of NDT

TSH 0.004 (.035-4.5)

FT3 2.3 (1.9-4.2)

FT4 13 (8-19)

[greygoose]

The TSH and FT4 are where I would expect them to be on 3 grains of NDT. But that FT3 is very low for 3 grains.

Are you taking your NDT on an empty stomach, one hour before eating or drinking anything but water? Do you have digestion/gut problems of any kind? Are you taking PPIs?

[Marymay2 in reply to greygoose]

Thanks for your reply @greygoose.

I'm taking NDT on an empty stomach on awakening, but having breakfast maybe half an hour later. I'm not aware of gut problems, nor take PPIs. I may change taking NDT at night and see how I go..

I was thinking of adding some T3, do you think this would be an option?

[greygoose in reply to Marymay2]

It's an option, certainly. Why not.

A good way of seeing if you have absorption problems is to get your vit d, vit B12, folate and ferritin tested. If they are all low, there's a problem somewhere affecting your absorption.

In any case, you should know what they are, because if they are low, your NDT will not work for you. They need to be optimal for your body to be able to use the hormone you're giving it.

It would be better if you could leave an hour between NDT and breakfast. But, if you take it at night, leave three hours after your last meal.

[Marymay2 in reply to greygoose]

As a Hashimoto sufferer, of course all my labs are low Sometimes I lose my focus, there are just so many thing to try to balance..thanks for pointing this out. So I will take a multi pronged approach, deal with gut, hopefully raising absorption rates, and I'm going to lower NDT, and add some T3, take meds at night and see how I feel. Thanks again.

[greygoose in reply to Marymay2]

OK, but you are missing one essential step. If your nutrients are suboptimal, you need to supplement them or no thyroid hormone replacement will work for you.

Post your results on here, and people will advise about supplementing.

[Marymay2]

A functional medical doctor that I was seeing, disagreed with a very suppressed TSH, thinking it should be ideally at around 1. I think I will try to get it up a little and try to raise T3 as well. Thanks for your input.

[greygoose]

So, are you supplementing your B and D?

I think it would be a very good idea to post all your results, with ranges, in a new post, and ask people what they think you should do.

On 3 grains, you TSH should be suppressed. But, that will depend on the level of FT3. Your FT4 is bound to be low, but the FT3 depends on how well you convert, because there's not much T3 in 3 grains.