I have had the results from the blood draw taken at my recent Endo appointment, the letter says they want me back in clinic to discuss taking some HRT and are leaving my current dose of Levothyroxine unchanged. I am still suffering various symptoms which I think are down to Hypothyroidism, although some of the symptoms have improved and others have gone away. I am relieved they are not going to reduce my dose, as I feared that would be the case since the blood draw was taken at 10.30am after having taken my 50 mcg of Levo at 7.30am and eating breakfast at about 8.30am.
Here are the results including the ranges where they are indicated on the letter;
LH = 46.4
FSH = 86.7
Estradiol = 52
Free T4 = 17.7 (10 - 20)
TSH = 0.80 mU/L
Vitamin D = 49.2 nmol/L (50 to 125)
Iron = 11.0
Iron Saturation = 20
Transferrin = 2.17
FBC normal except platelets = 515
Not sure if anyone knows what the ranges are for the items which do not give ranges?
Thanks in anticipation for the comments and advice from you lovely experienced Thyroid people xx
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Baggiebod
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By taking levo at 7.30 a.m. and having a blood test at 10.30 a.m. your results wont be 'true', Also eating before the blood test also doesn't give a true result.
The advice to get the best possible blood test is to fast before the earliest appointment and also to leave approx 24 hours between your last dose of levo and take it after the test.
Blood tests are not my forte so others will respond.
Your vitamin D is very low - usually recommended we get it to about 100
What about B12, folate & ferratin ? Ever had them tested?
Also have you had thyroid antibodies checked? There are two sorts TPO Ab and TG Ab. (Thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin) Both need checking, if either, or both are high this means autoimmune thyroid - called Hashimoto's, the most common cause in UK of being hypo. NHS rarely checks TPO and almost never checks TG. NHS believes it is impossible to have negative TPO and raised TG. It's rare, but not impossible, there are a few members on here that have this.
Make sure you get the actual figures from tests (including ranges - figures in brackets). You are entitled to copies of your own results. Some surgeries make nominal charge for printing out. Alternatively you can now ask for online access to your own medical records. Though not all surgeries can do this yet, or may not have blood test results available yet online.
When you get results suggest you make a new post on here and members can offer advice on any vitamin supplements needed
If you can not get GP to do these tests, then like many of us, you can get them done privately
Blue Horizon - Thyroid plus eleven tests all these.
This is an easy to do fingerprick test you do at home, post back and they email results to you couple of days later.
If you have Hashimoto's then you may find adopting 100% gluten free diet can help reduce symptoms, and lower antibodies too.
Best advice is to read as much as you can. Vitamin and minerals levels are very important, but standard NHS thinking, doesn't at the moment seem to recognise this. You will see, time and time again on here lots of information and advice about importance of good levels of B12, folate, ferritin and vitamin D, leaky gut and gluten connection to autoimmune Hashimoto's & Grave's too.
If/when you start supplementing vitamin D, you may find after a few weeks your vitamin B also needs supplementing - see this link
Thanks for your very helpful reply. I have bought some vitamin D high potency by Swanson. I asked about getting B12, Folate and Ferritin tested but she said my GP could request those. I asked about testing Tgab antibody but she said because I had the other antibody tested and it was <28 about 15 months ago, it meant I didn't have Hashimoto's. She was not very helpful really with regard to my under active Thyroid, just more motivated to diagnosing menopause. The letter came with only the ranges I noted.
As usual, not much use without t3. That's the number I'd like to see.
As said above, if you took your levo a couple of hours before the t4 can spike (though they'll say it won't) so not only is your tsh not particularly low, I wonder if it would've been over 1 if you'd skipped the morning dose. You may need an increase but you can't really tell w these results.
The ranges are different for each lab, so ideally your endo would send them along w your results. You may be able to contact the lab to ask.
I will visit my GP to ask for the B12, Folate and Ferritin and see if there's any chance of getting T3 and the Tgab antibodies tested. If not, then I will have to use the private blood test, then take the results to show them, in the hope they will use them to optimise my treatment x
Some gps won't have anything to do w private tests, so maybe best to know what your plan is if you decide to go that way and your gp won't play ball. If you plan to self-treat then no probs, but if it means you just have results and no action you may feel frustrated.
This business is like a game of chess, you have to think several moves ahead.
Hi Slow Dragon, I contacted the hospital and got the ranges for the test results as suggested by some on the forum. I have added them to my post, and it looks like I am in the lower half of normal range for most things, and deficient in a couple. Most say being normal is not always enough, that you feel better if in the top half of the range which is classed as 'optimum'. My action plan now is this; I will have my new patient check up, then make an appointment to see my new GP, I will ask her if she could request blood tests for the following;
T3
The antibody Tgab
Ferritin
Folate
Vitamin B12
If she is unwilling or unable to test for those, I will ask her if I was to get them tested privately, would she accept/work with the results and help me to get the treatment for any issues they may show up?
There is no point in paying for private blood tests if they won't use them!
I am also posting the blood test results on the women's health community to see if anyone can give me any information regarding my sex hormones results!
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