Hello! I've just joined HealthUnlocked recommended by a few friends. I've treated for underactive thyroid for about 19 years. Currently on Thyroxin/Eutirox 100.
This last summer i felt absolutely exhausted, awful mood swings and even though GP tested me for anything, it all came out ok. I tried to be referred to a specialist but they wouldn't do it as my test results were within normal parameters. I was in Spain recently and had some blood tests done over there as didn't feel well. My TSH levels are at 11 and T4 is at 1.01. They told me I would probably need my meds increased
I'm going to try to get an appointment with my GP to see if they can look into it, but can someone help me understand what those values mean? I'm so tired of going to the doctor and being told i'm ok when I don't feel well. I'm hoping this time bringing a copy of those tests might help me a bit more.
If anybody has any thoughts/advice I would be very grateful - thank you very much!
BB8-Btn Do you have the reference ranges for those results? Without them they'll mean nothing to your doctor.
This is an example of what they would look like if done at a popular private lab here - it won't be the range the Spanish lab used but it will help explain how to interpret the tests
TSH: 11 (0.2-4.2) -
This would show that your TSH is over range. The aim of a treated hypo patient is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges.
FT4: 1.01 (12-22) -
This would show that your FT4 is below range and it needs to be in the upper part of the range. But be aware that the range for the Spanish test may be very much lower so, as I said, without the ranges your results can't be interpreted.
If you're going to ask your GP to do up to date tests then ask for:
TSH
FT4
FT3
TPO antibodies
TG antibodies
Vit D
B12
Folate
Ferritin
He may not be able to do them all, if so we can tell you where to get a private fingerprick test to do at home. It's important for vitamins and minerals to be at optimal levels for thyroid hormone to work properly. Testing antibodies is important to rule out (or in) autoimmune thyroid disease aka Hashimoto's.
For all thyroid tests always book the first appointment of the day, fast overnight (water only) and leave off your thyroid meds for 24 hours, take them after the test.
Hi SeasideSusie - thank you so much for your prompt reply. I'm really grateful.
Yes, I have the reference ranges, they are:
TSH 11,00 [0,35 - 5,5]
T4 1,01 [0,8-1,8]
Thank you for being so helpful
Crikey!! There's no doubt about you 'may need your meds increased", you very definitely do need an increase. Your TSH is way to high. Increases should be in 25mcg increments, re-testing 6-8 weeks after the increase to check levels, another 25mcg increase, another re-test, etc, until your symptoms abate and you feel well.
In the range quoted your FT4 should be nearer 1.47+ but your TSH should be sending out shock waves to your GP!
Hi Susie, hope you're doing ok!
I'm interested in buying one of those fingerprick test to do at home, can you recommend anywhere to buy them? Thank you! Blanca
Hi BB8-Btn Did you get your increase in dose?
Check out the following, it's Thyroid UK's testing page with links to companies used by members. I've used Blue Horizon and Medichecks, both equally good and they use accredited labs to process the tests. Blue Horizon has a guide about how to do the fingerprick test. At the moment, until 24th March, Medichecks have a discount of 15% using the code you'll see on their link
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...
Hello!
Yes, I'm on 125 thyroxin and feel a tiny bit better. Having my results back next week, so see what they say. Thank you very much for all your help!