Advice on how to approach GP re new test

[wildhorse]

I had a thyroid function test in March 2016, the GP said the results were normal:

Plasma TSH 1.52 mU/L (o.30-4.20 mU/L)

Free T4 12.3 pmoI/L (9.00-1900 pmol/L)

Free T3 4.6 (2.60-5.70 pmol/L)

So I left it but this winter I have been feeling so incredibly cold, my basal temperature is always around 35-35.5 C, my pulse has dropped from around 60bpm to around 50 bpm sometimes below (I have though always been quite fit), I've been depressed and my weight has slowly been going up. I'm thinking low thyroid again because I've been trying to lose weight, cutting calories to 1200 a day and doing a lot more exercise with nil results.

I've got a lot of muscle stiffness which is new and joint pain, I have enough energy to go to the gym but I feel tired a lot of the time and I get tired sooner than in the past. My skin is dry but no hair loss. I get constipated despite a good diet. I'm female and 63.

I've moved house and have a new GP. What I'd like to know is will I be taken seriously if I ask for another thyroid test within a year. Looking at those results above, they are close to the lower end of the scale, am I right in thinking that?

Are there other tests I should request? I'm feeling really miserable, I've always been reasonably healthy in my life but now I feel really dragged down by physical symptoms. Many thanks for reading and for any replies.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

wildhorse I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask for a Thyroid function test, emphasise your symptoms and how it is impacting on every aspect of your life and ask​ for

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid Peroxidase antibodies (may do them)

Thyroglobulin antibodies (unlikely to do them)

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

If you can't get them all done then they can be done with a home fingerprick test.

What strikes me is that you had a normal TSH that's quite low in it's range, and your free Ts s are low in range too. That can be indicative of secondary/central hypothyroidism which is where the problem lies with the pituitary gland or hypothalamus rather than the thyroid, so if they come back similar again ask to be investigated for that.

[Clutter]

Wildhorse,

The results above were euthyroid (normal). I don't think they are low in range.

It's not unreasonable to request another thyroid function test 12 months later because you are symptomatic. I would ask your GP to check ferritin, vitamin D, B12 and folate too because musculoskeletal pain can be due to low iron and vitamin D in particular.