Confused

[Beckymarie1986]

Hi. Wondering if anyone can help me understand my blood results and what they mean? I was being treated for an under active thyroid with 50mg of levothyroxine but they've taken me off it for a month and will re do bloods. My Ft4 before levothyroxine was 8. I was feeling exahausted,cold all the time,had weight gain and felt very low. After 3 months of levothyroxine,the Dr said that some of the other levels hadn't improved greatly so referred me to an endocrinology specialist. He did a set of bloods and this is what he found

Cortisol 191

Lh 3.8

Fsh 3.8

He was worried about "sick euthyroid syndrome and hypothalamic effect "

Many thanks

Rebecca

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum Rebecca and am sorry you are confused, which is not difficult if we're dealing with doctors/endocrinologist who are supposed to know about the workings of the thyroid gland.

I am not medically qualified and have hypothyroidism.

Usually when first diagnosed 50mcg is a starting dose and it is increased by 25mcg around every six to eight weeks until our symptoms are relieved.

I think your dose is too low to be of much benefit. Others will respond re your results above.

They should have also taken TSH, T4, T3, Free t4, Free T3 and antibodies. (maybe they've done these before).

All blood tests for the thyroid gland should be the very earliest possible, fasting (you can drink water) and also allow a gap of about 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test and take afterwards.

Always get a print-out of the results with the ranges. Ranges (they are within brackets after results) are important as members can respond better as these give us more information. Labs differ throughout the UK so ranges may be different.

GP should test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

If you can afford the tests I suggested above, we have some Private labs and I'll give a link, just in case.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[Beckymarie1986 in reply to shaws]

Thank you

My TSH was 0.77 and FT4 12.7 after 3 months of levothyroxine. Doesn't seem like it's come up a lot so I'm not feeling much better. Feeling even worse as I've come off levothyroxine for 6 weeks until next blood tests. It says they're testing FT4,cortisol and LH/FSH/Estrogen levels next. I've had the antibodies test done before and it was normal apparently. I just thought I'd get diagnosed with an under active thyroid and that would be it but now they're investigating something else. No one seems to understand how frustrating it is feeling like this all the time. Glad I found this group for support xx

[shaws Administrator in reply to Beckymarie1986]

It is definitely FT4 and FT3 they should look at and if both are not towards the top of the range you wont feel well. T4 is inactive and has to convert to T3 which is the only active hormone required in all of our receptor cells. They rarely do these and rely upon the TSH only, which is ridiculous.

Thyroid hormones enable our metabolism to work efficiently.

[Beckymarie1986 in reply to shaws]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm guessing my results will be low being off the levothyroxine for 6 weeks. They were low before I went on it. I feel horrible not taking it. Xx

[shaws Administrator in reply to Beckymarie1986]

I doubt doctors can envisage just how bad the patient feels when they remain undiagnosed: are given too low a dose so I should think you are feeling at your worst at present with your hormones being removed.