Hi everyone, thought I could get any input in my husband's recent visit to the endo last week.
He is 72, not been diagnosed officially with anything, although he had positive antibdodies when tested last year. His current results are tsh 0.01(0.3-5.0)
Ft4 12.3(8.4-19.1)
Ft3 7.50(3.8-6.0).
As he hasn't a clue about any of this( neither did I until I joined here) I wrote down some questions to ask. Didn't get very far, as he said t3 result not important, it's the ft4 that he goes by( here we go again!!) he has never been on any medication for thyroid problems, and this was only found as a result of GOP doing tests for something else.
However, he has just had a glucose tolerance test which shows he is pre-diabetic, so no more sweeties or cakes etc. For him.
Can anyone think of a reason why he would be over range on his t3 when his ft4 is barely mid range?
Our gp asked how he had got on with hid endo appt., and I think she was rather surprised that he had just said to come back in four months! Obviously, with their training, They do tend to get a bit twitchy if ft3 is over and tosh suppressed.
Look forward to hearing your comments.
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Fencerope
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Doesn't sound as though the endo knows much about thyroid. FT3 level is very important in hyperthyroidism. With suppressed TSH and over range FT3 the endo should have been considering hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto's toxicosis which causes transient hyperthyroidism.
Hi Clutter, thanks for repyling so quickly. Are you having sleep problems like me?
Last June, he was scanned, and found to have 3cm nodules both sides, and the scan report said "hyperthyroid".
However, endo has not mentioned this.
The antibodies tested were( it says autoantibody xe257 positive, and peroxidase antibody 80(0.0-34.0)
He was also tested for intrinsic factor, after I requested from the doc. As hubby's b12 was 181( 180-900).
Wouldn't give him any treatment though, as he said " in range"
I got him some Solgar high dose b12, and am dosing him myself.
He( the endorsed just said because he didn't have any symptoms of being hyper, best just to monitor him. It's true that he seems rather hypo than hyper. I know when I have a hash I flare up and go hyper, I really know it!.
He is however, going to scan the thyroid again, and I think that was just to shut me up!! Wished I had you there with me as back up with all your knowledge.
I was actually gobsmacked when he said ft3 wasn't important, it just goes against everything that I have learnt from this site.
Thyroid peroxidase antibody is positive but that can be positive in Hashimoto's and/or Graves. I would ask your GP or endo whether Graves has been tested and whether results were positive or negative as Graves is the autoimmune hyperthyroidism.
Has RT3 been tested? Your husbands blood results look like mine did a year ago! I had no hyper symptoms either, in fact I was hypo. I had reverse T3 tested privately and it was over range. It's worth testing as this alone can make you feel sick.
These results resemble the phenomenon of T3-toxicosis, another term for indicating the beginning of hyperthyroidism, where FT3 rises before FT4, owing to enhanced conversion in the thyroid gland. The FT3 IS important and if it rises further even if the FT4 is in range then suspicions of T3-toxicosis will increase. Any symptoms like being twitchy or hot? Hold out hands - are they still or is there uncontrollable tremor? That is a good indicator of hyperthyroidism. Get the endo to look up T3 toxicosis.
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