The B12, Ferritin, TSH, Free Thyroxine, both antibodies and reverse T3 have all been marked as abnormal as you can see from the ref ranges, however the antibodies have surprised me the most, as I have never had them tested for before. And of course the reverse T3, as I have never had that tested before either. The doctors notes that accompany the results say this is a hyperthyroid result and I may have symptoms such as weight loss, rapid heart rate, sweating, anxiety, amongst others, however I don't. And the weight loss is an absolute NO. I am well over a stone in weight heavier than I should be and I train like a loon, energy permitting.
I feel like I have symptoms of being under treated, if anything. I have been labelled as having hypothyroidism for the last 17 years (diagnosed) and most definitely do not feel like I am hyperthyroid at all. I have been on levo only for the bulk of those 17 years and have dabbled recently with taking a combo of T4/T3, but never felt right, so always went back to just T4. Currently on 150 mcg, but because my TSH always shows as <0.05 my doctor always wants me to lower the dose. But when I went down to 125 mcg to appease an endo I was seeing last year, I felt awful and that's when my extra weight appeared and I have not been able to lose it since.
Is it possible I have Hashimoto's? I will of course be going to see my doctor as soon as I can get an apt. to discuss the results, but wouldn't mind your guys opinions first?
Thanks,
JillO
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JillOliver
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I cut all supplements out for at least 3 weeks prior to the test, however..... I made a huge b**lls up and forgot and took my T4 at 05.30 am on the morning of the test, which was done at 09.50 am. My 'take your levo' alarm went off at 05.30 am and as I was half asleep, I just forgot and took it! And I was only on T4 and haven't been anywhere near T3 for months now.
Jill, with your FT4 result, I don't think taking Levo on the morning of your test will have made a massive difference. Your results are a bit like mine were 18 months ago.
TSH: <0.01 Ref Range: 0.21 - 4.2
Free Thyroxine: 31.2 Ref Range: 12.0 - 22.0
Free T3: 6.4 Ref Range: 3.1 - 6.8
To have a FT4 result so far over range does indicate over replacement of Levo, despite still having symptoms. I still had symptoms and my GP kept increasing my Levo until my FT4 reached 30 but it never helped and I never had any symptoms of over replacement, just hypo type symptoms. The only difference is that my FT3 was a lot lower, just about 50% of range, with my FT4 being 165% of range.
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Reverse T3: 35 Ref Range: 10 - 24
This is a problem. Was there a FT3:rT3 ratio?
You need to get this down and the way to do that is either take T3 only for a few weeks or reduce Levo and add T3.
Here are some links I saved when I was looking into this
I'm not medically trained and can only say what helped me, which is reducing my Levo gradually and introducing T3 gradually. It was a long winded process (I was ultra careful with the T3) but I reduced my meds from 175mcg Levo (I had been as high as 200mcg) and after many tweaks I am currently taking 100mcg levo and 31.25mcg T3. My FT4 is around the upper third of the range now and FT3 in the upper quarter near the top, and that seems to suit me. I do feel better, a lot of the symptoms have improved and the dreadful fatigue is nowhere near as bad, I'm certainly not having to lie down for a couple of hours in the afternoon now!
I also optimised all my vitamins and minerals, am supporting my adrenals and as my sex hormones were rock bottom I addressed that as well. They're all connected.
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B12 is fine, if you are supplementing then continue with a maintenance dose, hopefully you are taking a B Complex too.
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Vit D is good, 100-150nmol/L, so you need to keep it within that range.
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Ferritin is over range. Are you supplementing? If so then reduce, if not you need to discuss this with your GP.
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Yes, you do have Hashimoto's as confirmed by your high antibodies. To reduce antibodies, adopting a strict gluten free diet has helped many members here, and supplementing with selenium L-selenomethionine 200mcg daily and keeping TSH suppressed can also help.
I will deffo ruduce the T4, not sure about adding T3 at all now, as I am a little bit scared now... The endo I was seeing has apparently written another endo who in his words 'may be more liberal at trying me on the T3/T4 combo', but that was months ago and I shan't hold my breath for waiting for the apt.
Yes, I am or was taking a b complex and a liquid B12 supp, however, I am a tad scared now to carry on taking them and I've been taking those supps for years.
Not supplementing with iron, so will discuss this with my doc when I see her in a few weeks. But checking back through may other blood test results (NHS) my ferritin 189 with a ref range of 20.00 - 250.00 and if that's the case, then 242 is also normal, high, but still just about normal. Bit I will discuss with my doc.
I did wonder for years about me maybe having Hashimoto's and about 4 years ago I went gluten free and lost loads of weight and felt amazing and had loads of energy etc, so looks like I will be doing that again, this time for life!
The previous results was 189 in a range of 20-250 so well within range.
Your current result has a different range and you are way over range. Different machines, different assays, you can't mix and match.
Ferritin: 242 Ref Range: 13 - 150
It's not the number, it's where a particular number lies within the range used for that particular test.
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Did you go low and slow when you added T3 before? It should be started at 6.25mcg, lowering Levo a week or so before if FT4 is high. Then you leave it for a couple of weeks to see how things are.
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Why are you scared to restart the B vitamins? Us Hypos need optimal levels of vitamins and minerals, so once you reach that optimal level by supplementing, then you reduce the dose to a maintenance dose to keep the levels there. Stop supplementing and your levels will fall and cause the same problems all over again.
B12 I was, but stopped at least 3 weeks prior to test and no to the iron. Although my ferritin did drop to as low as 48 quite a few years ago now and I did take ferrous fumarate, with the docs permission and had a further test done and it had risen considerably, so don't tend to take an iron supp anymore. Unless I feel real tired and then I might take one for a few days, but looks like any tiredness isn't lack of iron...
No but iron is one of the ones where too much is as bad as not enough and your ferritin level is over range - you might want a full blood count though for better idea of what's going on with your iron levels. High ferritin can be caused byseveral situations such as inflammation or infection etc whereby your body will on purposefully remove iron from your blood and push it into storage so you still might be iron anaemic? If your blood count shows no sign of anaemia, then you need to investigate why ferritin is so high and definitely don't take any more iron.
In my opinion (and will prob differ from others here), you are over medicated. Your T3 levels are okay but your T4 levels are over range and when you have too much thyroid hormones, your T4 will start converting into Rt3 and your levels of this are too high. When I am a little over medicated I have the same symptoms as hypo, in fact I feel more tired and crash more if over medicated so it is sometimes hard to tell.
If you feel worse when on a lower dose, I think it's probably due to something else or maybe you're not a good converter meaning your T3 levels dropped too much but that is hard to determine with your test results right now. Have you tried NDT to see if you get on better with this than T3. Sometimes if can take a little while to get used to taking T3, did you take it long enough or did you try splitting the dose over the day. I would also add that if you were trying to add T3 to the dose you're on now and had levels like you have now at the time, it wouldn't be surprising it made you feel worse?
Not tried NDT at all. When I first tried the T3/T4 combo, I took it for at least a month or so, but felt like I had roid rage most of the time, which a friend pointed out, so I stopped. Then I tried it again a while later and felt almost fab, but then can't remember how long I tried it for and then once again, I stopped, probably because I didn't feel that well.
Were you're levels similar to those you have just posted when you tried the T3? Did you decrease your T4 dose when tried it or did you just add the T3?
If I remember correctly, I reduced my T4 slightly, or I may have been on 125 mcg's then anyway. Only ever had my T3 tested once in 2013 and that was 4.4 with a ref range of 3.1 - 6.8 and just looking back to May this year and my TSH was (as it always is) <0.05 and my FT4 was 24.3 and I have not increased my levo since then either to get a FT4 of 31.2, I was on 150 mcg's then as I am now, or 'was', having seen the results, for this latest test.
Well, maybe reduce to 125 and retest in 6-8 weeks and post results again for suggestions on how to proceed with or without T3?
It is possible you've been over medicated for some time maybe so this would explain why tsh is always <0.05. Although if you mean your tsh has always been this even if very low levels of T4/T3, there would be something a little off there.
In case not already mentioned, thyroid antibodies do indicate hashimotos.
Def need to get the iron situation looked into, even if range to 250, you are still too high so get a full blood count and maybe an iron panel if you can
Thanks Saggyuk for all the help. And yes, will be reducing to 125 mcg's and will retest again as you say in 6 - 8 weeks and post the results. Well I can't remember the last time in 17 years when my TSH was much above 0.05, however I do remember not feeling well when it was...
hmmm, unless you've been over medicating that whole time, you should have seen some variation in your tsh? Maybe see if you can get some of your older test results to check. There are things like central hypothyroidism where you're pituitary no longer reacts to hormone levels meaning tsh will be the same all the time, although I think the level is normally a little higher though. This would be useful for you to know because if this is the case, you should never go by your TSH as means nothing and should always get your T4/T3 levels tested? Worth a check (unless you've always gone against GPs orders lol)
I do think your problem might be that you're not a good converter but I think you've been adding T3 with levels already too high and it's caused you to feel worse because it's much stronger stuff than T4 so it def might be worth another go at it once levels are better and calmed down and then swap 25mcg T4 for 10mcg T3 maybe and leave for six weeks to see what happens in a more slower way?
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