Long term hypothyroid

[mickpsub]

Hello all

Discovered this site recently and it has already helped clarify a few issues. I was diagnosed as hypothyroid back in 2003 and up until this year I was prescribed 50mcg of levo. Last year (July) I had three stents fitted in my heart and whilst the procedure was a success, I have been left feeling awful. In March this year and after repeated visits to my G.P, I had my levo dose increased to 75mcg and after two weeks I felt much more alive. Just recently I have started to feel off colour again so went back to the G.P

My bloods as of the last test which was 8 weeks after the increased dose were

Serum free T4 11.4 pmol (normal range quoted as 7-17 )

Serum TSH 0.76mu/L (normal range 0.4 - 4.5)

Whilst the T4 looks O.K. The serum TSH looks low in the range. My GP does not seem concerned but in fairness its me feeling unwell. Should I ask for other tests ?

Thanks guys

[humanbean]

TSH being low in range is good. There are probably many people who would like it lower.

Just in case you weren't aware of it, the more levo you take the lower your TSH is likely to go and the higher your Free T4 is likely to go.

The thing which is most correlated with how well people feel is actually the level of Free T3, which, as usual, your doctor or the lab has chosen not to test.

You need to have good levels of nutrients to feel well. People who are hypo often don't absorb nutrients well, and this makes people feel dreadful.

Ask your doctor for tests of iron and ferritin, plus vitamin D, vitamin B12, and folate. If you could get a full iron panel plus haemoglobin, rather than iron and ferritin that would be even better.

[mickpsub in reply to humanbean]

Brilliant many thanks humanbean. I appreciate the advise. I have some of those other test results

B12 - 193 ng/L (normal range145 -910 ng/L)

Folate 8.1ug/L (normal range 3.1 - 19.9 ug/L)

Again I questioned my B12 which seems towards the lower levels but was told nothing needed.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Mickpsub - you could ask for FT3 to be done. If that is tested at the same time as FT4 it will show whether your T4 to T3 conversion is good enough. Whether you can get it done by the GP is another thing! There's always a private fingerprick thyroid panel if you can't.

Your FT4 is quite low, not quite 50% through it's range, which means that there's not an awful lot to convert to T3 (the active hormone), that is probably why you don't feel well. You could do with another increase in Levo.

Don't worry about your TSH. The aim of a treated hypo patient generally 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. TSH is a signal from the pituitary gland to the thyroid gland to make thyroid hormone if it doesn't detect very much. You are providing that hormone by taking Levo, so there's not much need for your thyroid to be stimulated (TSH - thyroid stimulating hormone).

[mickpsub in reply to SeasideSusie]

Again thank you for making some sense of where I am at and what I may need to do.

[Marz]

The information given to you by humanbean is so important. Hopefully you will be able to carry out her advice and report back for further suggestions You can click onto people's names and read of their journeys to wellness .....