thyroid blood test results

[Vicky2208]

Hi all, first post here looking for some guidance. Last september i had my thyroid tested, i can only remember the t4 result which was 9.2.

I was put on thyroxine but felt horrendous and after 3 weeks stopped taking it. i was on 40mg once a day. I had anxiety, waking up in the night sweating heart racing, feeling either hysterical or exhausted.

Anyway after a bit of research i came across a study where people were given inositol and selenium every day and their thyroid numbers improved so feeling like i had nothing to lose i tried it. Ive eaten 3 brazil nuts a day and had between 1&2 grams of inositol in my bran flakes every day.

I briefly started to feel better after a month or so but recently started to feel rubbish again. So i had a new blood test done 3 days ago, the results are my tsh is 5.7 and my t4 was 9.7 so i know thats gone up slightly. But do you think it has gone up enough to think the selenium and inositol have helped or is it just a fluctuation. I also read on here about getting your vitamin d levels checked so i did and that came back at 31.6. I bought some vitamind3 with k2 spray in case i was low, is it worth starting on that? i have an app with the dr next week to discuss results but if they are going to offer me thyroxin im too scared to take it after last time.

sorry for the ramble, does anyone have any advice or knowledge of my results and what they mean?

Thanks in advance for your time

vicky x

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Vicky, are you in the UK?

I don't think you were put on 40mg thyroxine. Levothyroxine comes in mcg (micrograms) not milligrams (mg) and in the UK it's usual to start on 25mcg, 50mcg or sometimes 75mcg.

Also, Brazil nuts have varying amounts of selenium, they vary from zero to plenty depending upon where they were grown. The pack would need to state 'Grown in selenium rich soil' for them to contain any. Supplementing with selenium L-selenomethionine 200mcg daily is usually recommended for us Hypos.

Do you have the reference ranges for your results, it's not possible to interpret them without the ranges as they vary from lab to lab. The only thing that is certain is that your TSH is probably over range, it is certainly high.

What is the unit of measurement for your Vit D? Is it nmol/L or Ng/ ml?

Have you had any other nutrients tested ie B12, Folate, Ferritin?

[Vicky2208 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi thanksfor your reply. My mistake it was 50mg of levothyroxine, i just dug the box out and checked it.

I have an app with dr next week but it was the receptionist that read the results out to me over the phone because i couldnt wait till i saw dr so i have none of the things you asked for

no b12, folate or ferratin tests i had to argue for the vit d test as he gave me that "youve been googling again havent you" look down his glasses.

The brazil nuts are large whole and organic and had good reviews so thats all i know about them, i chose nuts over supplements as i was worried about having too much in my system and together with the walnuts they help the bran flakes to taste less like cardboard

I've come to this massively unprepared havent i? Im just fed up of feeling exhausted, doing basic things everyday feels like a marathon, ive put two stone on in two years, i was the only one at fat club not cheating but still getting fatter.....

thanks for replying, its just nice to know there are people out there who know their stuff .........

[greygoose in reply to Vicky2208]

50 mcg, not mg.

If the bran flakes taste like cardboard, why eat them? Are you constipated? That is a hypo symptom, and should improve when you are on the right dose of levo.

There's no reason why you shouldn't continue to eat the bran flakes, if you really must, but don't rely on them to give you all the selenium you need. If you're worried about over-dosing, get your selenium tested.

Personally, I'd rather take vit C and magnesium to sort out my constipation, rather than bran flakes. For a start, they don't need milk, and the milk in the bran flakes could have been affecting the absorption of your levo.

Putting on weight and being unable to lose it, plus being exhausted and anxious, are all hypo symptoms. So, you really do need some form of thyroid hormone replacement. Which brand of levo were you taking? You could have been reacting to the fillers. Ask your doctor and your pharmacist to give you a different brand, see if that helps.

As for the 'fat club', if I were you, I'd leave! Low-calorie diets are not recommended for hypos - they can have a negative effect on the conversion of T4 (levo) to T3, and make you more hypo, and put on more weight - as you found out! Hypo-weight gain is not caused by how much you eat, or how little you exercise, it's caused by being hypo - low metabolism, water-retention, etc. And, the only way to lose the weight is to stop being hypo. And, the only way to stop being hypo, is to take thyroid hormone replacement. Increasing your T4 by 0.4 in one month by eating Brazil nuts and inositol, is just not going to cut it.

[Vicky2208]

The bran flakes were for fibre because of constipation, plus they're fortified with a few things so i figured they couldn't hurt. I take the liposamal vitamin c once a day plus two of the effervescent ones you put in water because I like the taste. I have magnesium spray that goes on once a day quite generously as although it stings a bit it seems to be helping with my psoriasis.

The brand I was taking was levothyroxine 50 micro grams by Mercury pharma and it says underneath levothyroxine sodium. I took it in the morning with water at least an hour before my cup of tea and about 3 hours before I had anything to eat.

I left fat club because I didn't see the point in paying them money to put weight on and have them tell me I must be doing something wrong. I took the inositol and Brazil nuts just to see if I got any results like the medical study which said that thyroid numbers improved by between 38-42% after six months in the majority of participants.

After feeling like I did on the Levo and have the dr shrug her shoulders and tell me there was no other treatment I was desperate to stop feeling like this.

It's a different dr this time so perhaps he will offer me something else? I've been reading up on vitamin d and it would seem I'm not exactly deficient but at the lower end of normal so I think I will use that d3-k2 spray in the meantime, at least until the appointment next week.

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it. I'm grateful there are people like you out there to take the time and help with all this as its mind boggling X

[silverfox7]

From what you have told us we really need to see some thyroid results as it may be something relatively easy like not being on enough medication. 50 mcg is just a starting dose for many people to get your body used to the Levo and you should have been told to return in 6 weeks to have another blood tests and to check your levels and get an increase of 25 mcg if you need and increase and then told to return in 6 weeks to see if the increase is enough and if not repeat this until it is. The 6 weeks is important as that's the length of time it takes the dose to build up to its maximum so being tested too soon could give you problems and risk getting hyper symptoms which aren't nice but leaving you without an increase when you need one is cruel and not helping you to get well.

The ranges though are very important as they differ from lab to lab so without them we would just be guessing. They should be in brackets after the results if you ask for a printout.

Glad you have found us! Welcome!!

[Vicky2208]

Thank you, I will go to the dr's Monday morning and ask them to print out my results and then post them on here. Hopefully they will have the full info on there. That's if the receptionist will do that, fingers crossed X

[Vicky2208]

Hi again,

i went to the drs today and asked for the numbers and the range.

This is what ive been given

Serum free t4 level ..... 9.7pmol/L

Range 10-18.7

Serum tsh level 5.7 miu/L

Range 0.3-5.0

25-oh-vitamin d 31.06 mmoL

Range 50-250

Hope this is what is needed and can help shed more light on things

thanks in advance xx