Hi! 31 y/o female here. I didn't think I'd be frantically reading up on hypothyroidism when I woke up today but here I am. Basically I suspected I might be suffering from coeliac disease and requested a blood test and the doctor agreed but put me in for a bunch of other things, like liver, kidney and thyroid. Today I got all but the coeliac results and my TSH level is 7.5 which appears to be really high, indicating my thyroid might be/is underactive. They did not test for T3/T4. My B12, folate, Vitamin D and ferritin levels are included in the attached image.
I don't know much about thyroid conditions and if this means I have hypothyroidism or if anything else needs to be tested now. I did check the symptoms and I have a LOT of them that I attributed to other things. I have my medical records and can't see a previous test of my thyroid at any point.
I was told to call my GP on Friday for the results but I saw most of them were on the online patient access service from yesterday. I don't want to call early so I wanted to just ask people here what they thought really. Thank you for your time.
EDIT: My symptoms (taken from the Thyroid UK website):
Excessive tiredness
Cold extremities (since childhood)
Anaemia (possibly)
Muscle cramps and weakness
Joint stiffness
Heat/Cold intolerance
ADHD
Eyebrow loss
Dry, flaky skin.
Eczema (since childhood)
Abdominal distension/Flatulence
Heavy periods (since they started at 12, I had to start on the oral contraceptive pill to reduce the severity)
Tinnitus (occasionally)
Anxiety
Easily Upset
Loss of drive
Depression (possibly)
Memory Loss and confusion, mental sluggishness, poor concentration (I am diagnosed with ADHD so this could also be behind these)
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Yes you have but GPs often will not treat until TSH is 10. You also need to know Free T4 ,Free T3, the two antibody tests to check for Hashimotos ( the treatment is the same) .Also vits and minerals need to be optimal so check ferritin,folate,B12 and D3. Look up Thyroid UK and Thyroid Patient Advocacy for information.
When giving blood results ,give the ranges as different labs have different parameters.
I forgot to mention my Vitamin D, B12, folate and ferritin levels were all checked also, I think they're all ok. I can't see any sign T3 and T4 will be checked.
Your TSH level (as hopeless as this test generally is!) indicates something amiss with your thyroid function. Anything higher than approx 4 would immediately warrant further investigation. I'm guessing when you speak to your doctor, that they'll wish to carry out further testing, probably just serum T4 levels. However, as Treepie rightly suggests, your doctor really should be ordering a full thyroid panel of tests including free T4 & free T3, plus the thyroid antibodies. Only with these carried out do the test results become useful, giving an idea of what is actually going on. So please strongly encourage your GP to carry out these tests - if they won't then consider getting the tests done yourself anyway (eg. privately through a lab company such as Medichecks, or Blue Horizon).
Please consider getting yourself Dr Durrant-Peatfield's excellent book "Your Thyroid & how to keep it healthy" (available as a Kindle e-book from Amazon), which clearly explains the potential pitfalls with thyroid blood testing & mistakes sometimes made by doctors treating hypothyroidism. The information in this book has proved invaluable to many hypothyroid suffers.
You're serum iron levels look rather low. You may wish to consider iron supplementation to boost this. But wait until you've had the further thyroid tests first, to get a better idea of what's going on. Hope that helps. All the best.
TSH can be elevated due to a non-thyroidal illness like a virus or infection so some GPs don't treat the first abnormal TSH result and retest 2-3 months later when a virus is likely to have resolved.
However, you are symptomatic and TSH over range does indicate primary hypothyroidism. There's not really any necessity to check FT4 and FT3 at this stage. TSH is high because your pituitary gland is not detecting sufficient T4 and T3. FT3 is rarely checked in primary care now. Ask your GP to check thyroid peroxidase antibodies to confirm or exclude autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's).
The goal of Levothyroxine is to restore the patient to euthyroid status. For most patients that will be when TSH is 0.27 - 1.0 with FT4 in the upper range. FT4 needs to be in the upper range in order that sufficient T3 is converted.
For maximum absorption Levothyroxine should be taken with water 1 hour before, or 2 hours after, food and drink, 2 hours away from other medication and supplements, and 4 hours away from calcium, iron, vitamin D supplements, magnesium and oestrogen.
It takes 7-10 days for Levothyroxine to be absorbed before it starts working and it will take up to six weeks to feel the full impact of the dose. Symptoms may lag behind good biochemistry by several months.
You should have a follow up thyroid test 6-8 weeks after starting Levothyroxine. Arrange an early morning and fasting (water only) blood draw when TSH is highest, and take Levothyroxine after your blood draw.
VitD is replete 75 - 200 and most people are comfortable around 100. If you are able to get a couple of hours sun on your face and arms each week you're fine but if not, supplement 2,000iu D3 to raise level. Make sure to take it 4 hours away from Levothyroxine.
Ferritin is optimal halfway through range. You can raise ferritin by supplementing iron which should be taken with 1,000mg vitamin C to aid absorption and minimise constipation. Iron must also be taken 4 hours away from Levothyroxine.
Wow, thank you so much for the replies everyone, I'll be sure to make a note and ask my doctor about those tests. Thank you for the amazing dosage advice too!
My iron levels are low as I expected - Coeliac can cause this which is partly why I asked for a test for it. I will keep the iron supplements in mind, after I get more tests.
Hashimoto's or autoimmune thyroid disease is very often linked to gluten intolerance. Small percentage are coeliac, but majority are gluten intolerant.
Ask GP to test both types thyroid antibodies TPO and TG. High antibodies = Hashimoto's
Come back here with a new post when you have test results
Thank you SlowDragon, I have added Free T3, Free T4, TPO and TG to a list to ask the doctor to arrange to be tested. Booked an appointment now in case they receptionists try to dismiss me when I call on Friday.
Print off the list from Thyroid Uk site and tick your probs. Doctor may well warn you not to read the internet but you can point t out that Thyroid U.K. Is recommended by NHS Choices for thyroid dysfunction. He can't moan then!
You may be able to wangle a total iron-binding capacity (also known as transferrin saturation) test. Your ferritin is likely low (in part, at least) due to hypothyroidism and should resolve when(!!!) you are treated. Supplementing can be dangerous, with the excess being stored in organs, which are eventually damaged.
Well I just called the doctor's surgery and the results for coeliac weren't there anyway, the receptionist said she could only see what was on the online access that I could see.
Anyway, she said everything came back normal except my thyroid was "borderline" and that I should get it rechecked in 3 months. :/ I told her I'd like additional tests and she told me to call back on Monday, so that's another few days of worrying.
I'm still keeping the appointment with my doctor on Wednesday in case the Monday phone call isn't helpful.
Morning everyone! I called my doctor and the coeliac test was negative. I've removed a sweetener (saccharin) from my diet over the past few days and my bloating issues have completely vanished so I'm putting it down to those. I can consume other sweeteners with no issues.
Anyway, regarding my thyroid, she said it was "borderline" again and that it was tested last year and was "normal" but neglected to include an exact number. I didn't bother arguing, I know this particular doctor and she's quite stubborn and I didn't have the mental energy. I've got an appointment booked with the doctor who initially arranged the tests on Wednesday, so I'll just ask him about further testing. I'll update again then!
Hi again! Just got back from my GP appointment. He said they'll test me again in 3 months and won't medicate me at 7.5 because it might rectify itself, especially as it was 4.0 back in May last year (those are the only TSH tests I have). When they test me again in 3 months, they'll test for the thyroid peroxidase antibodies too. He also told me they won't let GP's test for Free T3 and Free T4 at any point.
I pretty much had to accept that. I've had two GPs and the receptionist tell me they can't do any more for 3 months now. I guess I'll post back again if that test in 3 months reveals anything new. Thanks for the help everyone!
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