BLood results need help understanding them !

[Pascha1]

Just had new blood results Dr is not in till Friday, these are after 25mgs reduction Levo but have had a change in brand from TEVO new formula to Mercury pharmacist Levo . This time they never did T3 which I requested

TSH less than 0.004 min/L range U 0.35 - 4.94 saying suppressed assuming uncomplicated primary hypothyroidism ( what ever that means ?) Dr's comment: Supressed

Free T4. 16.7 pmol/L range U 9 - 9 Dr's: comment : FT4 16+

Serum Ferritin. 53 ug/L. Range U 10 - 204. Dr's comment : normal

Serum Folate 16.1 Range U 3.1 - 20 Drs comment : normal

Vitamin D 126 nmol/L range 50-300 nmol/L adequate vitamin D although a concentration. Note: this test should not be used to asses vitimin D status in patients patients taking 1a hydroxycholecaliferol (alfacalcidol one- alpha) I take adcal D 2 X 1500mg/400 daily not sure if they are the above ? DRs comments| : Vit D >120

Last blood tests I had following done on 200mgs of Levo TEVO

TSH 0.004miu range 0.35 - 4.94 red flagged

Free T4 22.9 pmol/L range U 9-19 red flagged

Free T3 5.0 pmol/L range 2.8 - 5.7 Dr commented : normal

They never did T3 this time. I'm not sure when people are saying it's too high or low it's all double Dutch to me so if some one could explain saying it would be better at ie number 1 or 5 .. I would understand it a bit more thank you , I still don't feel right yet

[greygoose]

Well, I'll try and explain.

TSH is a pituitary hormone that is secreted when the pituitary senses that there is not enough thyroid hormone in the blood. The less thyroid hormone there is, the higher the TSH. This is what is known as Primary Hypo - high TSH, low FT4/FT3.

FT4 and FT3 are tests for thyroid hormones T3 and T4. T4 is a storage hormone which has to be converted into T3, the active hormone, needed by every single cell in your body. And, it's low T3 that causes symptoms.

So, if we look at your test when you were on TEVO...

Your TSH is suppressed. But, that's ok, because you don't need it anymore. You're taking thyroid hormone replacement.

Your FT4 is over-range. Which is probably why your doctor reduced your levo.

However, your FT3 isn't over-range, it's actually very good. BUT, you had to have your FT4 over-range in order to get your FT3 to that good level, which isn't good, if you see what I mean. It means that you don't convert terribly well, and you probably have too much unconverted T4 in your system. Which isn't good.

But, if you reduce your levo (T4), your FT4 will go down - as you see in your second test - but so will your FT3.

Looking at your new FT4, it's done down a lot. So, maybe reducing by 25 mcg daily was too much. It might have been better to reduce by 25 every other day. So, one day you take 200 mcg, the next day you take 175 mcg. That way, your FT4 will be higher, and therefore so will your FT3.

But, of course, the most important question is : how did you feel on these two doses? Which one suited you best?

[Pascha1 in reply to greygoose]

I felt worse the 1st time , had a few days where I felt bit better then have gone down hill a bit , but never felt 100% but thank you for explaining everything it makes a bit more sense now. So it proves the TSH isn't a good way of testing everyone and sounds like I would do better on T4/ T3 mix waiting for Endo appt but I won't hold my breath from recent them stopping prescribing so may need someone to give me names of suppliers etc and help me know how much I should be taking of it or some how get NDT prescribed ? Thank you typical they stopped doing it when I probably needed it but didn't know about it as never felt good since taking Levo

[greygoose in reply to Pascha1]

Well, I'm sure that if you post a new question asking people to PM you their trusted sources of T3, someone will get in touch.