Hi All yes I'm yet another one confused by test results & yet another one with all the symptoms of underactive thyroid and have had for some years. I do have other health problems so I belong to quite a few of the groups on here but new symptoms come along all the time!! The latest being tachycardia and referral to Cardiology and awaiting appointment. I keep thinking nothing else can happen but then it surely does and the things that have always been pretty good for me are beginning to creak now. It does nothing for the soul.
However I would very much appreciate any comments on these results I've just got.
I was low in T3 10 years ago but that was righted with T3 supplement and meds stopped.
Serum free T4 level 7.5 pmol/L [7.5 - 21.1] Borderline No Further Action
Serum free T3 level 4.30 pmol/L [3.1 - 6.8] Normal No Further Action
Serum TSH level 1.02 miu/L [0.34 - 5.6] Satisfactory No Further Action
My GP said she will retest in 6 weeks time as she's concerned re Free T4 level. I've read quite a lot about how the thyroid works but foggy brain sets in and well you know the rest!!
At least my sense of humour remains intact - for now!!!
SallyBxx
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Sallybones
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Your free T3 level is too low. It should be around 5.2 which is in the upper third of the range.
You really do need to state what medications you are on and what conditions you have as this probably interferes with your free T3 - which is the active hormone.
In addition be aware depending on what other issues you have we may not be able to give you suitable advice as we don't want to kill you.
I'm not on any thyroid medication and although I was slightly low in T3 back in 2003 as soon as it was back in range my GP took me off the T3 tablets I was prescribed with. I was tested a couple of times after but was told Thyroid was back to 'normal' and that was that.
Since then I had Uterine cancer in 2012 and radical hysterectomy though no chemo. Very lucky.
Although my health gradually deteriorated since 2002 when I was 45, it seemed to speed up after hysterectomy in 2012. I've had the usual diagnoses chronic fatigue, fibro etc etc, checked for MS and been round lots of consultants
I take vitamin D3, Magnesium, zinc, folic acid and self inject with B12. I'm intolerant of most drugs so avoid pain relief as much as possible. I often get offered antidepressants which drives me mad as I keep saying I believe a lot of my symptoms are linked and not in my head!!
My B12 was low but just within range and with no offer of help turned to self injecting but I think other things are out of kilter too.
My diet isn't great as constipation has been a problem for so long and when I used to get severe migraines my body would shut down. I only get bad ones now and again but have constant low grade migraine and numbness on left side of head and nausea. I seem to be in a vicious circle.
I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis and low D3 in 2013 but am resisting Osteo drugs as having lots of dental treatment (my teeth also deteriorated very fast in 2013).
Endo wrote me off but I'm waiting for coeliac biopsy result from Gastro man too after colonoscopy and endoscopy.
It just seems like my body is shutting down.
Hope that gives you a better view of my health as it's very hard to put in a nutshell!
These sites have been so much more helpful than any health professional and gives me the heart to keep pushing on.
If you have nutrient deficiencies you will be depressed.
If you have chronic pain you will be depressed.
Sorting out your issues with those will help to alleviate your depression.
Finally thyroid issues lead to depression.
Btw have you checked you are on enough vitamin D for your blood level? Frequently doctors don't tell patients to take enough and say cr*p like taking more than 800iu per day is dangerous.
I don't actually feel depressed just extremely frustated and fed up because my energy levels are zilch like a flat battery and I can do less and less to the point of coming to a standstill.
I take 1000 units of D3 per day with K2 mk7 and yes you're right my GP suggested only 800 units per week!
I'm thinking though from both your reply and silverfox7 that I should be on thyroid medication?
You will need to have two tests showing the low free T4 before the GP will put you on thyroid medication - it is standard protocol - and due to the problem being low free T4 the GP may refer you to an endo.
Btw you should actually find out what your vitamin D result is as 1,000IU may not be enough. The NHS is suppose to do tests a minimum of yearly in people who have been found to be severely deficient or have bone issues. They don't to save money therefore you may have to do it privately. The cheapest for just vitamin D is City Assays. They do a finger prick test which is done by post. Oh and you really want your level over 75nmol/L but preferably around 100nmol/l but not over 150nmol/l
thanks bluebug. I will check my last vitamin D result. I think it was still below the halfway mark of the range. When I have my repeat thyroid test I will ask my GP to do vitamin D again. She's quite supportive in that way.
I saw an endo early last year and she was so awful and dismissive of me I complained to the hospital. I don't do that lightly. I saw another one at the same hospital but they knew nothing about B12 and were only interested in my osteoporosis and whether I was diabetic or not. I'm not.
Hi Sally, I was reading an article about DHEA which is one of the steroids put out by the adrenal gland. The adrenal gland has some control over T3 but DHEA seems to impact bones. I wonder if your other hormones should be checked. Progesterone is also a bone builder. stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...
Yes, Sally. Many of us have tried Adrenal cortex, Siberian Ginseng, Licorice Root or on the other hand something to reduce cortisol which is the stress hormone and often too high. All that may affect the way your thyroid hormone works or doesn't work for you. If doctors know little about the thyroid I'm sure they know even less about the adrenals. But this man knows all about both.
So are these results taking T3 or back to taking T4? When on any form of T3 then results are read differently and the only accurate on is T3 which should be high in range , FT4 can drop and TSH should be suppressed.
If you are just taking Levo then you are undermedicated as the aim is to get both FT4 and FT3 in the top third or even top quarter of their respective ranges. Yours are rock bottom.
Hi silverfox7 thanks so much for replying. I'm not on any medication for thyroid and have'nt been since 2003. My healths just gradually deteriorated to the point of no life at all really.
I hope you can read the reply I've just posted above and then give me your thoughts.
These sites are a life saver when you feel at your wits end.
When your doctor gave you T3 to take, do you remember what your levels were? TSH? FT4? FT3? I'm wondering if anybody's thought to check for Central hypo, where the problem is with the pituitary or the hypothalamus, meaning that there is not enough TSH secreted to stimulate the thyroid.
Your low nutrients would fit with being hypo - also the diagnosis of CFS and fibro, etc. If your thyroid hormones are low, everything will go to pot and the body shut down. Your FT3 in that test isn't too bad, but given your level of FT4, how long can that last? I think you really, seriously should get your doctors to investigate Central hypo.
thanks greygoose for a good explanation. I wasn't privy to my results back in 2003 which was the beginning of my health nose dive! I was just told my T3 was slightly under range.
Will look up about central hypo now before repeat blood test in 6 weeks.
After radical hysterectomy one doctor was willing to try HRT low dose oestrogen patches to see if they helped other symptoms but it was a negative response from cancer gynie because of the type of cancer I'd had.
I have to say I was willing to trial anything for a time if it gave me some quality of life.
It seemed I hit a brick wall with anyone I saw. Hence I quicly realised I had to take charge of my health and question the 'experts'.
One should always question the 'experts', because they're not always as 'expert' as they think they are! You know the saying : in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king? That very often applies to endos, because very few doctors every know very much about thyroid. However, the think they do! And that's where the problem arise.
So glad to see that diogenes agrees with me about central hypo! He really is an expert. So, it is something to think about very seriously. And, if the problem is with the pituitary, other essential hormones are going to be low, too. But, the bog-standard 'experts' we see everyday, never think about central hypo. They say it's 'rare'. Well, everything is rare if you never check for it!
Oh thank you. I've said to my GP all along and most of the consultants I've seen that I've always felt that most of my symptoms were connected and that it was something underlying causing the problem.
I learned to question the 'experts' when I was diagnosed with utterine cancer. I had a gut feeling I was not at all well but because I didn't have the 'usual symptoms' for that type of cancer, it was passed over. However one night I sat on the floor and thought 'I'm on my way out here'. Booked an appointment first thing next day. Told my GP the same thing and I don't know what changed her mind but she sent me for urgent scan and the rest was like a whirlwind. I'm so lucky to be here.
It certainly taught me a lesson to act on my own thoughts and feelings and to keep pushing them.
I do like your last line. I've often said to my friend that because we live where we do (a quiet little market town) that we aren't allowed to have rare diseases etc!!
Doctors seem to find it difficult to accept that we know our own bodies. Their attitude is that, as we haven't been to med school, we can't possibly know anything! How wrong they are!
I once had a terrible pain in my hip. I told doctors it was my hip joint. They laughed at me and told me the pain was in the wrong place! Well, after ten days in hospital, lots of arguing, several unnecessary and very expensive tests, being tricked into seeing a psy because obviously the pain was all in my head! (The psy put it down to empty nest syndrome! You've got to laugh!) And ending with me discharging myself in a cloud of ruffled feathers, it turned out that it was, indeed, arthritis in my hip joint! It would have saved the French social security thousands of euros, if the doctors had only listened to me!!! One would hope that that might have served them as a lesson, but I doubt it did.
One just wonders with these results about secondary hypothyroidism. Patient on no treatment ? FT4 very bottom of range, FT3 in range - FT4/FT3 ratio 1.74 (typical of a hypo state). TSH normal (not responding to hypo values). Maybe you should think of a pituitary deficiency where it cannot make TSH to respond adequately to inadequate FT4.
thanks for your reply diogenes. That's given me something to think about and read up on and put to my GP when I go again in 6 weeks time for repeat blood test.
Did that happen - did you discuss Central Hypothyroidism with your GP/Endo. Did you realise diogenes is an Analyst and involved with lots of thyroid research ?
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