Results

[Sashal]

Hi new member not diagnosed what are results please thanks

TPO ANTIBODY 256.3 (<34)

TG ANTIBODY >1300 (<115)

TSH 34.5 (0.2 - 4.2)

FT4 10.2 (12 - 22)

FREE T3 2.8 (3.1 - 6.8)

[shaws Administrator]

Your doctor should prescribe as you have an Autoimmune Thyroid Disease called hashimoto's, confirmed by the presence of antibodies. Your TSH is also high indicative of hypothyroidism.

Your doctor should prescribe 50mcg of levothyroxine and every six weeks you should have a new blood test with an increase of 25mcg each time until you are symptom free and TSH is 1 or below. Many doctors seem to believe that a TSH 'somewhere' in the range is fine but it isn't.

Both FT4 and FT3 need to be towards the upper part of the range.

To help reduce the attack of the antibodies on your thyroid gland, going gluten free can help.

Blood tests have to be at the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose and test and take afterwards.

If GP hasn't tested B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate, ask for these to be done.

Levothyroxine should be taken first thing with one full glass of water and wait about an hour before eating. Food interferes with the uptake of the hormones.

Some people prefer bedtime dose, in that case you should last have eaten, particularly protein, about 3 hours previously. You miss this dose if having a blood test next a.m. and take after test and bedtime dose as usual.

[startagaingirl]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

What your results mean is that you have hashimotos auto-immune hypothyroid. That means that your immune system is attacking your thyroid by mistake, destroying the cells and hence leaving it unable to produce all the hormone you need.

You need to take those results to your GP asap. They should start you on ideally 50mcg (possibly 25 if other issues or really cautious) of levothyroxine. You need to take this either first thing in morning, 1 hr before any food or drink except water, or at night as long as it is at least 2 hrs after food. You need to go back for another blood test every 6-8 weeks and have your dose raised by 25mcg each time until your tsh is around 1. Be proactive on testing, don't wait to be called in. Always get a print-out copy of all test results - you are netitled to them by law. The other numbers are important and can be used for fine tuning once you get tsh down to 1ish.

Hashimotos is triggered when a condition called leaky gut allows food particles through into the bloodstream that shouldn't be there. This then irritates the immune system and leaves it hyper-sensitive, attacking the thyroid in a case of mistaken identity. The normal trigger food for this is gluten, though some also react to dairy and soy. It is recommended that anyone with this condition undertakes a trial of a strict gluten free diet for at least 3 months to see if it makes a difference.

The damage caused to the gut by this, along with low stomach acid, causes almost universal serious nutritional deficiencies. Hence you really need to have vit d, vit b12, folate and ferritin tested as well. These all need to be at fairly high optimum levels, not just in range, for thyroid hormone to be used effectively. These can be tested privately if GP won't do them all.

There is a lot to learn about thyroid and the medical community typically know very little about it. Hence we need to become our own experts. A good place to start learning is our parent website thyroiduk.org.

Gillian

[Sashal in reply to startagaingirl]

Hi I have results of these already also got ulcers under my tongue, I think I have some sort of inflammation going on but can't tell because C reactive protein and ESR are always low thanks

[startagaingirl in reply to Sashal]

Hashimotos will produce inflammation that doesn't necessarily show in CRP or ESR. Mouth ulcers can be a symptom of coeliac - do you have any other obvious digestive issues?