Netteann Were FT4 and FT3 tested as well as TSH? I'm guessing not as your supposed to be having FT4 and FT3 done on Friday. Only when you see results for the Free Ts can you say if you are overmedicated, and it's the FT3 test that is important, if you are over range you are over medicated, if you are within range you are not.
According to the BMA's booklet, "Understanding Thyroid Disorders", many people do not feel well unless their levels are at the bottom of the TSH range or below and at the top of the FT4 range or a little above.
The booklet is written by Dr Anthony Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist. It's published by the British Medical Association for patients. Avalable on Amazon and from pharmacies for £4.95 and might be worth buying to highlight the appropriate part and show your doctor.
Also -
Dr Toft states in Pulse Magazine, "The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.
But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
You can obtain a copy of the article by emailing louise.roberts@thyroiduk.org print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor.
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A patient to patient tip for having thyroid tests done (which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists):
1) Always book the very earliest appointment of the morning
2) Fast overnight (water allowed)
This is because TSH is highest very early in the morning and lowers throughout the day, also it lowers after eating. When looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction, we need the highest possible TSH
3) Leave off Levo for 24 hours.
If you take Levo before the blood draw you will be measuring the last dose of Levo taken and FT4 will be high. If we want FT4 to show lower in range then we leave off Levo for 24 hours.
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Have you ever had thyroid antibodies tested? Do you know if you have autoimmune thyroid disease aka Hashimoto's. There are two types of antibodies - Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) and Thyroglobulin (TG). The NHS rarely does TPO and almost never does TG; however, you can be negative for TPO and positive for TG so it's important to get both done.
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Have you had vitamins and minerals tested:
Vit D
B12
Folate
Ferritin
If so please post results and tell us if you are supplementing and what doses.
I’ve never been tested for anything other than my thyroid annually checks ... so i don’t know if I have hatashimos ... or anything else related to the thyroid gland ..
I’m having Vitamin D and B12 done on Friday along with the T4 T3 ...
I’ve had vitamin D deficiency before and was in about 6 tablets a day but then they stopped giving me them about 1and half ago ...
thank you for the reply will post up my results here when I get them .
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