Help please to make sense of my Medichecks results

[cee_cee]

I'd be really grateful for some comments on my results please. I have Hashimoto's and just the same as everyone else can't get T3/T4 checked. My doctor wanted me to go to Nuffield but it was very expensive. For the same price I have had a thyroid profile and cortisol from Medichecks. It's been pretty straightforward and I think I would use them again. My understanding is TSH needs to be as low as possible and T3/T4 needs to be high. Have I got that right?

I'm on 75mcg of Thyroxine and I need to see the GP again but she will say T3 and T4 are fine based on these results as they are not out of range. However, Medichecks have said TSH means I am under-medicated but NHS checks have been fine.

THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE *4.28 mIU/L 0.27 - 4.20

FREE THYROXINE 16.3 pmol/L 12.00 - 22.00

TOTAL THYROXINE(T4) 103.0 nmol/L 59.00 - 154.00

FREE T3 4.09 pmol/L 3.10 - 6.80

THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODY 47.100 IU/mL 0.00 - 115.00

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES *105 IU/mL 0.00 - 34.00

CORTISOL 469.000 nmol/l 133.00 537.00

[Greybeard]

Once you are taking levothyroxine it is usual to aim for a level of 1.0 or below. You need a dose increase and a retest in 6 to 8 weeks

[silverfox7]

Yes undermedicated. The aim is to get FT4 and FT3 in the top third or even the top quarter of their respective ranges.

[cee_cee in reply to silverfox7]

Thanks. Let's see if we can get the GP to agree with this.

I'm not too sure if I left the medication off too long for the check. I took the last dose Tuesday AM and took the test Thursday AM. Would it have been better to have took the last dose Wednesday AM and has this skewed the results?

[silverfox7]

Would have been better to take your last dose the day before the test.

[cee_cee in reply to silverfox7]

Ok thank you. I will give it some time and repeat the test. I had read the following so didn't think it would make a massive difference.

"In regards to T4-only meds such as Levothyroxine and Synthroid, T4 has a half-life of around five to nine days, which means that once you’ve become stable on a dose, it takes around a week for half of that dose to clear the body and blood levels to reflect this. This is why, when some people decide to stop taking it, they feel fine for the first week or so. T4 has a slow, steady release.

Therefore, whether you take T4-only medication right before your blood test, or haven’t taken it for up to forty-eight hours beforehand, your TSH levels and Free T3 levels should still be the same. So you should get an accurate reading of your TSH and Free T3 levels whether or not you take T4 medication before a blood test. Levels of free T4, however, will show a peak two hours after your T4 medication is given".