New blood results

Hello all. Haven’t posted in a while, but still struggling with meds. Managed to get up to 75 Levothyroxine, any higher and I start having symptoms of overactive. Due to see Endo next week, but have some results that I would appreciate any comments on before I see him. I am wondering if I am not converting T4 to T3. Weight gain, flushing etc. I have Hashimotos and recently had a scan on my thyroid which revealed the thyroid gland is small. Doctor said he won’t test for T3. So no way of knowing if I have a conversion problem. Hopefully someone here may be able to advise.

TSH - 2.93. mIu/L. 0.27 - 4.2 (range)

Free Thyroxine - 19.4 pmoI/L. 12.00 - 22

Free T3 - 3.71. pool/L. 3.10 - 6.8

I had a test done for just T3 a few weeks before this.

Triiodothyronine 1.5. nmol/L. 1.3 - 3.1

(Also had a magnesium test which was ok)

Any help to decipher these results would be great.

Thank you

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Are you now on strictly gluten free diet as advised in previous post?

Have you had vitamin D tested

Also B12, folate and ferritin

Are you still taking PPI for acid reflux?

Low vitamin levels are common when hypothyroid and especially with Hashimoto’s

PPI also lowers B12 and magnesium

Search low stomach acid on here

Lots of posts

Symptoms of low stomach acid and high stomach acid are very similar. But treatment is very different

[Hidden in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi SlowDragon

Thank you for replying.

Yes, changed to gluten free and Vit D was tested and came back low, so I’m taking supplements.

Not checked B12, folate and ferritin so will look into that.

Have changed Lansoprazole to Ranitidine and now on a lower dose. I read on here about acid reflux so started lowering dose gradually as I was on quite a high dose to begin with.

Did a magnesium test four weeks after coming off Lansoprazole and it came back fine.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Good you are making progress then

[Hidden in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes, thanks to this site and the members, 👍 sharing information and helping us. I’ve discovered so much on here, and would still be in the dark if I hadn’t found it 😊

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Yes I was same. Over 20 years believing medics.

Only with fantastic help from on here have I made full recovery

[Hidden in reply to SlowDragon]

It’s great to hear what has worked for people and gives us some hope. So glad you are now well.

[Hidden]

Hi reallyfedup, thanks for replying.

I’ve had a suspicion this is the case. It would explain many symptoms.

[thyroidrose]

Kanga it does look like maybe you're not converting or you maybe could try one more increase in the T4 alone before giving up and trying to add some T3. Maybe you could work your way up on the T4 VERY SLOWLY, like one additional tab every other day, some sort of rotational schedule, so you can avoid the adverse affects?

[Hidden in reply to thyroidrose]

Hi thyroidrose. Thank you for replying.

Yes, I think Endo May suggest this. I think I am on still too low dose. I suppose it’s hard to get on the right dose at all times with hashimotos as you’re up and down with it. And if there is a conversion problem, it may only make matters worse.

[Marz]

You really need to know levels of B12 - Folate - Ferritin - as these are usually LOW with Hashi's and will be affecting the conversion of T4 into T3.

How low was VitD and how much are you taking ?

grassrootshealth.net

vitamindcouncil.org

[Hidden in reply to Marz]

Hi Marz

I will get those checked out, thank you. Doc just said Vit D was low, never thought to get a copy of results of that. But I just went and bought over the counter Fultium daily Vit D3 400lU that same day. I probably need to get levels checked again.

[Marz in reply to Hidden]

400 iu's is a tiny dose and will not have much impact on levels. Try to obtain results so someone can help with dose. If your VitD is low then it is more than likely you have LOW B12 - Folate - Ferritin which will not help your conversion. Wondered why you are seeing sn Endo ? - hope all goes well.

Always obtain copies of all your test results - they are legally yours. It will help you to monitor your progress and spot what has been missed 😊

[Hidden in reply to Marz]

Will do Marz. Thanks again for all your help. Onwards and upwards with renewed hope 😊

[silverfox7]

I managed to reverse my conversation problem by raising VIT D, folate and B12. Ferritin I think was ok. It took about 5 months though but that depends on how low you are. For various reasons I wanted to go back to NDT but I'd also seen advisable to get levels right first as might find NDT a problem. It all went very smoothly and been pretty stable since.

[Hidden in reply to silverfox7]

Hi silverfox,

That’s good to know this worked for you, thank you for the info. Will look into this.

[Hidden]

Thank you for all the the info, I will have a look into those.