Range 12 to 22: No - not Free T4 - but room... - Thyroid UK

Thyroid UK

141,208 members166,441 posts

Range 12 to 22

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator
53 Replies

No - not Free T4 - but room temperature!

Today's advice is:

Staying warm by heating your home to at least 18°C can be crucial to staying well.

I'd hazard a guess that ordinary indoor temperatures are often in a range of something like 12 to 22 - so numerically very similar to many Free T4 ranges. But the health promoters can clearly see that many of us need 18 (towards the top of the range) on a thermometer. And at the same time claim 12.1 as being adequate for Free T4.

Time to update it:

Staying well by raising your Free T4 to at least 18 can be crucial to staying well.

Better? :-)

(Yes - well aware that not everyone would want that level of FT4, that T3-takers might be shocked, etc. Just meant to highlight the ludicrous nature of medical advice and practice.)

I imagine suggesting your GP reduce their office temperature to 12 - because it is in range - would go down very badly. They'd blame patients for needing it much warmer.

Written by
helvella profile image
helvella
Administrator
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Read more about...
53 Replies
BadHare profile image
BadHare

My kitchen's only been above 15° when I've forgotten to turn the cooker off, though I'm quite cosy thanks to my THs! :)

TSH110 profile image
TSH110

The higher the better in my book! 23degC plus suits me temperature wise but I guess my free T4 would be over range! Perhaps it does not matter on NDT 😂🤣😊. Is it also applicable to free T3 I wonder?

Great analogy 🌞

TSH110 profile image
TSH110

BadHare Gosh that is really cold I’d be frozen in your house! I lived in Africa for a bit with a temp of 34deg that was my idea of heaven anything less and on went the arran cardie my mum knitted for me! I have never really felt that warm since I came back! NDT helped a bit.

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

NDT makes a big difference temperature wise, & I only take half a grain. I couldn’t tolerate heat or sun until I started THs. The cost is definitely offset by my low heating bills! 😀🌞🔥

It was -1 when I left home this morning, & I’m pleasantly aware only my feet are cold. ❄️☀️😁

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

BadHare You’d find working outside now perfect. I dress up until I look like a mitchelin man! Are you one of those hard northerners that run round in a skimpy frock and strappy thigh heels in the freezing cold of winter, clubbing on a Friday night?!!

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

I'm not THAT northern, though I remember wearing a beer coat on occasion in my youth. ;)

I am presently dressed up like a Michelin Man indoors, as my boiler's broken. A hot coffee makes the bracing shower tolerable, as the caffeine gives me a heat rush, then I depend on thick thermals, a down jacket, hot tea & soup for the rest of the day. Three years ago, this would have killed me, now I'm delighted that I'm no longer heating the flat of my elephant footed neighbour!

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

BadHare lol I had visions of you in a cold Yorkshire city striding out for a night on the town! They are hard up North! I remember walking home three miles in snow ⛄️ in a ridiculous pair of strappy heels and a flimsy party dress at 3am in Sheffield and I did not learn my lesson repeating it along snowy country lanes in Cumbria after lock-ins at the local pub with everyone so enebriated the car or land rover we arrived in was abandoned - those were the younger wilder days of a mispent youth.

I find silk thermals are the best under layers - very light and easy on the skin but tremendously insulating against the elements they do not hold moisture either. I hope your boiler gets sorted so you can shed a few layers and get a warm shower 😊 I have been a bit better and actually turned my heating off before June last summer!

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

I'm on't'other side, though I do like Yorkshire, & have had some good nights out at The Treadmill! :D

Heels & ice don't mix, & is more painful than snow, as I remember.

I have lots of M&S thermals, as well as too man fleeces to count. I've yet to resort to the silk top as I'm clearly not cold enough. Over ear headphones are also good for keeping my hoodie in place & preventing draughts. :)

I lit my coal fire all months but August, up until 2015!

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

BadHare I have been tempted by the cosie looking options M&S offer up in the thermal line good to know that they are a recommended buy. I think you might mean the Leadmill rather than the Treadmill in Sheffield unless that is a nickname for it. Many a fun night dancing to punk bands in there for me I even tangoed down the street with a stranger outside on one occasion - crazy days! Gone are the miners and whippets and flat caps.....I have kept a lot of whippets over the years such darling dogs! They’d like your pre 2015 coal fire 🔥 and my Italian greyhounds even more they like it HOT! They are also very prone to hypothyroidism.

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

They're great, & soon to be on sale if you can wait a month or so. They stay lovely & soft, which is good as I find merino underthings like wearing a brillo.

You have lovely dogs, & have made me jealous! I used to have a rescued racing greyhound that was a bit of a character, as was my friend's, who looked like Santa's Little Helper from The Simpsons. At least you have the option of putting another dog on the bed to keep warm! :D

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

BadHare those whippets (gone over rainbow bridge now) saved my life when I was so cold I thought I was going to freeze to death they would get on top of me in a big huddle to keep me warm they day I got the tablets after a call from the doc instructing me to get and take them immediately and on no condition should I wait until after the Christmas break. That night I was so cold even with my cuddly hot water bottles I though god I have had it. I laid there and longed to die I felt so dire it was unbearably cold. I was gobsmacked to wake up the next day feeling a tiny bit less cold with hounds still in place! I roared with laughter at the Merino Brillo description the modern day equivalent of medieval hair shirts for penance but imagine the added horror of flea bites!! I had a pal who was once a novice monk in a flagellating order. The old timers would go into the stalls with whip and yell and scream as they hit the walls! In the end the voted to get rid of it as a nonsense - the poor novices taking it seriously whipped themselves raw!! I will give them a whirl there is one with Merino in it but I guess that is not the ones you have!! We have two greyhounds as well wonderful dogs all of them from little to large! I’m being hijacked for a cuddle by a whippet 😍😊😉

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

Fleeces are like dogs in my book - you cannot have too many of them!!!

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

I'd love 20 dogs, & also the space & money to feed them!!! :D

SilverAvocado profile image
SilverAvocado

Hehe, I feel like the numbers 12-22 are tattooed on my brain never to be forgotten.

It can be the secret thyroid password when we get our clubhouse sorted out ;)

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toSilverAvocado

We need a secret sign too! Maybe a tap on the thyroid with the left little finger 🤟🏻

SilverAvocado profile image
SilverAvocado in reply toBadHare

I'm trying to think of the most characteristic gesture we have to repeatedly make... Stabbing with a lancet? Spraying calves or under tongue? Sucking a sublingual tablet...

The description that really sticks with me is Schenks injecting B12 into an exposed muffin top. Of course that means only people with muffin tops coukd get into the clubhouse ;)

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toSilverAvocado

SilverAvocado who doesn’t have muffin tops even teenie ones with a tight belt!! Or perhaps tuk could market a falsie muffin top for those in need and help funds too boot!

SilverAvocado profile image
SilverAvocado in reply toTSH110

Hehe, falsie muffin top :D

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toSilverAvocado

A young lady I once taught delighted in removing her "chicken fillet" breast enhancers in public...

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

BadHare there must be an interesting or disturbing story behind why she enjoyed doing that!

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

Usually when she was drunk, as a sort of party trick, I think!

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

BadHare That is funny! I still am intregued as to what drove her exhibitionism.

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

I've seen far worse from younger kids, having taught in an interesting sort of school..!

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toBadHare

Yes one shudders to think what has happened to them - I know an ed pschycologist who had to deal with people who had undergone really distressing abuse and whole families involved in the most vile and disfunctionable behaviour. Human beings can be very depraved and corrupting to others

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

Sad, but all too true!

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toSilverAvocado

That's me in, though for a minute, I wondered why anyone would inject B12 in a cake, unless it was the Northern oven bottom type! I'm contemplating SI B12, so that's an option I hadn't considered.

Also feeling silly today, so wondering if I sucked a lemon & poppy seed muffin for long enough, would I absorb enough to have optimal intake, or just end up with seeds in my teeth?

SilverAvocado profile image
SilverAvocado in reply toBadHare

If you're considering it, Schenks ' amazing description of how to do it painlessly is very informative, and also very funny. I think it was in the anaemia forum, tho I'm sure you can find it thru her profile.

SilverAvocado profile image
SilverAvocado in reply toSilverAvocado

I searched this up and turns out I remembered it a little bit wrong. The thread was a question about how to inject, lots of people gave very useful information. Schenks' comment was just the most descriptive and memorable :)

healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po...

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toSilverAvocado

That's an interesting post!

I'm quite happy sticking acupuncture needles in myself, & have SI with heparin which was a big mistake on the part of the hospital. With the latter in mind, what puzzles me is the malarkey with the different sized needles, & why the B12 manufacturers don't sell them ready loaded to avoid so much faff?

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toBadHare

They are available pre-loaded. But much more expensive and possibly not the same range of forms (e.g. maybe cyano- but not methyl- ?)

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply tohelvella

I'm not so happy with cyanocobalamin sublinguals, which I recently bought by mistake, & didn't spot my error until I felt dreadful.

I looked at the German company that sell vials for SI, but haven't spotted an with needles intact, which I need as an OTC type medication.

Cariad-y-Mor profile image
Cariad-y-Mor

Giggle giggle helvella - love it....especially the bit about GP being told to reduce their office temperature because it is in range, 😀

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toCariad-y-Mor

Cariad-y-Mor that should be made law - they would soon start upping doses to something more effective to get a working temperature reinstated in their office !!

Cariad-y-Mor profile image
Cariad-y-Mor in reply toTSH110

Yup TSH110 that sounds good to me. Then when they complain the office temperature is too cold just tell them as it is in range it must all be in their heads...,and give them antidepressants. 😀😀😀😀

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toCariad-y-Mor

Don't forget the statins!

Cariad-y-Mor profile image
Cariad-y-Mor in reply tohelvella

Oh yes helvella ....and tell them to lose weight. !😀😀

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply toCariad-y-Mor

Cariad-y-Mor the quadruple whammy!! Love it 😍

BadHare profile image
BadHare in reply toTSH110

ONLY if they made the correlation, & I'm getting round to thinking they're not that bright!

Kell-E profile image
Kell-E in reply toBadHare

Sadly, they would probably miss the point.

TSH110 profile image
TSH110

Cariad-y-Mor helvella

Such sweet revenge 😂🤣😂!!!

Cariad-y-Mor profile image
Cariad-y-Mor in reply toTSH110

😀😀

LAHs profile image
LAHs

OK you Americans and others in backward non metric countries, here they all are in order of appearance:

degsC degsF;

12 = 53.6;

22 = 71.6;

18 = 64.4;

15 = 59.0;

23 = 73.4;

34 = 93.2;

-1 = 30.2;

So there you go, re read it, it will all make sense now.

Kell-E profile image
Kell-E in reply toLAHs

Hey, we know what a 2-liter bottle is, lol...

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toKell-E

And we know what a 2-litre bottle is. :-) :-) :-)

Kell-E profile image
Kell-E in reply tohelvella

Yeah, well it's pretty much the only metric measure we have any concept of. We just spell it differently, lol...

LAHs profile image
LAHs in reply toKell-E

Of course! BTW research what an English pint is before you order one in a pub.

Kell-E profile image
Kell-E in reply toLAHs

Will do :) Once in Germany our group met a lad who looked to be about 12. When he said he was 17 someone exclaimed, 'Is that in Celsius?' Ha, ha...

Kell-E profile image
Kell-E in reply tohelvella

They did such a terrible job of trying to introduce the metric system in the US. They did the 1kg = 2.2lbs thing. So we only ever tried to translate English to metric, and had no visual concept of anything metric. Except for the 2-liter bottle. It's all we know :) Well, I guess we are sort of versed in the 1-liter bottle now as well...

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toLAHs

Even the USA is catching up - slowly...

... as of July 1996 all surface temperature observations in National Weather Service METAR/TAF reports are now transmitted in degrees Celsius.

It has defied any sense whatsoever that broadcast UK weather forecasts continue to include Fahrenheit temperatures - though more recently it seems somewhat less often.

Or just ignore every other temperature and only ever refer to -40.

LAHs profile image
LAHs

When I was growing up (in England) I only understood temps above freezing point. Below that we just called it one degree of frost - or if you were very unlucky a couple of days a year you would have to walk to school in two degrees of frost. I had a very rude awakening when I lived briefly in eastern Canada, I just didn't know where I was on minus 20 and the like.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toLAHs

I always understood that the zero in Fahrenheit was established as the lowest practically achievable temperature at the time - using salt and ice. It does look like the intention was to avoid the need for negative numbers. But Russia, the poles, and Canada weren't properly considered. :-)

And the difference between freezing and boiling points was 180 degrees - two right angles.

Kell-E profile image
Kell-E in reply tohelvella

Much of the northern half of the US gets well below 0F. We actually measure temps by how stiff your car seat is.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toKell-E

The Wiki article is surprisingly readable:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahre...

Not what you're looking for?

You may also like...

The Lab have lowered their Free T4 reference range

It has been a year since my last bloods. My Free T4 was 23.9 and the reference range was 12 to 22...
Chippysue profile image

Sorry - another person with test results, told in range. Thank you if you can advise!

I have a mother and whose own mother and all siblings have underactive thyroid. I am 48. I have...
puddlelover profile image

Continuing on Carbimazole despite being in range?

Hi everyone, I am looking for a bit of advice if possible. A few months ago I had an imuno...
nataliem19 profile image

Low T4 - ? need to adjust T4/T3 medication ratio

Blood Results 8/12/17 on Levothyroxine 100 mcg and Liothyronine 20mcg Free T4 13.00 (9...

Help with test results please: T3 only, why is TSH not higher if FT3 and FT4 below range?

Hi all I’ve been on T3 only for about 6 months now, started off on 5mcg/day, then 10mcg/day, went...
cazzaleo profile image

Moderation team

See all
SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator
PurpleNails profile image
PurpleNailsAdministrator
Buddy195 profile image
Buddy195Administrator

Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.

Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.