Is it odd to have a high TSH and also high free T3 and free T4

[Alexis12345]

20 year old male here, been suffering from extreme sleepiness especially in the afternoons.

Is it odd that my TSH is high (fluctuates from 3.4 to 4.8) but my free T3 and free T4 levels are at the higher end of the range, I’ve also tested negative for antibodies.

Any info would be appreciated, I’ve dropped out of uni and quit my job due to the tiredness and need to get my life back ASAP..

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Can you add your most recent actual results and ranges for TSH, FT3 and FT4 plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 too

[silverfox7]

Poor you, my sympathies. Have a look at the Thyroid Uk site. They run this forum and have loads of info on the site. I'm just wondering if you, through no fault of your own, doing something that affects the readings. There are several do's and don't's to consider but doctors don't seem to know about this to let us know.

Can you post your last set of results as well as that might help spot something as well. Don't forget the ranges as they differ from lab to lab. The TSH Reading seem to suggest undermedicated as does wanting to sleep in the afternoon so we need to see if there is room for a dose increase

[StarFlower2]

Me too Alexis12345. My last results showed my TSH at 10.4 and T4 at very top of my range. They didn’t test my T3’s at the last blood draw but in the past it’s been high.

I few years ago I also had high RT3 and my symptoms were very hypothyroid. Chronic fatigue, hair loss. Low temps, constipation etc,.. At that time I followed a T3 only medication protocol to reduce the RT3, then I had 3 months without medication. Blood tests after this showed high TSH as previously mentioned. The endocrinologist prescribed Liquid Levothyroxine at 25mcg daily. It helped but I was still getting low fatigue particularly in the late afternoon so I decided to self medicate with Liothyronine 6.35mcg at 5pm. This really helped and I’m starting to feel much better.

I will have thyroid blood tests in the next few week and will be interested to see how this levo:T3 combination is working for me. If I go by how I feel I can say it’s working.

I’d be interested to hear how the medics treat you....keep us updated and good luck.

By the way, make sure you get vitamin and minerals tested too.

[SilverAvocado]

The short answer, yes it is odd.

TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone, is produced in your pituitary to call the thyroid into action when your thyroid hormone levels are low. The lower the levels are, the higher you'd expect TSH to be, and when levels are high, TSH gets low.

I agree with others, that you need to post the actual results and members will have more to comment on. When anything is very unusual, the first thing to check for is doctor error!

I'd also probably get a retest a couple of months later. One explanation for results like this could be a short term flare up of Hashimoto's, also called autoimmune thyroid disease. This causes sudden high levels of hormone to be dumped into the system, and it can take different lengths of time for these numbers to catch up.

Another possibility that springs to mind is a pituitary tumour, or some other breakdown in the feedback system that produces TSH. In this situation your pituitary could be producing out of control extra TSH, and your thyroid will respond to tho TSH by making more hormone.