Just got my latest results online, the first after being discharged by my endo back to my GP. On Levo 75mcg.
FT3 3.6 (3-6.6)
FT4 14.5 (11-23)
TSH 4.6 (0.27-4.5)
Comment on the report is 'satisfactory, no action needed. '
No one contacted me to say the tsh was out of range presumably because it is under the 10.
My GP said when agreeing to my re test that unless they called I should now just wait 6 months until my next one. They didn't call. I feel that the fact it is out of range is just being ignored because it isn't marked in red.
Will they listen if I go back since they put no action needed on my record already?
Oh and I was refused a new Vit D test because my last one after the loading dose was 74nmol (previously 17) and I was told that this is probably better than most in the area.
Written by
AngieAsh
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I would make a complaint about the biochemist commenting that no action was needed when they have not examined you let alone it being none of their business. I would tell your GP you are not well, they are failing you, the numbers are poor and you need an increase now, that they are not following guidance on the treatment of hypothyroidism. We have to be assertive or even blunt if doctors make such elimentary errors or simply just don't care.
Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, 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 articles from Thyroid UK email print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor please email Dionne at
tukadmin@thyroiduk.org
You could request list of recommended thyroid specialists
Suggest you make an appointment to see GP and request 25mcg dose increase
If you don't get any where then will need to see a recommended specialist
Your will need to self supplement vitamin D now to continue to improve. Testing twice yearly via vitamindtest.org.uk £29
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4, TT4, FT3 plus TPO and TG thyroid antibodies.
Plus folate, ferritin and B12, as well as vitamin D
Essential to test thyroid antibodies, plus the vitamins
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test antibodies
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.
All thyroid tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting.
If on Levothyroxine, don't take in the 24 hours prior to test, delay and take straight after. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, GP will be unaware)
If antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known by medics here in UK more commonly as autoimmune thyroid disease).
About 90% of all hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto's. Low vitamins are especially common with Hashimoto's. Food intolerances too, especially gluten. So it's important to get tested.
Go it alone, forget the NHS except for basic t4/T3 prescriptions and get some desiccated if you can’t get what you need from nhs and do private blood tests, record your doses and results and your symptoms every day and fine tune until you feel well. Then prove to your GP, with your data and observations what you need to feel well. It’s easier and more empowering than arguing with nhs clinicians who don’t get it who haven’t experienced the condition themselves and who are led to think all hypothyroidism sufferers are neurotic and that lab ranges are acceptable individual person ranges - they are not. Your euthyroid state is not defined by lab ranges or by dr toft- only you can identify it!
Read up all you can, ask questions here. You will expend less energy in educating yourself on this topic than you will argueing with an under-educated doctor, not to mention the anguish and despair which comes with the latter. In the end you want to be the one in control of your health not just the vehicle the doctor used (hopefully successfully) to educate himself, that will take years and you are the one who will suffer.
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Is this poor conversion?
Mulling over latest results - do they suggest poor conversion?
Checking results again
Results obstructed again
