Advice

[Beemac]

I was diagonised with over active throyid 2 years ago & medication to control the condition I had severe reaction which caused problems with my liver as a result I had to have a total thyroidectomy ever sine am taking levothyroxine & currently taking 87.5 every day & have gained 2 stone in weight I haven’t changed my eating habits & although am not a gym bunny but I walk on a regular basis I’ve been to the doctor on many times & on my last visit was told to join slimming world which totally crushed my self esteem & feel so so down what if anything can I do I’ve read a lot about T3 & would this be any help to me

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Beemac

It sounds as though you may be undermedicated. Can you please post your latest results and we can see if you need more Levo or whether you need the addition of T3.

For a full picture we need results, with reference ranges for

TSH

FT4

FT3

Also useful would be

Thyroid antibodies

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

[Beemac in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you I’ll get a copy from my drs & post on Monday the Drs never go through my blood results with me just tell me readings are fine

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Beemac]

Beemac

It's a good idea to get into the habit of asking for a print out of your results every time you have a blood test so you can see for yourself just how "fine" your results are

Post them on the forum when you have them and we can comment.

[Beemac in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi

These are the only reading available nothing else recorded

Serum TSH level result 0.19 MIU /L

Serum Free T4 level= result 20 pmo1/L

Nothing recorded for TSH FT4 or FT3 or anything else am going to book for a further blood test should I ask them to test for it all ?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Beemac]

Beemac

Were there no reference ranges with those results, eg

TSH - 0.19 (0.27-4.2)

Your FT4 looks high in range, it would be over range with my lab's reference range which is 7-17, but just at the top end with the range some NHS labs, and Blue Horizon/Medichecks, which is 12-22. We've also seen 9-19. So it's not possible to comment on your FT4 other than it's definitely not low.

So you have TSH and FT4, and FT3 is rarely done in primary care unless there's something definitely wrong with TSH.

You could ask for all those tests listed, doubtful you will get them all through your GP. You might want to consider a private test to include all of them, which would be

Medichecks Thyroid Check UltraVit medichecks.com/thyroid-func...

or

Blue Horizon Thyroid Check Plus Eleven bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/t...

I would say you definitely need FT3 testing at the same time as FT4 because you need to know if you are converting T4 to T3 well enough. Low T3 will cause symptoms and the inability to lose weight. If your conversion is poor you would most likely benefit from T3.

[Beemac in reply to SeasideSusie]

Ok I will have a further blood test with blue horizon wait for results than arrange a further one with the GP make appointment & discuss, as soon as I have any results will post

Thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator]

All thyroid tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. When 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)

Is this how you do your tests?

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4, TT4, FT3 plus TPO and TG thyroid antibodies and also very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

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.

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

[e-mail]

First step is to get printed copies of your blood test results and see exactly what has been tested. Too often it's just TSH or TSH and FT4......these are inadequate