Elevated Thyroglobulin Antibody but dr says everything is fine

[Silverdrops]

Hello ,

I had more thyroid tests done recently because my new dr said some of my last test results early this year were "borderline" .. Mainly TSH. The former thyroid tests were ordered by my previous doctor who told me everything is normal & said nothing about borderline.

Here are the two sets of test results. Reference ranges are in parentheses.

Feb. 2018

T3 uptake 39.0 (30-39%)

T4 Free 1.04 (0.78-1.34 ng/mL)

TSH 0.72 (0.36-3.74 m?iU?/mL)

Sept. 2018

TSH 0.916 (0.45-4.5 uIU/mL)

Triiodothyronine (T3) 111 (71-180 ng/dL)

T4, Free, (Direct) 1.57 (0.82-1.77 ng/dL)

Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Ab 22 (0 - 34 IU/mL)

Thyroglobulin Antibody 4.9 (0.0 - 0.9 IU/mL)

After the September test the nurse called me and said everything is normal. However, looking over the results myself, I noticed that the lab flagged the thyroglobulin antibody as being high. Is that truly something to be dismissed as normal? From what I've been reading , it's an indication of Hashimotos.?

Does anyone have any information or ideas for me? I'm sick of trying to tell the dr something is wrong when she just tells me everything is normal.. Not sure how to proceed from here.

Some symptoms I deal with: fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, shaky hands, insomnia.

I'm currently taking supplements for adrenal support and I believe that has helped some with the fatigue. I'm not gluten free but I'm mostly sugar and dairy free, I do have a dairy sensitivity. Am considering going completely gluten free after all that I've read about Hashimotos.

Thanks in advance for any advice or information!

[Silverdrops]

Meant to say I also have low basal body temperatures, normal hangs around 97.1-97.3

[SlowDragon Administrator]

High TG antibodies can indicate other things, though Hashimoto's sounds likely

healthline.com/health/antit...

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

these vitamins are often too low with Hashimoto's and need testing before supplementing to improve if low

Ask GP to test these

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

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.

All thyroid tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH 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 are very common too, especially gluten or dairy.

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...

Link about antibodies and Hashimoto's

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

List of hypothyroid symptoms

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[Silverdrops in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for the reply, Slow Dragon. Yes, those thyroid tests are the ones I had done most recently.

I also had the test done for vitamin D but not the other tests for folate, etc, definitely going to see if I can get those done. The dr said my vitamin D was okay.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Silverdrops]

Never accept normal or ok....,always get actual results and ranges on all tests

GP would say any vitamin D over 50nmol is ok, as they are not obliged to prescribe any supplements

but with high antibodies many people here find they need optimal vitamin D, that would be at least 80nmol, but around 100nmol may be better

vitamindcouncil.org/hashimo...

[Silverdrops in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for the info. My vitamin D was 43 ng/dl with reference range of 30-100 . I'm spray supplementing vitamin D but seeing this I'm going to up the dose.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Silverdrops]

Your vitamin D results are in ng/ml so are absolutely fine

43ng/ml is equivalent to 107nmol

endmemo.com/medical/unitcon...

What were vitamin B12 and folate levels

[Silverdrops in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for that conversion link.

I haven't tested for folate or vitamin B12 yet but I will as soon as I can

[Hashi-Monster]

I had similar results with high TGAbs (455) a year before I was finally diagnosed ...

I wish my doctors had caught it earlier, instead my TSH got to 18.5 (0.2-4.2) and I was bed-bound before they diagnosed hashi

[Silverdrops in reply to Hashi-Monster]

Thanks for the reply. When you had high TGabs were your other thyroid levels still normal?

[Hashi-Monster in reply to Silverdrops]

My TSH was 1.5 and my FT3 was good but my FT4 was borderline low

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Hashi-Monster]

That's typical as thyroid fails. FT3 tends to stay high as long as possible, whereas FT4 starts to fall