Can anyone tell me why my results jump around so much, the most recent of 1.75 was taken in morning and hadn't taken meds that morning, have requested a full thyroid panel (awaiting results ) i have hashimotis as antibodies significantly increased?
My symptoms are extreme fatigue and heavy legs also recent low serum iron but ferreton normal?
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sbadd
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Were all the tests done under exactly the same conditions, ie. same time, early morning, fasting overnight, water only to drink, last dose of Levo 24 hours before test?
Having Hashimoto's means that test results and symptoms will fluctuate.
Shame there was no FT4 test on 30th March as that was quite a big difference with your TSH result - one would expect that to be fairly close to the 6th May result.
* Book the first appointment of the morning, or with private tests at home no later than 9am. This is because TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. If we are looking for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, or looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction then we need TSH to be as high as possible.
* Fast overnight - have your evening meal/supper as normal the night before but delay breakfast on the day of the test and drink water only until after the blood draw. Eating may lower TSH, caffeine containing drinks affect TSH.
* If taking thyroid hormone replacement, leave off Levo for 24 hours before blood draw, if taking NDT or T3 then leave that off for 8-12 hours. Take your thyroid meds after the blood draw. Taking your dose too close to the blood draw will give false high results, leaving any longer gap will give false low results.
* If you take Biotin or a B Complex containing Biotin (B7), leave this off for 7 days before any blood test. This is because if Biotin is used in the testing procedure it will give false results (Medichecks definitely use Biotin, they have confirmed this and the amount of time to leave the supplement off).
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