Help with interpreting Medicheck blood test results, please

[giselajames]

Hi, there, I would be very grateful is somebody could be kind enough to help me interpret my latest blood test results from Medicheck. I did the test fasting and did not take my medication until after the blood test. I am currently on 1 grain of NDT.I am just recovering from polymyalgia, hence perhaps the high CRP HS reading.

CRP HS 56.99 mg/L <5 ( and then there is an R in a circle)

TSH 4.04 mIU/L 0.27-4.2

Free T3 3.63 pmol/L 3.1-6.8

Free Thyroxine 12.2 pmol/L 12-22

Ferritin 180 ug/L 13-150

Folate Serum. 2.74 ug/L. > 3.89-19.45

Vitamin B 12 active 162 pmol/L 37.5-188

Vitamin D 75.3 nmol/L 50-175

Thyroglobulin

Antibodies. 10 kIU/L. <115

Thyroid peridoxase

Antibodies 9 kIU/L <34

I cannot explain the high ferritin levels, as I hardly eat red meat and don’t take iron supplements.

Any explanation or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My GP only tests for TSH and as long as that is within range, all in the garden is rosy. I would not have known that my Folate levels were low and that explains my heart thumping.

Thank you so much, Gisela

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Giselajames

How long between last dose of NDT and blood draw? When on NDT it should be 8-12 hours.

Does your GP know you are taking NDT? If so, does your GP know how to interpret results when on NDT, and that when taking NDT it's the FT3 result that is important? If so then he should know that it's totally inadequate to test TSH only when on NDT.

Your results show that you are undermedicated. When on NDT it tends to lower, even suppress TSH and lower FT4 also. Your TSH is too high and FT3 too low so you should increase your dose.

You are Folate deficient and your GP should address this.

Active B12 is good.

Ferritin is likely to be elevated due to inflammation, and, like the CRP, could be due to the polymyalgia.

Vit D is a bit low, the Vit D Council recommends a level of 125nmol and the Vit D Society recommends 100-150nmol.

Antibodies are low and those results don't suggest autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's).

[giselajames in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much for your quick response. I take my medication at around 3am, so it would have been more than 28 hours by the time the blood was drawn.

Yes, my GP knows I am on NDT but doesn’t seem to know much about it.

I thought I was under medicated, will increase to 125 mcg equivalent. My doctor said I should not increase my dose when my TSH was 6.5, so I stayed on 1 grain.

Will increase Vitamin D and take Folate supplement. Doctors are good for coughs and colds, but don’t know anything about the thyroid. My previous doctor didn’t even know what a grain was!!

I feel pretty well and just have to have 6 monthly private blood tests to keep me well.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to giselajames]

From what I understand with NDT you should increase by 1/2 a grain at a time until you get to 2 grains and thereafter by 1/4 of a grain at a time so as not to miss your sweet spot.

Make sure that all future tests are done with last dose of NDT 8-12 hours before blood draw. Any longer and you get false low FT3 result and too close to blood draw and you get a false high FT3 result.

[giselajames in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much. Without the help of the knowledgeable people on this forum I would be entirely in the dark. I am so very grateful.

Gisela