Thyroid results

[Tinacros]

These are my recent thyroid results. I have been feeling unwell recently with a very sore neck. Could it be related.? I’m on 100 meg thyroxine. My GP is clueless

[Tinacros]

Sorry it’s my first post so I’m not sure what I’m doing

[Lalatoot]

I am presuming this is TSH. Is this all that has been measured? You cannot go on TSH alone. TSH only tells you how much your thyroid has been stimulated; it is not a measure of thyroid hormones circulating in the blood. You need FT4 and ideally FT3 results. Without those there is no clue as to what is going on.

[Tinacros in reply to Lalatoot]

My ft4 was 25.6 in February and 18.6 in May. My Tsh was 0.10 in February and o.71 in May x

[greygoose in reply to Tinacros]

TSH is the chemical messenger from the pituitary to tell the thyroid to make more hormone.

T4 is the storage thyroid hormone that needs to be converted into the active hormone, T3.

If the active hormone is never measured, you have no idea just how much petrol you have in your tank - so to speak - nor how well you convert T4 to T3. Doctors do not understand this - they're pretty much all clueless - the whole NHS is clueless! So, many people resort to paying out of pocket to test their thyroid privately, so that they can see what's really going on.

With those results, we can see that the TSH is 'good' - but irrelevant. Once it gets below 1, it really doesn't tell us very much.

Impossible to tell what your FT4 is like because you haven't given the range - please, always give ranges when giving blood test results. They vary from lab to lab, so we need the range that went with your result. However, it looks high.

So, next question: how do you feel? If you still feel bad, have hypo symptoms, with a high FT4, then you probably aren't converting very well. But, you need to get that FT3 tested at the same time as an FT4, to find out.

When you say 'sore neck', what exactly do you mean? Does the skin feel sore? Or under the skin? Around the thyroid area? Could be that your thyroid is swollen. But, without seeing you, it's impossible to guess. Anything and everything can be related to thyroid, but that doesn't mean it actually is. Have you seen your doctor about it? What does he say?

One last question: have you ever had your antibodies tested? If they're high, meaning that you have Hashi's - aka Autoimmune Thyroiditis - your thyroid could very well be slightly swollen, causing your neck to feel sore.

[Tinacros in reply to greygoose]

No I’ve never had my antibodies checked. I remember having to fight tooth and nail to get mydaughters tested !! My FT4 was 25.6 in feb and came back abnormal then 18.6 in May which came back normal. Around my thyroid did feel swollen but that has gone down. I mentioned thyroiditis but she looked at me gone out🙄. I might get them done private. Who do u recommend x

[greygoose in reply to Tinacros]

Details of private testing here:

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/p...

I haven't used any of these companies myself, because I don't live in the UK.

You've given me the results of the FT4 tests again, but you still haven't given the ranges (numbers in brackets after the result).

[Tinacros in reply to greygoose]

Sorry ranges are 9.5-22.0

[greygoose in reply to Tinacros]

OK, so your 25.6 result was over-range. The odds are, you really aren't converting well at all.

[Tinacros in reply to greygoose]

So what do I need to do about that? Sorry with all the questions but I’m not very knowledgeable about it and GP isn’t either

[greygoose in reply to Tinacros]

Well, first of all, get your blood tests done to see how bad - or good - your conversion is. You need:

TSH

FT4

FT3

TPO antibodies

Tg antibodies

vit D

vit B12

folate

ferritin

Your results could be explained by high antibodies, or low nutrients. So, no point in speculating now. We need the numbers.

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum Tinacross.

You've given no information on your Profile - only your name.

You've obviously been diagnosed - with hypothyroidism or hashimoto's?

Some hints:-

All blood tests have to be at the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of levothyroxine (usually taken when we get up with one glass of water and wait an hour before eating- food can interfere with the uptake).

Always get a print-out of your results with the ranges. Ranges are in brackets after the results and are important to enable members to comment upon them.

GP should also test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

[MaisieGray]

You write "these are my latest thyroid results" but in fact the TSH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, and not by the thyroid. Its' name - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - indicates its purpose, and in general circumstances its level rises as the level of thyroid hormones fall. It is the latter, and in particular, FT3 that is important, as T4 is a largely inactive storage pro-hormone that needs to convert to the active T3 to enter the cells and be utilised by the body; and it is the level of the "free" versions that are particularly relevant ie they are free of their protein carriers. So you need to know both your FT3 and FT4 levels to begin to understand what might be going on.

[Tinacros in reply to MaisieGray]

Sorry I posted ft 4 too but they’ve not appeared. I’ll try put them on x

[MaisieGray in reply to Tinacros]

You can post only one photo per thread, and only in the first post of the thread.

[Tinacros in reply to MaisieGray]

My ft4 was 25.6 in feb and 18.4 in May. My TSH was 0.10 in feb and 0.71 in feb. No other tests were done. I do feel terrible though. I’ve also put on weight🤷🏽‍♀️ my daughter has hashimotos too.