Forum newbie looking for help

Good evening all,

I’ve been lurking for a while and have finally got my numbers from my endo and wondered if you wouldn’t mind helping me make sense of them please? I saw my endo today and she said I have to have further tests into low cortisol levels - what could that mean?

I was on 225mcg of Levo during pregnancy and that was lowered to 200mcg after the birth in January. I felt amazing for a few months but that all changed and I became hyper so it’s been reduced again to 150mcg per day. I’m hoping this keeps me feeling good so I’ll keep a close eye on it. I put my type 2 diabetes into remission by May but because of my insatiable appetite whilst hyper over the summer my blood sugar has gone in the wrong direction. I’ve refused metformin today and plan on bringing my blood sugar down with diet and exercise again however, I’ve been referred for antibody testing to see if the diabetes is type 1 and not type 2. I’ve never heard of this being a thing so I’m really confused?!

TSH - 2.19

Free T4 - 12.5

Free T3 - 3.7

Cortisol - 153

I desperately want to improve my quality of life, especially since I’ve become a mother and my research has taken me along the keto/carnivore route for weight loss and making auto immune symptoms disappear, does anyone have any advice or experience with weight loss?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

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What time of day was your blood taken Cortisol varies throughout the day being at it's highest first thing in the morning. As your Endo wants to do further testing I imagine she thinks it's low. I would expect her to do a short synacthen test where you are given artifical ACTH (this is the hormone that the pituitary gland secretes sending a message to the adrenal glands to produce cortisol. The ACTH should stimulate the adrenal glands to produce cortisol, they take blood for a base line result then give you the injection & take blood at 30 mins & sometimes 6o mins. the result should double to show that they are working well. They need to do an ACTH blood test at the start in case the issue is with the pituitary gland.

[greygoose]

We really need the ranges for those results, to make sense of them. The numbers usually in brackets after the results. But, it's obvious from your TSH that you are now very undermedicated. It should be around 1 or under. And, your Frees look low, so not surprising you don't feel well. It would appear that your doctors have been dosing by the TSH, which is very wrong.

If you are hypo, you cannot become hyper. The thyroid cannot regenerate to the point that it starts over-producing hormone. You could have been over-medicated, but somehow I doubt it. And, even if you were, your doctors should not have slashed your dose like that. Reductions should only be by 25 mcg every six weeks. Not 50 mcg in one go.

Even so, your results are strange for someone on 150 mcg levo. How do you take it? On an empty stomach, leaving at least one hour before eating or drinking anything other than water? Do you leave at least two hours before taking other medication/supplements?

And, how do you do your tests? Early morning - before 9 am - after fasting over-night, and leaving 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the blood draw?

You'll only be able to lose weight when your levels are optimal, and they are a long way off that, at the moment. Have you had your vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin tested?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Not clear when these test results were done....

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after any dose change

Are these results from when on 200mcg or 150mcg?

Please add ranges (figures in brackets after each result). Without ranges it's not possible to say exactly what your results suggest

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water . This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

Last Levothyroxine dose should be 24 hours prior to test, (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all 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 special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random

[Lora7again]

Your TSH is too high - I personally think it should be around 1.00 but I feel well with mine at 0.70 so we are all different.