Test results

[Tinacros]

I’ve had my medicheck results... can anyone give me a bit of feedback x

[Lalatoot]

Vitamin levels look on the low side. You need vitamin levels high in the range to allow you to convert t4 to t3 efficiently. Someone on here will advise about supplements I am sure. Your Ft3 is low and your ft4 is not even halfway through its range. I would suggest an increase in levothyroxine to bring ft4 up towards the higher end of range and improve your vitamin levels.

[Lora7again]

Your t3 is too low and I think you vitamin should be about a 100 - I use a vitamin D spray every day.

[Lora7again in reply to Lora7again]

vitamin D!

[Tinacros in reply to Lora7again]

I’m off to turkey next week should I buy t3? X

[knitwitty in reply to Tinacros]

You can buy T3 over the counter in Turkey, so it should be easy enough to buy, but how much levothyroxine are you taking?

You might be able to increase your T3 by taking a higher dose of that first, and if you can it will be a far easier way to get the T3 right.

Also your GP will prescribe Levo but probably not T3 so you could have problems going forward if you start taking T3 and can't get any more in the future.

As the others have said you need to get your vitamins optimal for the thyroid hormones to work as well. Good luck.

[Tinacros in reply to knitwitty]

I am on 100mcg. But my doc mentioned I was slightly over medicated so I just bite it and hope I’m getting enough... I’ll start taking the 100 again and get some vitamins. Maybe I should buy t3 in turkey just in case. I have put weight on in the past 3 months and felt quite unwell x

[knitwitty in reply to Tinacros]

Well if you are on 100mcg of Levo your T3 is low you might be able to take another increase in levo but I suspect your T4 would rise nearer to the top of the range and your T3 barely move. I have no idea why your doctor thinks you are overmedicated with those T4 and T3 levels, they must be a slave to the TSH!

Your low T3 explains why you feel so unwell, My own T4 was 21 (12 -22) and T3 4.1 ( 3.1- 6.8) and I finally decided to start on self sourced T3, ( endo and GP know about this and are happy for me to buy it from "wherever" ,ridiculous I know! ).

I obtained my T3 from Turkey and I have been taking it for a couple of months , you have to start really slowly, the Tablets are 25mcg and I split them with a pill cutter into quarters, I started taking one quarter in the morning to see how I tolerated it and after 3 weeks introduced another quarter at bedtime to add to my levo, I had a bit of a blip when I increased my morning dose to half a tablet and within a couple of days I felt overmedicated, so I took a couple of days off and went back to one dose then two over the next couple of weeks, I am fine on those two doses at present.

The biggest improvement I have seen is in my mood, I no longer feel that life is not worth living, as yet I haven't really lost any weight but I can exercise now without feeling completely done in!

My long standing sinus problems have completely gone.

My blood pressure has fallen quite significantly, I haven't tested my cholesterol yet, that was very high, but I have refused statins on more occasions than I can remember. I would be interested to see if that has changed but I'm not stressing about it too much.

I now sleep like a baby, something I haven't done for years!

If your GP is worried about you being overmedicated now because of your TSH they will freak out completely if you start taking T3 because your TSH will fall even lower, if I were you I'd arm yourself with as much information as you can by reading up on thyroid problems.

Gordon Skinner and Barry Durrant Peatfield are two good authors and Paul Robinson has written books on treating thyroid conditions using various therapies. Good luck.

[Tinacros in reply to knitwitty]

They weren’t bothered about my results. The GP said do what u think lol!!! He hasnt seen t3 because I had them done privately and only got result last night x

[Tinacros in reply to Tinacros]

Plus I cut my thyroxine down to 75 so now I’ll go back to 100 👍

[knitwitty in reply to Tinacros]

Maybe if the doctor is asking you for your opinion they might be open to a discussion regarding your T3 if you show him/her your privately obtained results.

You can try that first, I think it unlikely that you will get T3 on the NHS but you might be lucky, it is more likely if you go to an endocrinologist but even then it's not a guarantee, as in my case.

I spent about 6 months thinking about going down the self medication route before I plucked up the courage to do it, and although I don't feel as well as I did before I had thyroid problems I do feel considerably better since starting T3.

If you are going to Turkey T3 costs about £2.50 for 100 x 25mcg tablets ( each tablet can be split into 4 doses ), make sure you get enough to last you as you will probably have to self medicate whilst the problems with cost still apply on the NHS.

PM me if you need any more info, I will be out shortly but will reply later if you need any more help.

[Tinacros in reply to knitwitty]

Thankyou so much xxx

[Jodypody]

T3 is clearly low

[BeachHut]

I fed your TSH, T4 and T3 into the Canadian thyroid app SPINA Thyr.

healthunlocked.com/thyroiduk/posts/141597556/how-to-confuse-your-endo

It calculates your T4/T3 conversion at 17.34 nmol/s. Poor converters on T4 monotherapy are <23nmol/s. I would get a Blue Horizon or Regenerus genetic test through the Thyroid UK site to confirm if the poor conversion is due to a genetic cause, because once you start on T3 your TSH will fall probably to below level of detection and your doc will freak out. The genetic results may be of use if he then refers you to an endo.

I have no medical qualification, but have experience of 20 years battling T4 monotherapy and eventually going onto self sourced T3 for the past 2 years under endo monitoring. If you get T3 make sure you bring back sufficient to keep you going between visits, you may find your sweet spot could be 50mcg a day. Also, in my case I found that I am best at low doses of T4.

Good luck

[Tinacros in reply to BeachHut]

Thanks for that👍