Hello everyone. I hope everyone is having a good summer day. I stumbled upon this forum after searching for interpretation on my thyroid test.
My symptoms are lethargy to the point of not being able to function some days, hair loss, perpetual underweight, cold intolerance and awful LPR reflux that shoots right up to my ear. I've been feeling unwell for a long time and at this point what I want is just to find out why, and maybe I can figure out how to get better later. No one understands why I feel so sick. They tell me I don't look that sick!!...and its frustrating. Honestly I just want to hold someone and cry sometimes.
These are the results from complete thyroid panel done 2 months ago... (ranges in brackets)
TSH 3.41 mU/L (0.32-5.04 mU/L)
Free T4 12.8 pmol/L (10.6 -19.7 pmol/L)
Free T3 4.31 pmol/L (2.6-5.80 pmol/L)
Thyroperoxidase Ab 10 IU/mL ( <35 IU/mL)
Thyroglobulin Ab 15 IU /mL ( <40 IU/mL)
Thyroglobulin 21.8 ug/L ( <60 ug/L)
Reverse T3 17ng/dL (8-25 ng/dL)
Vit D - number didn't come out because it was so low. Said it was less than 20. (Range 75-150nmol/L)
Ferritin 40 ug/L (15 -247 ug/L)
B12 581pmol/L (153-655 pmol/L)
Honestly before going to Drs office I was hoping to hear that there is something problematic with my thyroid because then I would have an area that I can focus on. Up until now no doctor was able to help me find reasons for my fatigue and terrible LPR and life is happening for everyone else and I'm just so tired. By the way I've tried many ppi medication with no relief. Done a few endoscopy, barium swallow etc and what I know now is that I have hiatal hernia and SIBO and gut dysbiosis. I've been gluten and dairy free for a couple years now while trying to solve SIBO.
So it was disappointing when my doc said although TSH is high the rest of result looks normal. Are they really?? I was told to stick to gluten free, take vit d and other supplements but otherwise my doctor didn't really give too much concern about the results.
I'd appreciate if anyone could help me interpret the results a little further. I do think there's something that can be improved on my thyroid and I have this feeling my GI symptom could be related to it...
Sorry for the long post. And kudos to everyone on this forum. It means a lot to know there are vigilant people out there finding answers when medical system is failing us. I want to learn and fight too.
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I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's and have been blessed to quickly find this forum.
To help SeasideSusie greygoose humanbean SlowDragon and others give you feedback, you'll also need to post your results with lab ranges in brackets e.g.
Oh thank you for your reply. Yes I'll add the ranges up there. I just found this forum today and there seems to be a lot of helpful info here...I have a gut feeling something could've been going on with my thyroid for a long time without ever being diagnosed. Some symptoms I had since I was a teenager. Now I'm 37. Frankly I've lost faith in doctors but I can't stop trying to find out what's going on. Lol.
Thank you for your detailed reply. I fasted for more than 12 hours before getting blood test but I went in closer to lunchtime I remember. Next time I'll remember to do it nearly in the morning :).
I'm going to ask GP for thyroid ultrasound.
I think my sibo symptoms could improve more significantly if my thyroid can 'normalize'.
Currently I'm not supplementing B12. I was megadozing 2000mg daily for few months last year and now it's 581 pmol/L(range153-655).
I stopped all my supplements and sibo remedies for about a month before getting blood test in May. I didn't want anything to screw up the test.
Wow loading dose of vit D. Thanks for the tip. I was told to have 10,000 IU a day. I took my vit D drops more liberally today .
I'll definitely look into getting full iron test. There's so much to learn here but I'm happy at the same time. After reading the replies I believe my gut symptoms can improve once I get TSH under control and up the vitamin mineral numbers....I'm willing to do this. Treating symptoms of GI problem didn't get me far and I think this could be the root cause.
Low iron and/or low ferritin frequently linked to Hashimoto’s
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first
Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.
So it was disappointing when my doc said although TSH is high the rest of result looks normal.
He's totally missed the point, here. Your other results 'look' normal because your TSH is so high. It shouldn't have to be that high to produce those levels of thyroid hormone, but it needs to be because your thyroid is struggling.
I sometimes wonder if they even know what TSH is! Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. Produced by the pituitary when thyroid hormone levels in the blood are low, it tells the thyroid it needs to make more. The lower the T4/T3, the higher the TSH needs to be.
So, your pituitary has sensed that you don't have adequate levels of T4/T3 in the blood, and so has raised the TSH. The thyroid is doing it's best but because it is failing, can't respond as well as it should, but it is managing to make some T4 - although your FT4 is very low - so to compensate, it is concentrating on making more T3 than it normally would, to keep you alive. Your FT3 is just a tad over mid-range, which - to the untrained eye - may look 'normal', but the fact remains that you shouldn't have to have all that TSH just to produce mid-range FT3.
As to the definition of 'normal', that is a long, long debate. But, when a doctor says 'normal', all he means is 'in-range'. So, yes, your levels are 'in-range', but - frankly - so what! The FT4 is very low - lower than a euthyroid level - which is the word your doctor should be using if he really thought your results were 'normal'. An FT4 in a person with no thyroid problems - euthyroid - would be about mid-range, slightly higher than a euthyrod FT3. So, no, your FT4 is not 'normal'. It is too low. And, it is too low because you are hypo. You are hypo when your TSH gets to 3. A euthyroid TSH is around 1.
Have you had many TSH tests? Or is this the first one? If you've had others, what were the results?
Your antibodies are low, but that doesn't mean much. You could still have Hashi's. With antibodies, you can prove that you do, but you can't prove that you don't - you can't prove a negative.
For future reference, there's absolutely no point in testing rT3. It's an expensive test and doesn't give you any useful information. There are many, many causes of rT3, and only one of them has anything to do with thyroid. It's a complete red herring!
I have 3 prior TSH numbers. Oct 2015 was 3.19, Oct. 2017 was 2.38 and in Oct 2019 it was 3.52. I've done more blood tests in between but sometimes my GP or walk in clinic doctors didn't request TSH in the blood test...wish I had more results.
I'll keep that in mind for rT3. You're right it was pretty costly you know. Can't remember exact amount but I had to pay out of pocket for all thyroid results except for TSH. Don't know why. I guess because I'm not currently seen as a serious thyroid case.
This may sound weird, but I felt validated when you said my FT4 is low and is concerning. You're the first person to tell me that. The MD I saw in June didn't mention anything. She just said TSH is a little high...and since vit D is so low, let start supplementing that and continue gluten free diet. Didn't hear anything about hypothyroid either...
I'm going to start studying more about everything mentioned on all the replies I got here. You guys are so much better than my GP lol. Thanks a lot.
Your ferritin (iron stores) is approximately 11% of the way through the range which for most of us with thyroid disease is not enough. People generally feel at their best when their ferritin is roughly mid-range i.e. for the range you've given mid-range is 131.
I don't know if you're male or female. This might be of interest if you're female :
The fact that you are taking PPI medications is going to be a major cause of your poor absorption of nutrients. PPIs cut down stomach acid production enormously. But stomach acid is produced by the body for a reason, and one of the main reasons is that it helps the gut to break down food so that nutrients are released from your food.
Thyroid disease causes people to have low stomach acid too.
If you are known to have SIBO are you being treated for this? With SIBO, gut dysbiosis, and a hiatus hernia, and having to take PPIs, it sounds as if your guts are in a mess and probably cause you a great deal of misery.
...
Going back to the subject of iron...
It isn't a good idea to supplement iron just on the basis of a poor ferritin result. Iron is complicated. There is both iron and ferritin in the blood stream, and people have to avoid either of them getting too high because high iron and/or high ferritin is poisonous to the body.
People can have low, good or high ferritin, along with low, good or high iron, in any combination. You should read this link :
If you could do an iron panel it would help to clarify what your situation is. It can be done privately with a finger-prick test - no need to see a doctor :
I was told to get iron supplement. I'm a female. Thanks for that info about iron and ferritin relationship. I was told a few times my docs that my iron is low so I need to take supplements, but never knew about iron-ferritin relationship. Eye opening really. I'll definitely look into getting full iron test.
As for vitamin D, the doctor told me go get 10000 IU drops daily. I thought that was a lot but looking at the info here I guess even that is not enough!
My periods are not really heavy. Lasts only 3 days and more flow on 1st and 2nd day.
I had no idea my vit d was so low!! The news was concerning but I'm glad I found out you know.
My GP thinks my fatigue is stress related. I'm not sure if all my symptoms look like stress related to her lol.
I'd really like to get a thyroid ultrasound to check if they can find something there. I'm going to have my fingers crossed that GP will consider it with my numbers. I wish both of us more energy and better health!!
Wow thank you BShankly, Slowdragon, grey goose, human bean and Katey40. I am very very grateful for all your replies.
Honestly the information you've all given me here is so much more in depth than what I heard from my doctor or from searching online, which I have been doing lately. And, thanks for listening to my story!
I'll actually reply to your replies separately but I want to explain my situation some more. Yes, my GI tract is pretty messed up. I've had LPR for years...When I was younger in my twenties I would occasionally use tums or other otc heartburn meds when LPR was really bad and they would take away pain in my throat slightly so that it was more bearable. Looking back I had all kinds of IBS symptoms. Bloating indigestion, malabsoprtion, constipation or diarrhea. Over the years things went worse and my LPR became severe so
I would end up at gp office from time to time. I was put on different ppi and would try it for 2- 3 months and nothing changed. Diet change, wedge pillow...didn't help much.
It was around 2016 I started looking elsewhere to seek help. That was right after my second upper endoscopy which found the hernia and confirmed reflux. My God the trouble I went through with my GP to get a second test...she kept saying no because the 1st one found no cancer so I'm fine...just unbelievable. After that scope I wanted to do 24 hour reflux test of some kind but I didn't bother asking my GP. I know she's going to say no...she's an amazing gatekeeper.
By the way I'm from Canada. I know the forums title is 'Thyroid UK' so I was a little hesitant to write my post (felt like crashing a party lol) but there were a lot of good info everyone seemed helpful and knowledgable. I'm sorry if I'm intruding here.
So anyways from 4 years ago I started seeing naturopaths after feeling western medicine couldn't help me more. I don't know if it's the same in UK but here the naturopaths can prescribe medications like MDs. I asked to be tested for SIBO, got confirmed and tried both herbal and prescription (rifaximin). Treating sibo helped reduce lpr symptoms more than ppi ever did. It's not gone but now things are little better.
And 2 months ago I visited an MD, not my regular GP to see if there's something that can be done with fatigue lpr hair loss etc. What this doc noticed immediately was that my TSH had been over 3.0 for past blood tests spanning 5 years. And that's really when my thyroid research began. No one had mentioned about my tsh prior to this.
Again, thank you everybody. Sending gratitude and wish you all better health, good health. I'll reply separately too.
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