Help with results please..

[Foxie1234]

Hi everyone

Hope the state of the world today is not getting you down to much...at least the weather is nice today...😜

I have been in lockdown since March...only going out for my flu jab and a blood test this morning. I have not had a blood test since August 2019 so thought it was about time for me to have one. I would appreciate any feed back as I think I may need to up my Levo maybe taking 75mcg a day instead of 50mcg for 3 days and 75mcg for 4 days. I had a thyroidectomy in June 2016 and my levels have been all over the place. Started on 100mcg levo but been up and down for the last four years......

This last blood test shows my TSH as high as it’s been for a long time, which indicates to me that I need to up my dose a little..is this your opinion?

Results are

August 2019. TSH 1.8 (0.3-4.2). Free T4 20.1 (12-22). FreeT3 3.6 (3.1-6.8)

October2020. TSH 4.9 (0.3-4.2). Free T4 19. (12-22). Free T3 4.6 (3.1-6.8)

My TSH is usually under 1...I had the test early this morning having only water to drink and didn’t take my levo tablet last night, this is the same as I do for each blood test.

Drs. report (I get my results on line) said no further action 🤔 but I think I may benefit from taking 75mcg each day.....I have plenty of 25mcg to do this but wanted to see what you experts thought.

Many thanks in anticipation....🥰

[tattybogle]

Hi , i think your plan of 75 a day sounds sensible. FT4 is not quite at the top of range so there's a bit of room and FT3 is nowhere near top.

As for what your TSH is up to, wandering up to 5 all by itself with no good reason....... dunno , i'm stumped. But clearly at some point recently your pituitary has decided it thinks you should have a bit more too.

Can't do any harm to try it for a couple of months and retest when you know how you feel on it.

Has your TSH always misbehaved like this ?

[Foxie1234 in reply to tattybogle]

Hi 🙋‍♀️

Thanks for your reply. My TSH has varied over the 4years since my thyroidectomy but this is the highest it has been for about 3 years. Normally it is under one and has been as low as 0.05! I think I will try taking 75mcg each day and see how I go...then get tested again.

Regards

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Important to regularly retest vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 too

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

When under medicated low vitamins are extremely common

Ask GP to test vitamin levels or test privately

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 .

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

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus vitamins including folate (private blood draw required)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Thriva also offer just vitamin testing

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

[Foxie1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

🙋‍♀️

Thanks for your email. I do exactly as you stated. My vitamins are ok. I take Vitamin D and selenium all the time. I also take a multivitamin tablet in the winter. My TSH has always fluctuated but it hasn’t been as high since I first had my thyroidectomy in 2016.. it is usually under 1. I think I will up my dose to 75mcg each day and get another test in six to eight weeks. My T4 is lower than it normally is, but my T3 is up, which is good as I thought I might have a conversion problem.....it’s still trial and error. I have felt better lately, but could be the fact I am not going out and getting stressed.....

Regards 🥰

[penny]

I take T3 so completely ignore TSH; it’s T4 and T3 that are important and their ratio to one another, IMHO.