Thyroid function results

[MarieDavies]

Hello, below are my thyroid blood test results. My doctor says everything is normal but I feel so tired all of the time. I am taking 137mg levothyroxine each day. Do you think an adjustment to my dose would help?

[fuchsia-pink]

Your TSH seems surprisingly high for someone on thyroid meds. Free T4 is 76% through range and free T3 is slightly lower at 59.67% through range - so both are respectable but there's scope to increase a bit without going over-range if you don't feel tip-top.Have you tested key nutrients? - ferritin, folate, vit D and B12 - your levo works best when these are good x

[MarieDavies in reply to fuchsia-pink]

Thank you. My ferritin is low too apparently. What is Ferritin? The doc didn’t test vit D or B12 for some reason 😬

[fuchsia-pink in reply to MarieDavies]

Ferritin is linked to iron storage and release into the body. If you are vegan/veggie, my understanding is that you must supplement; if you eat meat and it's low, you can boost it with liver (yuk) or black pudding. SeasideSusie recommends chicken liver in a stir-fry; others blend liver pate into soups of chilli or other things that disguise the taste x

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to MarieDavies]

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

All four vitamins need to be optimal for thyroid hormones to work well

Low ferritin Are you vegetarian or vegan?

How low is ferritin?

[fibrolinda]

When did you take your last dose before blood test?

[MarieDavies in reply to fibrolinda]

Hi, it was the day before? I had an early blood test so hadn’t taken it that morning until I got home.

[kikiweight]

Hi, why are you on thyroid meds? Was your tsh higher at one point? Do you have antibodies?

I am still learning here but I have been told my Labs are normal but when my tsh was high 2s, I felt terrible and had felt terrible for months. Other than my ‘normal’ lab, I had practically every hypo symptom there is. I’ve don’t know what my TSH was before bc no one really talked about my thyroid, but I did get an Endo to prescribe Levo based on symptoms. That didn’t do much so I switched to Armour thyroid (T3 and T4) and I’m finally starting to feel normal again.

Just my two cents.

[jrbarnes]

It is possible that if you get your T4 levels close to the top of the range like 1.9 that you may be able to increase your T3 levels closer to 3.8 to 4.4 but it depends on how well you will convert that extra T4 into T3. Most people need T3 levels close to the very top of the range. Ask your doctor to allow you to try an extra 12.5 mcg of Levothyroxine added to your 137mcg on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only. Surely he would not object to such a small and slow increase. Some people need higher T4 levels to get better T3 levels. If you add extra Levothyroxine and you find your T3 levels are not rising and making you feel better then you may have to add T3 to your Levothyroxine.