Confusing levels ?? any advice please?

[Sicm]

Hi, I have many symptoms of a low thyroid, I am exhausted, disinterested, irritable , increase abdominal fat and weight, left eye blurred, bp gone up, constipated, except I get hot and cold., my eyebrows have thinned. I have blood test results which the endocrinologist says are normal, but I cannot function like this, I just feel exhausted. I have gained weight round my abdomen , BP has gone up,. TSH 1.17. free T4 17.3 , free T3 4.0 .The Dr didn't state the ranges. Can anyone private message me, I thought I might buy T3 to try online, is there anywhere recommended? My ferritin is 57 range (13-150) ; folate 10.2 (2.9- 14.5); vit D 95 (50-200 )

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum Sicm and am sorry you have hypothyroidism. You have put your name on your Profile but haven't given any history of your journey and haven't as yet been diagnosed.

When we post blood test results we also have to put the ranges of the results. The reason being that labs use different machines and have different ranges and it enables members to comment upon them.

To edit anything in your post, press the down arrow next to More and make any changes you wish.

This is the method for blood tests for thyroid hormones:-

Always get the earliest appointment for blood draw - even if made weeks ahead. It is a fasting test (you can drink water) and if taking thyroid hormones don't take it until after the blood draw.

Ask GP to test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

Put the results on a new post.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Welcome to the foru Sicm

Presumably you don't have a diagnosis of hypothyroidism and you don't take Levothyroxine?

Why would you want to take T3? The first medication to try is Levothyroxine (T4), then we get as high as possible FT4 and as low as possible TSH whilst on Levo then compare FT4 and FT3 results. If FT4 is high and FT3 is low then that may suggest that adding T3 to Levo might be beneficial. You wouldn't start straight away on T3 and you wouldn't take it if you convert T4 to T3 well enough.

But the results you have posted do not suggest that you have a thyroid problem. However, if you can add the reference ranges that will help us to interpret them accurately.

It's also important to check your vitamin levels as low levels or deficiencies can have symptoms that overlap with symptoms of hypothyroidism. You would also need to have optimal nutrient levels before starting T3. So you need to test

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Looking at previous post you had iodine scan recently What was this scan for?

Waiting 6-8 weeks before testing

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 with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s or Ord’s thyroiditis)

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)

Is this how you did your tests?

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

List of private testing options

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

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

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

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Come back with new post once you get results

Your current results do not show hypothyroid

[Sicm in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks, I had a ct brain scan and felt much better after the iodine. The endocrinologist took blood at 11.00 after food and also called it a 9.00am cortisol test....also normal???I had another iodine injection Wednesday to check for neuroendocrine tumour, was feeling better again last night, my head felt clear for first time in ages. Not sure whether low iodine would affect the measured thyroid levels?

Or quite how it links up

My thyroid antibodies are low , ferritin normal

I will get B12 checked

Thanks