Hello, I am newish here, have read posts on and off and now I am hoping someone might give me some advice. I had a cyst on one side of my thyroid and a number of ultrasounds and specialist couldn't rule out cancer, so they took out half the thyroid nodule in April last year. Luckily it was not cancer.
Previous to that I started feeling a lot more anxious and tired than usual but put that down to a stressful job, pandemic and maybe heading towards peri-menopause. At the time a bunch of blood tests were done and at my post op appointment with the consultant, I was told that I had Hashimoto's but that the endocrinologist would not get involved until my TSH is out of range. So I am not on any medication at the moment. At the time TSH was 4.07 (0.35-4.94), since then I have become slowly more anxious and tired, which is why I asked for another blood test. I now have the result, which was 4.21 (0.35-4.94). At the previous test in August, they also tested for Free T3 3.5(2.6-5.7), Free T4 11.4 (9-19) and Thyroid Peroxidase Ab 20.42 (0-5.9), but they didn't test for any of those recently. I definitely don't feel like myself, low mood, tired, struggling to concentrate and focus and even colder hands and feet than I am used to. Since my TSH value seems to be at the higher edge of the range I wonder if it could be at least a contributing factor and if there is anything I can do to get some help with that? What do these ranges actually mean? Does the latest result mean it's definitely not thyroid related? Thanks a lot for reading and any advice would be much appreciated.
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“According to the current TSH reference interval, hypothyroidism was not diagnosed in about 50% of the cases in the afternoon.”
“Further analysis demonstrated inadequate compensation of hypothyroidism, which was defined in 45.5% of the morning samples and in 9% of the afternoon samples”
Thank you so much for those welcoming responses. The latest blood test was done in the morning, although not terribly early. They did a coeliac test early on, before the op, and it was negative. Do I need to do the vitamin tests privately or can I get them on the NHS?
I struggled for years taking Levothyroxine alone - it worked well for about ten years after the hypothyroid diagnosis then not so well - but feeling unwell with my TSH and T4 levels all in the ‘normal range’. I recall a conversation with my doctor which in summary went Me “I feel unwelI” Him “But your results are all in the normal range”. I improved by taking natural dedicated thyroid and more recently due to cost T4 and T3 together (though not at the same time). I had a DIO2 test done which shows I lack the ability to fully convert T4 to T3 and so get the benefit in my cells. I am not saying this will solve your problems but that is my experience.
Your TSH is too high even though it is within the NHS range. You need it to be around 1.00 to feel well. But you also need your T3 and T4 to be optimal to achieve this. You may be a poor converter of T4 Levothyroxine to active T3. Your T3 looks too low. I’d request a trial of combined medications treatment. Levothyroxine plus Liothyronine and see how you get on. Many NHS endocrinologist will not agree but yours just might. If not there are private endocrinologists that will help you on a trial of combined T4 plus T3 medication trial. Lack of T3 causes all sorts of unwanted symptoms.
Thank you all very much for your suggestions - I feel so much better informed and less crazy. Will go and see if I can speak to my GP and get my vitamin levels checked as recommended.
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Is it absolutely vital that T4 stays within range?
New reference range for TSH
Test results feel rubbish!
TSH \"Normal\" F****** Range!
