Update and some advise needed please

[Jocarter]

Good afternoon

Following on from my last post my doctor agreed to an increase in my levothyroxine to 100mcg. it took quite a few weeks but I started to feel a bit better - not 100% but better than I was

Because of the increase in medication the doctor wanted a blood test after 5/6 weeks - I had it on Tuesday and the TSH was 0.66mu/L range 0.34-5.6

As the doctor only measured tsh i ordered a home test kit from medichecks - a copy of the results are attached

Both tests were taken within 45 minutes of each other - first thing in the morning . Last dose of levothyroxine was taken 24 hours prior

Looking at the tests the antibodies are still very high - tsh has come right down but t4 still higher part of the range

Can I ask you please what your interpretation of these results are - are the tsh/t4 & t3 levels ok now - i'm still not feeling good

Although I’ve been diagnosed for a couple of years now I still struggle to understand what everything means - particularly the high antibodies

I stopped taking all supplements about 3 weeks ago & haven't had a coeliac test yet .

Thank you

[SlowDragon Administrator]

GP should have done coeliac blood test when you were originally diagnosed with autoimmune thyroid disease

nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20/c...

1.1 Recognition of coeliac disease

1.1.1 Offer serological testing for coeliac disease to:

people with any of the following:

persistent unexplained abdominal or gastrointestinal symptoms

faltering growth

prolonged fatigue

unexpected weight loss

severe or persistent mouth ulcers

unexplained iron, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency

type 1 diabetes, at diagnosis

autoimmune thyroid disease, at diagnosis

irritable bowel syndrome (in adults)

first‑degree relatives of people with coeliac disease.

[Jocarter in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you for the reply.

My online medical record only shows i have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism - is hypothyroidism the autoimmune disease?

I did tell the doctor about the antibodies being well over range when we last spoke and she said something like "that's ok, the high antibodies just tell us the type of thyroid problem you have" no mention of autoimine disease,

[Lalatoot in reply to Jocarter]

Yes the high antibodies confirm autoimmune thyroiditis. You will often see it referred to as hashimotos.Your immune system attacks your thyroid periodically gradually destroying your thyroid. Antibodies come along after the attack to clean up the mess left as it were.

[JAmanda]

If still not feeling well, perhaps ask for a further increase - as a trial - to see if it helps symptoms. I like my T3 higher personally.

[crimple]

Jocarter, you really need to get tested for coeliac. With such high antibodies you do have Hashimotos and most of us with that (me included) find that a Gluten free diet helps reduce the antibodies. Even if your test is negative it would be worth trying a GF diet. Your T4 is fairly high in range but your T3 is low, this suggests that you are a poor converter. There is room for an increase in T4. What brand of levo do you take?

[Jocarter in reply to crimple]

Thank you for your reply - I did try and get a doctors appointment on Friday but they didn’t have any , I’m going to try for Tuesday as they’re not open today

I take 100mcg Levo , it’s made by accord and from boots , I do always seem to get the same brand from boots - except when I went up to 75mcg and they made up the 25 with mercurypharma