Blood Test

[Hylda2]

had a surprise thyroid test thrown at me along with a few other tests. Must be time to fess up to the T3 😢🙄

[shaws Administrator]

Just wait until GP or someone phones you if they have a query.

If they say your T4 is low and T3 high, then you can confess. Your TSH will also be low.

This is an excerpt from the following link:-

Is there a role for Liothyronine?

The NICE guidelines [6] do comment that some patients who do not feel well on L-thyroxine alone “are sometimes offered liothyronine”. The guideline does not give a clear recommendation to use Liothyronine but imply that there may be a role for liothyronine for patients with adverse symptoms despite seemingly adequate L-thyroxine replacement, and that more research is required. The British Thyroid Association [7] and European Thyroid Association [8] provide clearer guidance. For patients not achieving adequate symptom control on L-thyroxine where other potential causes of the symptoms have been excluded, they suggest that Liothyronine in combination with L-thyroxine may be considered by a specialist Endocrinologist on a trial basis whilst maintaining the serum TSH in the reference range. The trial of liothyronine should be stopped after 3–4 months if there is no patient benefit. However, across the UK the approach to liothyronine prescribing has been very variable. In some areas it has proved virtually impossible to access it, in others there is a fairly restricted approach, whilst in a decreasing number of areas it has been more freely available.

thyroidresearchjournal.biom...

[tattybogle]

depends what they test , and what you usually do (when you're not 'surprised')

if they just test TSH ,the results won't necessarily be any different to your 'usual' .( unless you usually manipulate your results by stopping thyroid meds for an excessively long time before tests )

if they test fT4 (and fT3) then any change in time of last dose from your 'usual' protocol will have a noticeable change . (but whether they will have the brains to work out what that change tells them about what you actually take is anyone's guess)

so see what the results are, and what they say to you first... once you've told them about the T3 you can't un-tell them.

[tattybogle in reply to tattybogle]

are you still taking 100 levo + 25 T3 ? a reduction in levo dose has been suggested . did you try it ?

your AF got worse after you started / increased T3 from 12.5mcg to 25mcg .. have you tried a reduced dose ?

~ Looking back at your previous posts Your TSH was supressed on 125 levo anyway (without any T3.)..... so they won't be able to tell that you take T3 just from looking at your TSH result.

~ Your fT4 was already over range on 125mcg Levo and is still pretty high on 100mcg..... so again they won't know you are taking T3 from looking at your fT4 result .

~ If this test was done 1-6 hrs after taking last dose levo, then this fT4 result will probably be quite a lot over range , and so they may well say they want to reduce your levo dose...

if you don't want to reduce levo dose you can try saying "i'd taken my levo a few hours before test , so that result shows the peak after absorption, not my usual level"...

they may not accept this explanation is relevant , and they may still want to reduce your Levo dose anyway .... telling them about the T3 use won't prevent this.

~ NHS are highly unlikely to test your fT3 .... but even if they did ... there is no reason for them to think you take T3.... unless it's over range .....,and if your fT3 IS over range and your AF got worse when you increased T3 dose , then surely you would want to try reducing your dose of T3 anyway.

but none of this means you need to tell them about the T3 unless you want to .. honestly, most GP's can't interpret thyroid tests well enough to work out what anybody us 'actually' doing.

[Hylda2 in reply to tattybogle]

Had two days to stop B complex. We’ll see

[Anthea55]

I'll bet it wasn't before 9am. Don't let them change your dose until they've tested you early in the day. TSH varies during the day but they don't seem to know that.

However if you are taking T3 your TSH will be low anyway.

[Hylda2 in reply to Anthea55]

All good. Phew. TSH 0.01 as it always is. T4 14.7 down from 22.4. Range 12-22. They don’t test t3. Still nothing for them to complain about. I might add 12.5 Levo back in.