Hi, I use this site as I have an underachieve thyroid, but I need advice on my sons levels please. For around 2yrs he's been having sweats, agitated sleepless nights where he overheats and paces because of his physical sensations, he describes adrenaline rushes and as if blood is pooling in his arms and feet. He only let us know about this around a year ago and he said he was having panic attacks ,so we arranged some psychology input for strategies which he tried to put into place.
But he is still finding the physical symptoms over whelming and its affecting his moods he is quite easily triggered by the smallest thing and cannot concentrate or organise himself. I decided to pay to get his bloods done as the GP was rushing into anxiety medication. Here are the thyroid results which Im hoping someone can offer advice on as Im wondering if its related.
Free T3 Ranges 3.10-6.80 pmol/L =6.41
Free Thyroxine T4 12.00-22.0 pmol/L=19.10
TSH Ranges 0.27-4.20 mU/L =2.34
Unfortunately we didn't get the thyroid antibodies tested but there are a few other blood results that look debatable. Sorry for the ramble but not easy to condense.
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Paivi
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So quite early in day but TSH likely a little higher frees a little lower if taken at 09.00.
What’s unusual is the higher TSH and higher Frees. As other had said this sometimes is apparent if thyroid hormones have been low but a sudden rise causes high levels but the TSH hasn’t had time to respond.
The rise is cause by destroyed cell releasing hormones from autoimmune attacks.
That is usually temporary so wouldn’t explain 2 years of continued hyper type symptoms.
As there’s a family history I would agree some motoring to see if / how those levels alter is recommended.
Antibodies, nutrients & cortisol should also be tested.
He's definitely not hyperthyroid with those results which are all in range, but he might be trending that way, I can't tell. There are no signs of obvious hypothyroidism either.
Perhaps he is producing too much or too little cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands that sit on top of the kidneys. It can be raised or lowered by all sorts of problems, not necessarily psychological. In fact I would say that there are far more physical causes of deranged cortisol than there are psychological, but doctors always go straight for the anti-depressants and the anti-anxiety medicines.
I used to be very anxious and depressed. I was also very severely short of iron. When I fixed that myself my anxiety and depression melted away. I'm sure that other low nutrient levels can affect brain function and mood too. Some people might react to low vitamin B12 rather than iron, for example.
There are two ways to test cortisol. Firstly, GPs can test it with a blood test early in the morning, at say, 8.30am - 9am. It is intended to catch the highest level of the day.
Cortisol is produced in a circadian rhythm i.e. the level starts high as people start to wake up and start their day, then it slowly reduces until about midnight - 2am when people would usually be asleep. Then it starts to rise again at 3am in preparation for people waking up.
Another way to test cortisol is to use a saliva test, which involves spitting into tiny tubes four times a day. Cortisol can be measured in saliva and blood. With the saliva test you can see if the output of cortisol is acceptable for different times of day. This isn't possible with just a blood test - you only get one result early in the day. What happens if your cortisol is much too high at 10pm? You'll probably have insomnia, but a blood test won't show this high level.
Note that doctors aren't interested in saliva tests of cortisol. They only ever believe in the blood tests. So if your son was to get a saliva test done it would be for his own use only, nobody else's.
The best saliva cortisol test is the one by Regenerus. Your can find the test here :
Sorry is your response in reply to my post about my 20 yr old sons symptoms.? Please see original post as I don’t want to go down the wrong route with this as my son is very sceptical and typically not believing anything I suggest!!
Hello, I didnt realise that about children being affected. will get both of my sons tested then. the 20yr old is a meat and fish eater, relatively healthy diet for a student ,rarely drinks as he says it makes his anxiety worse. his B12 levels were ok and his ferritin was tested a few wks ago it was 195 ug/L range 30.00-400.00
Very important to check antibodies - both TPO and Tg antibodies - with levels like that, because they do not correspond. Both Frees are top of the range, but TSH is too high for those levels. So, that looks to me like it could very well be Hashi's - i.e. the Frees have recently risen due to a Hashi's 'hyper' swing, and the TSH hasn't yet caught up.
Agree with greygoose (for a change 🤣😊) in that those thyroid hormone levels do not correspond with TSH indicating a Hashi attack, and those high levels of thyroid hormone could be inducing anxiety & panic attacks.
SlowDragon has given links for private thyroid antibody tests.
The parathyroid glands are directly behind the thyroid (hence the name) but aren't involved in thyroid function itself. They are involved with controlling the level of calcium and phosphate in the body.
Hello, yes we had his testosterone checked as he has varicoceles and is having surgery on these. I am getting his ferritin tested later this week. thank you
I agree with purplenails, I was like your son from 2014 onwards my symptoms were pretty much the same, and I call this phase "early onset of hyperthyroidism" my gp sent some bloods off to an endo who wrote back to him saying I had 2 short suppressed TSH but with a normal T3 no T4 mentioned, she went on to say "she as shown to have had autoimmune thyroiditis, her TSH as now stabilised and no further investigations by myself are needed" "I would however recommend that she has regular thyroid blood tests for thyroid function, I was not privie to this information as my gp never told me, I found it in my records in 2020.
My gp failed to do regular thyroid blood tests saying all my symptoms were due to my menupause state, in those years from 2014 I suffered terribly, eventually at the end of 2017 I could no longer cope, it was at this time I started going to my surgery more frequently as I couldn't stand the symptoms anymore, again I was told its your menupausal state, eventually in sep 2018 I collapse pretty badly at home and couldn't get myself up my son helped me, by then I was very hyperthyroid, i lost around 1 and a half stone (son was sure I had cancer) I had a marked tremor, sweated constantly, every time I ate I would need the toilet food just flew out of me, I had insomnia so bad it was like being awake permanently, my brain was running on speed mode it was a living hell.
My son took me to my surgery the day I collapsed, I saw a different gp from the one I always seemed to get, she diagnosed me right away as having hyperthyroidism turned out to be graves thyrotoxicosis, my T3 was 24.2..TSH..0.01..then my T4 was 100 T3 39.5 TSH suppressed.. I lost my thyroid in 2019, but I wonder how different it would have been if my gp had just done my thyroid function as the endo recommended?
As your son is clearly showing bloods moving in that direction you should try to get his bloods done over a period of 2/3 months to see if his T3, T4, TSH go back to a better level or continue to show hyper bloods results, if its an autoimmune attack he will be attacking his thyroid making it go overactive, this can also return his bloods to a normal range when the attack stops.
It angers me when GPS endos see what is clearly an hyper/hypo phase but when one blood test returns as normal or with in normal range they smile gleefully and say "your bloods are now normal" what they fail to realise is... Your blood can go back out of range or climb into top end range which in turn can give you symptoms. As many members on here state endocrinologist know very little of thyroid conditions 🤷♀️
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