Timing of thyroid blood tests

[Macey2009]

Hi I am having my 6 monthly thyroid bloods next week at 8.20am

Previous ones have been 8.10am Not much difference but is that time Ok?

Thought i read on here closer to 9am is better?

Thanks

Jennifer.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

That’s fine

Remember last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

[Macey2009 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi Thanks for the reply.

I am undiagnosed at the moment.

I have 6 monthly blood tests due to high TPO Antibodies.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Macey2009]

Essential to test TSH, Ft4 and Ft3, plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

As you have Hashimoto’s have you had coeliac blood test done?

if not already on strictly gluten free diet get this tested if not been done

[Macey2009 in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes i had that test at the Drs already did it's negative.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Macey2009]

So now you can consider trying strictly gluten free diet then

A trial of strictly gluten free diet is always worth doing

Only 5% of Hashimoto’s patients test positive for coeliac but a further 81% of Hashimoto’s patients who try gluten free diet find noticeable or significant improvement or find it’s essential

Similarly few months later consider trying dairy free too. Approx 50-60% find dairy free beneficial

Hashimoto’s and leaky gut often occur together

Both dairy and gluten are inflammatory foods

A strictly gluten free diet helps or is essential due to gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link) 

Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and may slowly lower TPO antibodies 

Trying gluten free diet for 3-6 months. If no noticeable improvement then reintroduce gluten and see if symptoms get worse

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

amymyersmd.com/2018/04/3-re...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

drknews.com/changing-your-d...

Non Coeliac Gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and autoimmune disease

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/296...

The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported

nuclmed.gr/wp/wp-content/up...

In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned

restartmed.com/hashimotos-g...

Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

tattybogle added this article which would suggest if you are looking for highest possible TSH (assuming feed back loop is good) and lowest T3 & T4 readings then a run or something vigorous the night before might help you achieve that...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....

[SlowDragon Administrator]

previous post 5 months ago

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Macey2009 in reply to SlowDragon]

I haven't got around to doing a private full thyroid test yet. But will need to try strange soon.

[TSH110]

No that will be fine I dont think 10 minutes difference from last time will matter greatly.

It is not true that 9am is the best time (it has probably been misconstrued in this way because surgeries only opened at 9) .

I had meant to challenge this comment in a recent post with a link to proper evidence which demonstrated that TSH reaches its zenith much earlier than 9am. I think it was between 2 and 5 am ish . So around 8 am is actually better than 9am. The TSH will be higher.

[Macey2009 in reply to TSH110]

Thanks for the reply. I had always thought the earlier the better for a higher TSH that's why I wondered when i saw a comment about being better closer to 9am

[TSH110 in reply to Macey2009]

I think we can disregard it. The paper I was going to link to was quite clear that this is simply not the case. It was based on a lot of actual data from blood tests taken from real people in a highly controlled manner. There may be the outlier one in a million that has an obdurate TSH that likes to peak at 9 am but it is not the norm.