Level check please

[Flaw]

Hello all,

I have been in Levothyroxine since I was about 20 - I’m 38 now and have never felt any better whilst on medication.

The Dr will test me every year or so and usually my meds stay the same.

I’m currently on 100mg of Levothyroxine.

My recent results were:

Serum TSH 0.09 mu/l

Serum free T4 18.3 Pom/l

Serum T3 4.6 pmol/L

I was on 75mg here and they upped me to 100mg, retested 8 weeks later and results were TSH 0.82

I’m still constantly fatigued, get heart palpitations, achey muscles, dry skin etc etc.

Thanks for any advice - it’s all very overwhelming!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

welcome to the forum

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change or brand change in levothyroxine

Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested 

Also both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once 

Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum

About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease, usually diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies 

Autoimmune thyroid disease with goitre is Hashimoto’s

Autoimmune thyroid disease without goitre is Ord’s thyroiditis. 

Both are autoimmune and generally called Hashimoto’s.

Have you had thyroid antibodies tested

What vitamin supplements are you taking

When were vitamin levels last tested

Request GP test vitamin levels if not done in last year

Low vitamin levels are extremely common when hypothyroid, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s or Ord’s thyroiditis)

20% of autoimmune thyroid patients never have high thyroid antibodies and ultrasound scan of thyroid can get diagnosis 

In U.K. medics hardly ever refer to autoimmune thyroid disease as Hashimoto’s (or Ord’s thyroiditis)

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test 

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options and money off codes

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning. 

Watch out for postal strikes, probably want to pay for guaranteed 24 hours delivery 

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Link about Hashimoto’s

thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...

Symptoms of hypothyroidism 

thyroiduk.org/wp-content/up...

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Welcome to the group.

Can you add the ranges (numbers in brackets after your number) as these vary from lab to lab.

What time of day was your test done? We recomend getting bloods done at or as close to 9am as possible as this is when TSH is highest.

Do you have Hashimoto's? Have you had bloods done for antibodies?

When hypo we get low stomach acid that means we cannot absorb vitamins well from our food. For thyroid hormone to work well we need OPTIMAL levels of vitamins. Have you recently or could you ask your GP to test levels of ferritin, folate, B12 & D3?