Hi, I’m new to this. Recently had a private blood panel done. Not currently on thyroid medication.
symptoms: weight gain; nails brittle, hair loss (including part of eyebrow); brain fog, extreme anxiety; more sensitive to cold which is new for me); vestibular issues.
blood results added.
can anyone advise please. I’m unsure about T4. and what this means. Thank you.
Hello, welcome aboard, it would be good if you add pics of your iron, vits and mins results too to give a better picture ( you need to do each one individually as a comment as it'll only cope with one at a time)... certainly looks like your thyroid is starting to struggle
further results
further results
Folate is extremely deficient
Ferritin virtually deficient
Vitamin D insufficient
Ft4 is below range
Vitamin levels are low because you are hypothyroid
Did you get thyroid antibodies tested?
GP will want to repeat tests
Always test early morning, ideally before 9am, only water to drink between waking and test
You should be prescribed folic acid and vitamin D
And started on 50mcg levothyroxine per day
Always take levothyroxine on empty stomach, then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after
No other medication or supplements within 2 hours
No magnesium, vitamin D or iron supplements within 4 hours of levothyroxine
Many people take very early morning…….but might be more convenient, possible more effective taken at bedtime
Retest thyroid levels in 6-8 weeks
Likely ready for next increase in dose levothyroxine then
come back and update us on what GP’s doing
thank you so much for this. They didn’t test thyroid antibodies but I’m going to book that as a separate test tomorrow. I appreciate this information and advice.
Well done 🤗 One of Admin will soon pounce with lots of useful advice! As you can see you have some pretty dire results there which make it even harder for your thyroid to perform
Admins are here to smooth the functioning. There are far more non-admins who are prolific and helpful repliers to posts.
Well... I could cut and paste one of SD's but it just wouldn't be the same 🙃
Made me laugh - but the many non-admins are so important, vital, and much appreciated.
And I wouldn't wish anyone hoping for a reply to end up waiting because someone no-one with "Administrator" by their name has yet to reply! 
Ok.... here goes!
A little something to get you started Lainey
Stolen from SlowDragon (bit of a legend)
Edit... that didn't work as the links don't copy... take a look at this chat about Vit D
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
And here is a link to a chat about folate... healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
🤗
Damned good try!
But the links don't work! You can't just copy and paste links. All you get are the actual characters you see - including "..." at the end.
You need to right-click on each link, choose Copy Link, then paste that in the right place.
(That works in Firefox. But likely different if you use different browsers.)
Yeah, darn it! I realized that so opted for the other route of pulling up a previous chat 😉
The links work for me though, I use Edge browser mostly. I always copy the link out of the browser bar and paste. Sometimes I use Chrome.
The original version of that reply had lots of links that were truncated - ended ... - and would not work as intended though some might have ended up somewhere!
Now edited and the two links do work.
Welcome to the group. If you could complete your profile it helps members Understand yoru thyroid journey. Click on your image icon to start.
Did you also get thyroid antibodies tested, if so what were they?
What time of day was this test taken? We recommend testing close to 9am and fast before the test that day.
Your TSH is still in the 2's so not remarkable, although under 2 would be better if no thyroid issues.
Your FT4 below range is unusual and I would show this result to your GP who will want to run their own tests to confirm your results.
It looks like your thyroid is making an extraordinary effort to keep up hormone production and you may well be symptomatic as a result.
It's posssible if your antibodies are negative that you could have secondary hypothyroidism where the pituitary doesn;t call for enough hormone. GPs aren't so used to seeing this presentation so you may need to be assertive about it.
Your folate is deficient. Again, show GP results and they should prescribe 5mg folic acid. You will need to buy your own supplement after this finishes to prevent your level falling back to where it is today.
Vitamin D should be around 100 - 150. Buy one that includes vit K2 to help it go to your bones. Some are available in oil or you can take it with an oily meal for better absorption. Many members like the Better You range of D3+K2 mouth sprays. Use this calculator to work out how much to take to get your level to 100-150. wildatlantichealth.com/vita...
Ferritin should be around 90 - 100 for best use of thyroid hormone. Suggest increasing iron rich foods in diet and eating them often. Chicken livers, pate, red meat etc
Your B12 isn't terrible but would benefit from being higher. If GP prescribes folic acid then for now start with a methyl B12 sublingual spray or lozenge. When you have finished the course of folic acid then switch on to a good methyl B complex.
cytoplan.co.uk/vitamin-b12-...
amazon.co.uk/Better-You-Boo...
This B complex has all the right vitamins at a not unreasonable cost for 90 days supply(also contains folate). Once B12 is good (over 500) you can stop the stand alone B12 and just continue with the B complex. amazon.co.uk/Liposomal-Soft...
thanks for this advice. My bloods were taken at 8am (had a cup of rooibos tea at 7am). I didn’t have antibodies checked, but can probably get this from Medicheck on Thyroid panel of bloods. Would you recommend this?
8am is OK. TSH is highest at 9am or close to that time as it runs on a circadian rhythm. Just have water before the next test. This helps with consistency as certain foods can affect tests.
It's good to know if you have antibodies and the NHS only test one type - TPO. If you test privately you can also get Tg (Thyroglobulin) antibodies.
ahh, great. I’ll look into that. Thank you. What a helpful forum this is!
Let us know how you get on with the GP. Just start a new post. Good luck.
GP should definitely test again in three months (unless you already have previous tests which were similar). GP is likely to look at TSH and say that you are in range and not hypothyroid at all.
But you have symptoms. And your FT4 is actually below the range and that is what GP should be looking at. Another test in three months time: if FT4 is still below range you may be looking at Central hypothyroidism rather than Primary hypothyroidism - that is, the problem may lie with your pituitary gland or hypothalamus. You may have to point this out to the GP and request a referral to an endo. The treatment of Central hypothyroidism is the same as for primary but an endo could run some other tests.
But I may be jumping the gun here…..maybe there are other reasons for the low FT4.
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