Help with test results

[Miso_soup]

Hi,I'm hoping to get insights into my latest test results and symptoms I continue to have. I had my thyroid out in 2012 (Graves), I'm located in Australia and currently taking 100mcg of Eltroxin and 16mcg of slow release (compounded) t3 daily. Around 2yrs ago I got quite sick, I had extremely heavy fatigue and could not work for 7 months, along with other symptoms such as getting sick easy, high anxiety and other strange sensations in the body. This occurred after getting sick with the flu quite badly (I had extremely low Vit D 21 nmol, last test 75 several months back), but I had quite bad sustained stress for a couple years prior to this which I think wore down my body systems. I was very fit and active. I got a referral to an endo who put me on t3 10mcg daily and now I'm on 16mcg. In my last appointment a couple of weeks ago he wanted to increase the t3 slightly, but didn't at the time as I had mentioned symptoms of anxiety had popped up here and there. I will go back and ask for the increase as the anxiety wasn't bad and I think it's needed based on results. I still have a constant fatigue and never feel refreshed after sleeping, get headaches (on top half of head), a bit of anxiety that can pop up, no desire to exercise and go out, low energy, i also feel hotter in my body since the last t3 dose increase several months back. I do work 5 days a week, fortunately I can work from home several days. I'm currently taking b12 sublingual supplements hydroxocobalamin 1000mcg x2 every 2nd day) , iron 2-3 times a week (dried ferrous sulphate 325 mg, w/vit c 500mg) and vit c 500mg on top, just started taking a b-complex tablet every 2nd day and a vit d and k2 spray usually 3-4000 IU. My test results were done on an empty stomach at 9:45am (bit of a wait), t4 and t3 taken around 26hrs earlier.

I'm on a gluten free diet and was a vegetarian for 11yrs until a couple of months back when I started eating a little red meat to see if it would improve health, my diet has gone a bit off from what it used to be from 1yr ago and I've put on weight. I'm focusing on getting my vits and t3/t4 optimal (and I know I need to get more exercise). I'm not sure about my other results, particularly sex hormones as my endo hasn't raised that as being an issue.

Any insights into the results would be appreciated.

Results - taken on 2 or 3rd day of period

Thyroid Funtion

Tsh- 1.99 mu/l (ref 0.5-5.0), Ft4 17.9 pmol/l (11-22), t3 4.5 pmol (3.1-6.4)

Hormones

FSH 11.1 IU/L - No ref

LH - 10.2 IU/L - no ref

ORSTRADIOL- 179 pmol - no ref

PROG - 0.7 nmol- no ref

TESTO- 1.2 nmol -(<1.8)

SHBG- 62nmol - (28-150)

C FREE TESTO- 14 pmol - (1-34)

DHEAS- 5.3 umol/L- (1.7- 9.2)

B12/Folate

FOLATE - 31.0 nmol/L- (>6.0)

TOTAL B12- 486 pmol/L (200-700)

Iron

IRON -10 umol/L- (5-30)

S TRF -2.5 g/L -(2.0-3.6)

S TRF SAT -16 % - (10-45)

S FERRITIN -67 ng/mL- (30-200)

I do have Biochemical, Cholesterol, Haematology results also if needed.

Thanks!

[Bertwills]

Hi, just a few things caught my attention. You could well raise your T3 as the gap between T3 & test is too long, ideally leave 8 to 12 hours not 24 as with T4. So your T3 result is lower than it should be. You could still raise your dose of noth a T4 & 3 as your TSH is a little high for some one taking T3. Ideal level is below 1.

Also your folate is very high. Are you supplementing that separately?

Have you considered that you might have Long Covid? It sounds like it to me. Certainly a post viral illness. So it might not all be caused by your thyroid.

[Miso_soup in reply to Bertwills]

Hi Bertwills,Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Early on when I first got sick, my acupuncturist thought it was post viral and at one point my gp was going to refer me to a cfs specialist/clinic as no answers were found through testing. This was put on the backburner as I started seeing an endo again and working on getting throid levels stable. My gp is on maternity leave, but I was speaking with another gp today who said we can potentially trial cbd oil and q10 along with other supplements as she has patients with cfs on this, I didn't quite catch the reasoning as it was a brief discussion and I forgot details.

I will revisit the post viral side again. Throughout my illness I had also been following a channel on YouTube that tells cfs, post viral etc stories and heard brain retraining had been successful for a number of them, I will probably explore that further too.

Regarding folate, no I'm not on supplements, but I did do a quick check on the Royal Pathologists of Australia site which references a range of between 7 nmol/L- 40 nmol/L (may vary each w/lab), which puts it in range, but I really don't know anything about folate and what my results mean according to the range.

I will up my t3 when I speak to the endo and will also discuss t4 as I'm wondering if that needs a small lift too.

I don't suppose you know much about my hormone results? I was curious about those and didn't get an explanation from the endo.

[Bertwills in reply to Miso_soup]

Sorry, no idea about hormones except thyroid ones. I believe there’s a website about HRT called Balance or similar that’s popular. Best do a separate post otherwise.

I have a fibromyalgia diagnosis too. There’s a brilliant website & forum called Healthrising. org. This monitors all research etc on ME, Fibro, long covid etc.

the most useful thing for me was LDN. It’s available privately from clinic158.com & posted out by Dickson chemist. Not expensive for private meds. You self refer with blood test results. Takes 3 months to reach full dose of 4.5 mcg. Transforms some people.

Brain retraining can work for some but not all. I’d exhaust all other avenues before going there. Read up on Health rising. It can be a waste of time.

[Miso_soup in reply to Bertwills]

Thanks! I'll check those out. I have not heard of LDN before.