I would appreciate some advice about my thyroid test results, I seem to have normal TSH, elevated fT4 and low fT3. What does it mean? I’m female, 45 years old.
I home tested with Cerascreen but will push for full thyroid tests from my Dr. The blood tests I had with them recently only measured TSH which was 2.68 IU/l (0.55-4.78 IU/L). They also showed low ferritin at 12 ug/l (10-291 ug/l) and vitamin d at 19 ug/l (>20 ug/l).
I do have symptoms of an under active thyroid - cold, low energy, terrible brain fog, swollen legs - but they could also be from the iron deficiency. And hypothyroidism runs in my family (mum, aunt, grandmother).
TSH 2.38 mIU/L (0.3-4.0)
fT4 26.13 pmol/L (10.25-25.6)
fT3 1.26 pmol/L (2.1-6.4)
Thanks in advance.
Written by
MadAboutTheBoy
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So you are low in some important vit's and min's needed for a happy thyroid to assist with conversion fT4 to fT3, fT3 being the active form hence you feeling awful, was this test done before 9am, fasted? Important as TSH has a circadian rhythm
Unlikely your GP will do a full thyroid panel but push for antibodies, B12 and folate test along with iron panel, you should be offered some Vit D though they don't prescribe one that contains K2 which is important for bone health, magnesium helps with uptake
Thanks so much for your detailed reply, lots to think about and test! Looks like it’s a problem converting T4 to T3 then, rather than a dodgy thyroid.
My test was done in the evening, not fasted. I’ll be sure to do a fasted pre-9am test if I can get my GP onboard. Thanks for that tip.
In the bloods I got from my GP initially, my B12 was 294 pmol/l and the range is 145 - 569 pmol/l. I will ask about folate as that doesn’t seem to have been measured.
I’m going to see if I can get an iron transfusion. I’ve felt so dreadful for so long I don’t want to wait months to raise my ferritin with tablets.
Serum ferritin level is the biochemical test, which most reliably correlates with relative total body iron stores. In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first and retest 3-4 times a year if self supplementing.
It’s possible to have low ferritin but high iron
Test early morning, only water to drink between waking and test. Avoid high iron rich dinner night before test
If taking any iron supplements stop 5-7 days before testing
Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.
Thank you so much for these links! I’ll have a good read.
I don’t have any obvious reasons for the low ferritin. I eat a reasonable amount of meat, generally healthy balanced diet. I workout 3x a week, weights mostly or Pilates, and stay fairly active during the day. Think maybe it could be my periods but hard to know whether the blood loss is that bad.
The blood tests I had via the doctor didn’t flag any issues with haemoglobin.
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Very confused by blood test results - grateful for help please 
Blood Test Results.
Repeat thyroid test results
help to understand test results
