I've been in hospital again since Wednesday feeling very unwell with what looks like some random symptoms. My T4 is 17.7
TSH is 7.07
I'm absolutely miserable ( what's new) but have my first endo appointment on Tuesday ,not sure how I should be feeling with those numbers ?!
Can you edit the above with ranges?
They never give ranges here ,annoyingly
If you search for the pathology laboratory you might well find the references ranges readily accessible. Quite often "Somewhere hospital pathology handbook" will find the information.
If not, phone them and ask.
You have EVERY right to them. The results mean little without ranges.
previous post 2 months ago
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
High TPO antibodies confirms autoimmune hypothyroid disease - also called Hashimoto’s
TSH was 13 two months ago
TSH 7 now
Two separate tests with TSH over 5, and symptoms, and especially with high thyroid antibodies you should be started on levothyroxine
Starting levothyroxine - flow chart
gps.northcentrallondonccg.n...
Because of your medical history starting on 25mcg Levo
Retest 2-3 months later
Are you lactose intolerant or on dairy free diet
If yes you need LACTOSE FREE levothyroxine
Best option is likely Vencamil levothyroxine
Request
Coeliac blood test if not been tested
Retest vitamin D as likely on inadequate dose vitamin D
B12, folate and ferritin all inadequate or deficient as detailed in previous post 20 days ago
Iron 12.7umol/l
Serum ferritin 23 ug/l
Ferritin is deficient
Has GP done full iron panel test for anaemia
Request endo do so
Or test yourself as detailed in previous post
Folate 3.3 ug/l
B12 366 ng/l
are you self supplementing B12 now
After a week on just separate B12 add in a separate vitamin B complex
As detailed in previous post
Retest vitamin D yourself here
NHS easy postal kit vitamin D test £31 via
and most importantly take a supportive (preferably male) witness with you
Just got some more bloods back B12 247 ( 197-771)
FOLATE 5.6 ( 3 - 26.8)
T4 18.1 ( 12-22)
TSH 6.3 ( 0.27- 4.26 )
CORTISOL 45 , no range given
What time was test done?
TSH over 5
Cortisol possibly extremely low ….obviously impossible to say without range
Folate inadequate
B12 very inadequate
Medics will say these are “fine” as within range
Down to you to self supplement
No vitamin D test result
Organise your own retest of vitamin D
No iron panel or ferritin
cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anae...
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 3-5 days before testing
Medichecks iron panel test
medichecks.com/products/iro...
monitormyhealth.org.uk/anae...
10% off code here
thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...
Look at increasing iron rich foods in diet
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
List of iron rich foods
Links about iron and ferritin
irondisorders.org/too-littl...
davidg170.sg-host.com/wp-co...
Great in-depth article on low ferritin
oatext.com/iron-deficiency-...
drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypo...
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.
High TPO antibodies
You should have coeliac blood test done BEFORE you consider strictly gluten free diet
as per NICE Guidelines
nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20/c...
1.1 Recognition of coeliac disease
1.1.1
Offer serological testing for coeliac disease to:
people with any of the following:
persistent unexplained abdominal or gastrointestinal symptoms
faltering growth
prolonged fatigue
unexpected weight loss
severe or persistent mouth ulcers
unexplained iron, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency
type 1 diabetes, at diagnosis
autoimmune thyroid disease, at diagnosis
irritable bowel syndrome (in adults)
first‑degree relatives of people with coeliac disease.
Your TSH is reducing
Ft4 isn’t very low at moment
Endocrinologist may want to wait and retest again in another 8 weeks before starting Levo
If you got all four vitamins to OPTIMAL levels you might well see thyroid levels improve
Certainly symptoms should improve with better vitamin levels, especially improving low ferritin and B12
And strictly gluten free diet might give significant benefits too
are you still taking the steroids ? or have you tapered off yet... just mentioning it as i think ?steroids can have a lowering effect on TSH ,so bear that in mind when discussing TSH results with endo . ie . when off them, your TSH may rise again, and they may be partly responsible for it appearing to improve ( go down) in recent weeks. ... not sure if endo's are aware of this effect or not ...possibly not , but if they are i guess they may want to wait a bit longer to see what thyroid is doing once you've finished the steroids.
not sure how that helps , probably not at all , but just thought i'd better mention it in case it gets forgotten ..... really sorry you're having such a lousy time Helly , and i agree~ whoever is playing around with your voodoo doll should take a really long break , you 've had way more than your fair share of trouble already . ..sending a hug .
Your T4 looks okay to me on the face of things. You need to know your T3, which is the active thyroid hormone. We are supposed to convert T4 to T3. You TSH indicates a lack of T3. Although TSH is a pretty inadequate measure of thyroid health, it looks like you are clearly deficient, even by that gross measure. Since you probably have enough T4, but are not converting it, you would need T3 supplements. These are hard to get. The best source is Natural Dessicated Pork Thyroid gland, sold in 'grains.' Depending on where you are located, it can be more or less hard to find a doctor to write a script for this. A starting point is to find a doctor who will actually measure your T3. The theory for these problems with doctors looking at your T3 is that when synthetic T4 (thyroxine) came onto the market, it was in commercial competition with dessicated pork thyroid (which contains T4 and T3), and big pharma pushed synthetic T4, enabling its dominance by recommending via captive laboratories, that T3 was only to be tested where TSH was really high. A lot of people can be T3 deficient and have normal TSH - but you don't so someone should be willing to test your T3. Many people take synthetic thyroxin but remain ill, ill but not listened to. Not so long ago a book by a thyroid specialist finally came out acknowledging this: Bianco, MD, Antonio C., Rethinking Hypothyroidism: Why Treatment Must Change and What Patients Can Do, University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition.
I will do my very best to ask for some more bloods at my first endo appointment this afternoon, I'm not hopeful at all & struggling to even stay awake 🙃 I will make a new post when I get home & let you all know how it went ,thanks for the book recommendation x
Good luck. B12 is very very important too, and iron, as others who read more of your posts have commented.
Yes my B12 seems to be dropping like a lead balloon- 247 at the minute but they say it's normal , I can hardly keep my eyes open & it's scaring me a wee bit
Recent blood results 
Most Recent Test Results 
Most recent blood test 
Recent blood results 
Recent blood results 
