RESULTS

[lunarbella]

1st set of thyroid bloods from GP

TSH 9.6 (RANGE 0.2-4.5)

Free T4 9 (RANGE 9-21)

Repeat set of bloods from GP a year later

TSH 1.5 (RANGE 0.2-4.5)

FREE T4 12 (RANGE 9-21)

GP seems happy that they are within normal limits but i feel just awful with the usual symptoms. My mum, sister and gran all have thyroid issues. I guess i'm just desperate for answers as to why i feel so awful.

Any input appreciated, i am not on any medication at the minute, gp decided my first set of bloods may have been due to having been pregnant.

[PinkNinja]

Sorry you are feeling so awful

Your T4 is right near the bottom of the range and this could explain why you are feeling so rubbish. Unfortunately you are unlikely to get treatment with a TSH of 1.5 as that is pretty good.

There are reasons why your TSH might not truly reflect your thyroid function. One reason could be adrenal insufficiency where your adrenals have become fatigued due to stress, illness, pregnancy etc which results in them no longer producing enough of the hormone cortisol. This is quite likely if you have recently had a baby. You may want to do a google search to for "adrenal fatigue" for more information. There are self-help measures that can help your adrenals recover from the stress that has caused them to not produce enough cortisol. If your cortisol levels aren't right at certain times of the day (i.e. too low in the morning and too high at night) your TSH might be lower than is reflective of your actual thyroid function.

Another possibility is a vitamin B12 deficiency. This can interfere with communication between the hypothalamus and pituitary (which produces TSH to tell your thyroid to work harder). If that is the case your pituitary won't produce enough TSH. If you get a B12 test and your B12 is below 500 it would be wise to supplement. A maintenance dose of 1000mcg methylcobalamin (best form of B12) is recommended anyway and a sublingual supplement is best.

As you have a family history of thyroid problems, it would probably be a good idea to get regular thyroid tests. You may find that the next one shows a high TSH again.

I would not normally expect pregnancy to cause such a drastic change in your TSH unless there was an underlying problem with your thyroid, which is why I personally feel that it is important to keep an eye on things.

We normally recommend people get the following 5 tests as deficiencies in any of the following can cause symptoms similar to hypothyroidism but can also affect the way your body uses thyroid hormones. The tests are;

Serum iron (needs to be well within the range and nowhere near the bottom)

Ferritin (stored iron - needs to be above 70-90 for women)

Folate (well within the range)

B12 (needs to be above 500 - not the 200 that the NHS thinks is normal!)

Vitamin D

I hope I have helped a little and haven't confused things too much!

Bottom line - you likely have an autoimmune thyroid condition that is varying (considering your family history too). Please get regular checks and try to get them to check thyroid antibodies too. You are more likely to get treatment if you have thyroid antibodies.

I hope you get to the bottom of this so you can feel better soon. Try and get plenty of rest whenever you can too, so you have the strength to deal with this.

Carolyn x

[Jackie]

Hi As always good advice from Carolyn. I would also strongly suggest you get your Free T3 done You may need some on a script, this helps all symptoms and slightly lowers the TSH. I would also suggest being pregnant ( congrats0 to try and be under a good endo. Must be good!

Best wishes,

Jackie

[ravenhex]

I echo the admins, do insist on the extra blood test one being out of whack even slightly can cause issues.

Be prepared to have a NO! to Ft3 test. Some GP's are non negotiable on it. Try saing fine then, do the otehr tests and see what comes up, if they are OK then it is a Yes to test FT3.