Thyroid results - hypo?

How do you feel Violetrose - symptoms can be far more telling than blood tests?

Your T4 is still very low (only just inside the range) and although your TSH has come down, in countries with a less medieval approach to thyroid treatment, that would still be too high.

Have you had B12, Vit D, folate and ferritin tested? Often these essential vitamins & minerals are low in people with hypothyroidism. Women having periods are especially likely to run low in iron stores. You will be told results are 'normal' even if they are right at the bottom of the huge ranges - and whilst technically this may be true, it doesn't mean that results are optimal for good health. Always worth checking your own results by getting a print out.

I think getting some vits and minerals tested would be a good idea. If your iron stores are low, that could be contributing to you feeling tired.

What is your diet like?

Do you take any other meds?

Back to this thread

Had a normal (private) test in March, TSH of 2, T3 and T4 in normal range. Felt better, particularly in energy and mood.

This week I've had another blood test as ordered by my GP and my TSH is back up to over 5 but my T4 is normal. The message from my GP is to increase to 75mcg in the meantime and we will have a telephone consultation next week to discuss symptoms and to change my prescription.

I've felt terrible recently so I'm not surprised at the result. I can barely get up in the mornings and every weekend I end up having to nap. I'm back to having very low moods and my skin/hair have gone to shit. But it's hard to know whether this should be attributed to my thyroid, or just symptoms of a hectic life and stressful job

Good you're on more. Are you still on sertraline?

Unfortunately when thyroids start to collapse it can take a while with lots of medication adjustments. It's always hard to know if it's making stress worse too as you feel rubbish. Give this new dose a few weeks and see how you feel, though I suspect you'll need another change in a few months.

Just stick to the nhs tests for now incase is discrepancies and really you should be being monitored closely, roughly every 3-6 months. If you feel rubbish though do go back for a test before 6 months is up.

Also, are you getting tests done at the same time if day and before you take the thyroxine?

Thank you

No, I stopped sertraline at the beginning of the year, and really felt I was doing well without it. I'm certainly not in the depths of depression that led to me taking it last year, but I'm slipping a bit.

I'll ask to retest again in 12 weeks. When I had the normal result in Jan he said he won't move me to annual monitoring until I've had two normal results in a row. But I don't want to wait another 6 months to see if 75 is working.

Good, it might alter things so best to stay off till your stable (though you may not need it then).

The chat with the gp is important as a normal test is one that includes symptoms being normal or good as well as the blood results. Some people feel well with a tsh of 0.6 others with a tsh of 1 for example. So do talk about your symptoms.

The 'normal' t4 result could potentially occur if you took your thyroxine the day of the test - did you do this? What was the result? Was it very normal or low normal?

No the test was at 9am and I hadn't taken the thyroxine (I never have taken it before testing)

T4 14.9 (ref 12.0-22.0) so fairly low end of normal.

Have just checked all my old results and T4 has always been around 13 or 14, except the private test in March where it was 17.

I haven't really got my head around what the T4 result means

You're right it's low end normal. The test in March had a better tsh so the t4 would have been better.

Basically as your thyroid tissue is failing (or being destroyed) and producing less t4, your tsh is increasing to try to stimulate the tissue to create more. In march the extra thyroxine had done some good; it raised the t4 so tsh came down and you felt a bit better but now you need more as it's continuing to degrade.

Does that make sense?

The main reason to test after 3 months is that it gives the t4 (half life of 7-10 days) time to build to full levels and your symptoms to level off. GPS sometimes do raise the dose and check bloods after 6 weeks. See what the gp says.

Have a look on YouTube for a podcast on hypothyroidism by Dr Renee Hoenderkamp. Sorry I can’t link on my phone but it’s easy to search for and find. I found this sooooo useful. Sorry you’re feeling crappy.