stubborn dr. and blood tests

[hashi]

when my dr. does thyroid panel test al  he does is check my tsh. How can I get him to get him to check my free t3 and free t4, toatal t3 and total t4.How important are they to my thyroid condition exactly. I'v apparently developed i.b.s., so he suspects by symptoms only which could be because my levels are too low or too high someone told me in another forum. Go to gastronoligy and go to undiagnosedHYPOthyroidallmyadultlife and read that article. VERY GOOD POINT!!

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

All you can do is ask your doc to do the other labs -- the TSH is the best screening test for thyroid -- if it is greater than 3 then there may be hypo - it is seldom necessary to do the t4 and T3 but besides the cost there is no reason not to add them on.  I usually test antibodies too in these cases when the symptoms are there but the labs are "normal"....

[mshypo]

although TSH may be the best "screening" tool for hypo, I'm not sure that TSH is the best "dosing" tool.  Some doctors are dosing by Free levels and symptoms...and I would hope that if you are having hypo symptoms, your doc would be interested in knowing what your actual thyroid hormone levels are..and might suspect you're still hypo in they are below the midpoint.  it is quite possible that your intake of oral thyroid hormone has disrupted the normal HPT feedback loop and TSH is not accurately reflecting your thyroid status anymore.  Any engineer would know that if you introduce a variable...you have to reexamine the system to see if it's working properly and adjust for the variable...and it seems the docs doing the studies realy aren't engineers.  just my take on it.  I'm no doc.  I just know what is working for me and lots of others.  I'd post the link as to wher you can get order and get your own bloodwork done...but i don't know if that is allowed here.

[shelley01]

Hi - please can somebody help. I've been told today that my TSH was 2.86 and T4 was 14.  I am overweight, always tired, feel the cold etc etc.  Are these test results "normal" or could they indicate hypothyroidism. Thanks in advance for your help.

[ancientmariner]

I wish doctors would diagnose by symptoms and not by labs. Your symptoms are classic hypo. There are other tests that can be run, like FREE T3 and FREE T4, but many docs don't use them. I was fortunate to find an alternative med doc who tests those things. There is a huge debate going on right now about how to diagnose hypothyroid, with more and more doctors ignoring TSH. Best wishes!