High TSH

[salvivaishali]

Hello, Last week had my blood test done for Thyroid. My test results are : Free T3 - 2.74 Free T4 - 1.18 TSH - 6.43. what do my results interpret. Am I suffering from hypothyroidism?

Thanks

[gimel]

TSH is a pituitary hormone that is affected by so many things that it is only an indicator, to be considered along with more important indicators such as symptoms and also levels of the biologically active thyroid hormones, Free T3 and Free T4.  That said your TSH is higher than most people without hypothyroidism.  And your your Free T3 and Free T4 are in the low end of their ranges, which is frequently indicative of hypothyroidism.  Note the words of a good thyroid doctor as follows.

"The free T3 is not as helpful in untreated persons as the free T4 because in the light of a rather low FT4 the body will convert more T4 to T3 to maintain thyroid effect as well as is possible. So the person with a rather low FT4 and high-in-range FT3 may still be hypothyroid. However, if the FT4 is below 1.3 and the FT3 is also rather low, say below 3.4 (range 2 to 4.4 at LabCorp) then its likely that hypothyroidism is the cause of a person's symptoms."

Of course weight gain can be due to a number of possible causes, but it can also be a symptom of hypothyroidism  Taking everything into consideration I'd say the probability is high that you are hypothyroid.  So, what I suggest is that you should request to be tested for the main cause for diagnosed hypothyroidism, which is Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  With Hashi's the autoimmune system erroneously sees the thyroid gland as foreign to the body and produces antibodies to attack and eventually destroy the gland.  As this is proceeding, output of thyroid hormone is diminished and TSH starts increasing.  To determine if this is happening, you should test for Thyroid Peroxidase and Thyroglobulin antibodies.  The tests are listed as TPO ab and TG ab.  Both should be done.  This will show if you are in the early stages of Hashi's.  

Also, since hypo patients are frequently too low in the ranges for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, I suggest testing for those as well to verify those levels.  When test results are available, please post them, along with reference ranges, and members will be glad to help interpret and advise further.  

[salvivaishali]

Hello gimel,

Thanks for replying. Reference range for Free T3 :  2.0  - 4.4, Free T4: 0.93 - 1.7, TSH: 0.27 - 4.2 ulU/ml. The only noticeable symptom I am having is minor weight weight gain. my avg weight was 45.5 kgs currently it is 46.7kgs. I delivered a baby last year. After delivery of my baby I had erratic sleeping schedules & hence had a little hair fall as well. I don't know whether lack of sleep & stress might have caused my TSH levels to rise.

[gimel]

Lab test results and calculated reference ranges vary from one lab to another.  It is important to always compare results against ranges from the same lab.  So, please post reference ranges for those tests.  Also, please tell us about any symptoms you are having.