Need help in understanding the Blood tests

[hraomvn]

Hi,
I am from India-Bangalore and have got my Health checkup done yesterday.
I got the report and results shows:
T3  - Triiodothyronine (serum) - 1.37
T4 - Thyroxine (serum) - 6.18
TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (Serum) - 7.17

Doctor says i have thyroid problem and has asked me to start taking Thyronorm 5mg (one a day) for rest of my life.
Repeat the test after 3months.

Do i need to start taking the medicine? Do we have any alternate ways to bring this back to normal ? (diet,etc)

Thank you all in advance.
Hanu

[goolarra]

Your doctor tested total T4, which is not as useful a test as FREE T4.  Your TT4 is at 27% of range, and many people have hypo symptoms until T4 is around 50%.

That's also a total T3 test.  Next time you might ask for FREE T3 and FREE T4.  Your T3 is at 52% of range, which is pretty good.

Your TSH is quite high, which could indicate you are hypo.  

Do you have hypo symptoms?  Fatigue and/or sleepiness, constipation, weight gain, depression, intolerance to cold?  You can google a more extensive list.  Typically, graying hair (at an age when some graying is to be expected) and isolated pain aren't symptoms of hypo.  

Did your doctor order thyroid antibody tests?

[hraomvn]

Thank you for the reply. Iam finding lot of grey hair these days and have slight muscle pain in the left hand and leg and one of the doc suggested to get this done.
Below are the details.

In_v_e_s_t_ig_a_t_ion Fin_d_i_n_g_s R_e_fere_n_c_e__R_a_n_g_e M_e_th_o_d
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T3 - Triiodothyronine (Serum)                 1.370 Adult 0.700 - 2.000 ng/ml CLIA
T4 - Thyroxine (Serum) 6.18 Adult 4.60 - 10.50 μg/dl CLIA
TSH - (Serum) 7.170 Adult 0.400 - 4.200 μU/ml CLIA

[goolarra]

What are the reference ranges on your T3 and T4?  Ranges vary lab to lab, so you have to report them with results.

Also, do they say that they are FREE T3 (FT3) and FREE T4 (FT4)?

Do you have hypo symptoms?