Please help me wiht my labs

[ggabri07]

Hi everyone. I got my lab results today and I was wondering if someone was willing to help me understand them

TSH- 1.49
T4, Free- 0.9
T4, Total- 5.5
T3, Free0 306.
Fasting Glucose- 91

[stella5349]

It looks faily normal on your TSH as a number doctors use to determine if you have a thyroid problem or not.

It doesn't look like on paper you are having any issues with this TSH level.

As for your Free testing - do you have the ranges on the exact lab your tests were done at?.

Stabbing at the Free T3 tests I would think you level was decent too.

Not very up on the glucose stuff - but from what I read that looks good and within a normal level too.

[wandy07]

Hey, could you interpret mine also?  Just got them back from the doc.  He didn't drop my thyroxine any further, thank God!!!!  I am so tired every day.  In July, Tsh was 0.004, Free T4 was 2.8, Calcium was 100.  Free T3 was not included.  I was taking 100 mcg of levothyroxine.  Doc wanted to take it down another 25 mcg (this has been going on for several months, started out at 150 mcg and felt wonderful, slept well, etc.), but I begged him to do something less radical because I am gaining weight, skin is dry, I am so tired.  He put me on 88 mcg.  Latest test (9/03) is Tsh of 0.557; Free T4 is 1.4, and Free T3 is 1.8.    He is allowing me to stay on 88 mcg of levothyroxine, and we will repeat the tests in a month.  Is there anything else I should ask him to test on this next bloodwork?  Do these numbers seem good.  I am still gaining weight, my eyes get really tired and achy, along with the rest of me.  I can hardly get out of  bed in the morning to go to work.  Are there supplements I should be taking to feel better?  Thank you so much!  wandy07

[stella5349]

In July your TSH was very low which could have been said you were hyper on you rlab results. that is why the lowering of your meds were suggested.

When you were at the 0.004 how did you feel then ? Were you one the 150mcg Synthroid?

Looking at the T4 Free and Free T3 (without the lab ranges) you definate are lower than you were

Without the Free T3 ran in July - one can only assume you were higher in July too then where you are now.

That may be why you feel so exhausted - you may be at a T4 into T3 conversion level that is not relieving you of your symptoms.

On paper the levels are fine - but not by how you express how you feel now.

Supplements may not be the anser - retest again and see where you are at and how you feel and maybe your doctor will bump you back up to what makes you feel good.

[wandy07]

Thank you, Stella.  I was on 150 mcg until later in January.  Doc dropped it to 125 mcg  based on bloodwork.  I felt absolutely terrific on the 150 mcg.  I don't remember when he repeated the bloodwork after dropping the levels to 125 mcg, but I think it was sometime in March.  My sister was really sick at that point, and life got pretty blurry for me.  At any rate, by April he had dropped it to 100 mcg and I was definitely not feeling well on that level.  I told him this,but he said that the levels were still not right. My sister passed away in April.   I retested in July, and that's when he lowered it yet again.  Now I feel like I just want to sleep in all my spare time, which is just not possible.  He asked me if I feel depressed, which I do not. I have a strong desire to still do things I did prior to March, such as dancing, but when we drive to the dance class I am ready to go to sleep.  I just ask my husband to take us home so I can go to bed.  I feel like a bleery eyed, dull minded, out of energy old lady!    I went rummaging through all my bloodwork, and found the Free T3 for July.  It was on a page all by itself.  It was 4.7.  What do you mean by "you may be at a T4 into T3 conversion level that is not relieving you of your symptoms", and is there something I could be doing to help that?   I do force myself to walk to the fitness center at work nearly every day after work to do 20-30 minutes on the eliptical machine.  Then I go home, and I'm pretty much done for the day.  Thank you again!  wandy07

[LittleEd]

I don't understand the "Free" and "Total." You metioned a "Total" T4 and that's new to me. My charts always just say Free.

[AR-10]

The "Free" T4 and Free T3 tests are newer tests that have been in use the last five or eight years or so.

Before that the best T4 test was a Total T4 test, which measures the total amount of T4 in your blood.

The best test for T3 used to be a Total T3, which did not measure the T3 hormone level at all, but rather a score was acheived by doing mathematical calculations based on the total t4 test and a T3 uptake, I think. Little fuzzy on the details.

ANYWAY...when T4 and T3 are released into your blood by the thyroid, certain proteins in the blood bind close to 90% of the hormone and makes it unavailable to be used. What is left unbound and usable is called "free". It is free to be used by the body. The rest goes in the trash.

Measuring your Total T4 is a waste of time, becuase what you need to know is how much Free T4 you have. Measuring a variable amount that cannot be used is useless.

Unfortunately, many doctors still run Total T4 and Total T3 tests because that's the way they were taught to do it. With the newer tests available, the old ones are a waste of money.

With the old tests, it took 3 tests to get your T4 and T3, and the results were not acurate anyway. Better than no bloodwork, but not nearly as good as the free tests.