Help I terprwting results

[purplecrayonnits]

Hi, I just had a full thyroid profile done privately & wondered if someone could help me with the results?
My GP isn't good at it he just sees normal range but doesn't analyse the figures.
Just in case someone can help, my results are:

Total Thyroxine T4 - 83 (58-161)
TSH - 1.06 (0.40 - 4.00)
FT4 - 13.8 (11.5 - 22.7)
FT3 - 5.0 (2.8 - 6.5)
FT4: FT3 Ratio 2.8 ( 2.0 - 4.5)
TG - <20 ( <=40)
TPO <10 (<=35)

Cheers,

[Red_Star]

I had many of your symptoms myself. In particular due to vitamin B12 malabsorption. There is a quiz you can try out. Google: B12d - B12 Signs & Symptoms Assessment.

[purplecrayonnits]

Hi thanks. My symptoms are: extreme thirst, confusion/severe cognitive impairment, weight loss, pain, neuro symptoms (numbness, loss of power in upper arms, balance probsin, feelings of being uncounconscious & episodes of paralysis), severe bloating & stomach probs, skin problems (lots of new moles/freckles, sore spots that don't heal, sudden sensitivity to sunlight, body suddenly rejecting all my piercings I've had for years), slurred speech, blurred vision, muffled hearing, hoarse voice with pressure & soreness down into my chest. The list goes on. Ibe lost all quality of life all& desperate for answers.
I would have thought if it was my thyroid making me this unwell it would be more apparent in my bloods?
Many thanks,

[gimel]

Most likely, but we need to know about any symptoms you have.  

The antibodies tests show no problem there.  

[purplecrayonnits]

Hi thanks for the info.
I'm not sure how to interpret the antibodies result.
Also I just receivedreceived my annual private health screen which show my free thyroxine as normal but right on the lowest range. I.e 12.6 (12.6 - 22.0). Does this mean should ask for medication for hypo?
Thanks,

[gimel]

I agree that having thyroid hormone levels below the middle of the reference ranges does not automatically assure that you are hypothyroid; however, due to the erroneous assumptions used in establishing the ranges, patients with results in the lower part of the ranges have a higher probability of being hypothyroid.  The determining factor is whether the patient has hypo symptoms.  

The reason the ranges for Free T4 and Free T3 are flawed is that they are established based on all test results done by the lab, with the exclusion of only those patients having high TSH test results.  As a result there are lots of test results from hypothyroid patients that are included in the data base. This results in ranges that are very skewed to the low end.  The ranges do not really represent healthy adults with no thyroid pathology.  

That is why we see info such as this quote from a good thyroid doctor.  

"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."

[Red_Star]

I was reading the article from Diet Doctor - My Health Markers After Eight Years on LCHF. Dr Eenfeldt has no thyroid symptoms and is in good health.

TSH - 1.9 (0.46 - 4.7 mIU/L)
T4 - 13.5 (10 - 25 pmol/L)
T3 - 5.1 (4.3 - 8.1 pmol/L)

I thought I would post this as having lower in the range thyroid hormone levels doesn't mean you have suboptimal levels of thyroid hormone. Also consider your symptoms and other labs that can rise in the range due to lower levels of thyroid hormone in the blood such as liver enzymes, cholesterol, prolactin.