Aa
Lab results feedback, Goal to optimal for weight loss
I would appreciate feedback on my lab results.
I have been on 112 mcg's Synthroid (just increased three weeks ago)
and 2.5 mcg's of T-3
Free T4 is 1.8 (range .82 -1.77)
Free T3 is 3.2 (Range: 2.0-4.4)
TSH -- .092 (range .450 -4.5)
Weight loss is very slow and I've just started to feel more energy--but these numbers are not quite right.
COMMUNITY LEADER
No, it's best to continue with this thread, because this is where all your information is - otherwise we'd have to ask you to re-post all your previous labs, in order for us to not have to go looking for them...It's much easier to scroll to the top of this thread than to find another thread... you did just right.
It's really hard to tell anything from Total T3, because most of the Total T3 is bound by protein and can't be used, therefore, we have no idea how much of it is actually "Free" (unbound) and available for use. It's unfortunate that your insurance won't pay for Free T3; is there any way you could pay out of pocket for that, since it's so important. Anyone taking a T3 medication should be keeping track of Free T3 levels.
That said, your Total T3 is only at 40% of its range, so can assume that your Free T3 will be low, as well.
You said you took your T3 medication in the morning and had your labs in the afternoon... Did you take "all" of the T3 med at the same time? Approximately how many hours prior to the test did you take the med? T3 is "fast acting" in that it enters the blood stream within a short time, peaks within a couple hours and is gone a few hours later, which is why we, typically, recommend that anyone on T3, split their daily dose into 2 doses during the day in order to keep their levels more stable. Since you took the med in the morning and had the labs in the afternoon, it's possible/probable that the T3 was pretty much out of your system by then depending on the number of hour elasped...
Your Free T4 is still at 57% of the range, so it's possible that you could drop your T4 med down another notch if you're going to increase your T3 med. Of course, you have to have your doctor's okay to do this and I wouldn't decrease T4 med without increasing T3. I wouldn't go too much lower on T4 med, as you're getting very close to that 50% mark and while it doesn't have to be "exactly" 50%, you don't want to go a lot lower than that.
If you do increase T3, you really need to start splitting your dose, because taking a larger dose all at once, could give you a "jolt" for the morning, then when it runs out about half way through the day, you'll be left with a crash.
TSH is often suppressed when one is on T3 medications...Don't let your doctor panic over that.
It's really hard to tell anything from Total T3, because most of the Total T3 is bound by protein and can't be used, therefore, we have no idea how much of it is actually "Free" (unbound) and available for use. It's unfortunate that your insurance won't pay for Free T3; is there any way you could pay out of pocket for that, since it's so important. Anyone taking a T3 medication should be keeping track of Free T3 levels.
That said, your Total T3 is only at 40% of its range, so can assume that your Free T3 will be low, as well.
You said you took your T3 medication in the morning and had your labs in the afternoon... Did you take "all" of the T3 med at the same time? Approximately how many hours prior to the test did you take the med? T3 is "fast acting" in that it enters the blood stream within a short time, peaks within a couple hours and is gone a few hours later, which is why we, typically, recommend that anyone on T3, split their daily dose into 2 doses during the day in order to keep their levels more stable. Since you took the med in the morning and had the labs in the afternoon, it's possible/probable that the T3 was pretty much out of your system by then depending on the number of hour elasped...
Your Free T4 is still at 57% of the range, so it's possible that you could drop your T4 med down another notch if you're going to increase your T3 med. Of course, you have to have your doctor's okay to do this and I wouldn't decrease T4 med without increasing T3. I wouldn't go too much lower on T4 med, as you're getting very close to that 50% mark and while it doesn't have to be "exactly" 50%, you don't want to go a lot lower than that.
If you do increase T3, you really need to start splitting your dose, because taking a larger dose all at once, could give you a "jolt" for the morning, then when it runs out about half way through the day, you'll be left with a crash.
TSH is often suppressed when one is on T3 medications...Don't let your doctor panic over that.
Hi Super Sally,
I did happen to take the test in the afternoon and had taken my meds in the morning. Even so the T-3 was low. This thread is so long and from a few months ago--I should have posted in a new thread to get feedback for my question I think.
I did happen to take the test in the afternoon and had taken my meds in the morning. Even so the T-3 was low. This thread is so long and from a few months ago--I should have posted in a new thread to get feedback for my question I think.
Hi,
for your blood test, did you take your medication before or after the blood test?
If you took it before the test, then your numbers will be higher than they otherwise would be.
For future tests, always make sure to take your medications after the blood test is done.
for your blood test, did you take your medication before or after the blood test?
If you took it before the test, then your numbers will be higher than they otherwise would be.
For future tests, always make sure to take your medications after the blood test is done.
I have now been on 100 mcg's of Synthroid and 5 mcg's of T-3 and my lab results are the following. I do not have free t-3 as my hmo doesn't pay for that
Total t-3 is 98 with range of 58-159. This seems somewhat slow or mid range
2. Free T-4 is now within normal limits since I reduced from 112. It is 1.2 with range of 0.8 to 1.5
3. TSH is my doctor says suppressed. It is .11 with a range of .35 to 4.0
It was recommended on this board that I descrease my synthroid to 100 because my t-4 was too high and to up the t-3-but it seems like the t-3 is not optimal yet.
I wonder if there is a conversion issue. My options might be to raise the t-3 to 7.5 and stay on synthroid at 100 or I could go to 88 synthroid and raise t-3 to 7.5 and/or 10 mcg's as tolerated. It takes my body awhile to tolerate and acclimate to the t-3-. Right now I can tolerate 5 mcg's.
Total t-3 is 98 with range of 58-159. This seems somewhat slow or mid range
2. Free T-4 is now within normal limits since I reduced from 112. It is 1.2 with range of 0.8 to 1.5
3. TSH is my doctor says suppressed. It is .11 with a range of .35 to 4.0
It was recommended on this board that I descrease my synthroid to 100 because my t-4 was too high and to up the t-3-but it seems like the t-3 is not optimal yet.
I wonder if there is a conversion issue. My options might be to raise the t-3 to 7.5 and stay on synthroid at 100 or I could go to 88 synthroid and raise t-3 to 7.5 and/or 10 mcg's as tolerated. It takes my body awhile to tolerate and acclimate to the t-3-. Right now I can tolerate 5 mcg's.
My last comment disappeared, but thank you Barb and Gimel. I'll post a follow up in a few weeks.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Most of us taking a T3 med, find that it works best to split the total dosage into multiple (usually 2) dosages during the day. For instance, I take 10 mcg T3/day, with 5 mcg in the morning with my Levoxyl (T4, equivalent to Synthroid) and the other 5 mcg at lunch time.
The reason for this is because T3 is fast acting, so it gets into your system pretty quickly, but it peaks and is out of your system within a few hours. If you take your whole dose at once, you get the full effect right away and within a few hours, it's gone and you have nothing left for the rest of the day. By splitting the dose, you keep your FT3 levels more stable over the course of the day.
Also, because T3 is fast acting, one should not take T3 medication prior to having a blood draw, otherwise you'll get a false high reading. It's always best to wait until after the blood draw to take med.
The reason for this is because T3 is fast acting, so it gets into your system pretty quickly, but it peaks and is out of your system within a few hours. If you take your whole dose at once, you get the full effect right away and within a few hours, it's gone and you have nothing left for the rest of the day. By splitting the dose, you keep your FT3 levels more stable over the course of the day.
Also, because T3 is fast acting, one should not take T3 medication prior to having a blood draw, otherwise you'll get a false high reading. It's always best to wait until after the blood draw to take med.
You also asked about ferritin. My ferritin is good (about 98; it was 19 when I was first diagnosed) but my saturation was very low, which seemed odd. I started to take Iron supplements a couple times a week.
Thank you, Gimel. Similar advice as Barb and raising the T3 and lowering the T4 sounds good.
Since I was raised from 75 mcg I feel much better. My main symptom now is muscle fatigue in my legs. Since my dosage was raised I've had some days where I actually felt I had a bounce in my walk and extra energy. It was really nice, not hyper, but more like pre-hashimotos.
My vitamin D was tested in January and I'm going to test it again. It was not horriblle --around 40 or 49 (forgot) but not at the 60 range. I supplement and am working to bring it up slightly.
The weight loss is amazingly slow. I've lost about 5 pounds since Feburary (had gained 50 pounds from the thyroid, not from overeating) and the loss only came after my meds were raised and I switched from generic to Synthroid.
Since I was raised from 75 mcg I feel much better. My main symptom now is muscle fatigue in my legs. Since my dosage was raised I've had some days where I actually felt I had a bounce in my walk and extra energy. It was really nice, not hyper, but more like pre-hashimotos.
My vitamin D was tested in January and I'm going to test it again. It was not horriblle --around 40 or 49 (forgot) but not at the 60 range. I supplement and am working to bring it up slightly.
The weight loss is amazingly slow. I've lost about 5 pounds since Feburary (had gained 50 pounds from the thyroid, not from overeating) and the loss only came after my meds were raised and I switched from generic to Synthroid.
Thank you, Barb. I've been on T3 since May 2015. . I was not able to tolerate 5 mcg's of t-3 at first, but my body adjusted and I was able to tolerate up to 7 mcg's. Since the medical insurance didn't pay for a free t-3 test (I just paid for it out of pocket, first time ever had it tested yesterday), I had two options of staying on 100 mcg and raising the free t-3 or raising the Synthroid. I'm going to take your suggestion (discuss with doctor) and reduce T-4 and increase T-3 to see if I can get a better balance. Thank you.
Your Free T4 and Free T3 numbers are about the opposite of what we usually recommend, which is that FT4 should be at the middle of its range, at minimum, and Free T3 in the upper part of its range, as needed to relieve hypo symptoms. So you might want to talk with your doctor about reducing your T4 med a bit, instead of increasing it, and adding some more T3. Free T3 correlates best with hypo symptoms while Free T4 and TSH do not correlate. TSH is a meaningless test when already taking thyroid meds because it frequently becomes suppressed below range when taking adequate thyroid med. .
Weight gain can be affected by a number of things including diet, exercise and metabolic rate associated with thyroid levels. Even if associated with low metabolism from low thyroid levels, after optimizing those levels, the weight does not come off very fast, so you will need to be patient. What symptoms do you have other than weight gain?
Have you tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin. Hypo patients are frequently too low in the ranges for all three. Low levels can cause symptoms that mimic hypothyroidism. Low d or low ferritin can also adversely affect metabolism of thyroid hormone. D should be about 55-60, B12 in the very upper end of its range, and ferritin should be about 70 minimum. If your levels are too low you can supplement as needed to optimize.
Weight gain can be affected by a number of things including diet, exercise and metabolic rate associated with thyroid levels. Even if associated with low metabolism from low thyroid levels, after optimizing those levels, the weight does not come off very fast, so you will need to be patient. What symptoms do you have other than weight gain?
Have you tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin. Hypo patients are frequently too low in the ranges for all three. Low levels can cause symptoms that mimic hypothyroidism. Low d or low ferritin can also adversely affect metabolism of thyroid hormone. D should be about 55-60, B12 in the very upper end of its range, and ferritin should be about 70 minimum. If your levels are too low you can supplement as needed to optimize.
COMMUNITY LEADER
How long have you been on the 2.5 mcg of T3? It's customary to decrease T4 med by 20 to 25 mcg for every 5 mcg of T3 added in order to keep FT4 from getting too high...
With your FT4 above range and your FT3 right at 50%, it appears that you could drop your Synthroid back to 100 mcg and add another 2.5 mcg of T3 and you'd probably be about where you need to be. It's the FT3 that correlates best with symptoms and the med that increases your metabolism and will better help you lose the stubborn weight.
Most of us find that we do best with FT4 about mid range and FT3 in the upper half to upper third of its range. FT3 should be higher in its range than FT4 in its.
If you drive your FT4 too high, it can start converting too much to Reverse T3, which is inert and not enough to the active Free T3...
With your FT4 above range and your FT3 right at 50%, it appears that you could drop your Synthroid back to 100 mcg and add another 2.5 mcg of T3 and you'd probably be about where you need to be. It's the FT3 that correlates best with symptoms and the med that increases your metabolism and will better help you lose the stubborn weight.
Most of us find that we do best with FT4 about mid range and FT3 in the upper half to upper third of its range. FT3 should be higher in its range than FT4 in its.
If you drive your FT4 too high, it can start converting too much to Reverse T3, which is inert and not enough to the active Free T3...
Even though my free t-4 is above range, my heart rate is slow and steady. I do not have any symptoms of hyper.
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