Possible hypothyroidism?

[lorileelou]

I'm a 41 year old female.  I have been having heart palpitations (more like flutters), anxiety, chest pain, sluggishness in the evening, throat tightness, left arm ache, and my period is down to 1 day.   I've been to the ER and have had an echo-cardiogram, stress test on treadmill, a chest x-ray and quite a bit of blood work.  My heart is apparently fine.

I did notice that my TSH from the ER report (taken in the evening) was 4.02.  I checked my previous levels and in 2013 it was 2.12, in 2014 it was 2.22, in 2015 (December) it was 2.22.  My blood work has been done in the morning fasting for 2013, 2014, and 2015.  The ER blood work was done at 11 pm.

My doctor has prescribed my Xanax and told me there is nothing wrong.  

I decided to get an individual blood draw done.  I didn't want to go back to my doctor and be treated like i'm silly.  The results were:

TSH:  2.52, Thyroxine (T4):  9.5, T3 Uptake:  26, Free Thyroxine Index:  2.5.  All of these results appear in the normal range.

My symptoms are the worst in the evening -usually around dinner and right before bed.

I personally don't believe i'm suffering from anxiety.  I will say that all of this worrying is making me anxious though.  :D

I would appreciate your thoughts!

[Barb135]

Hi there... Unfortunately, the tests you had done yourself are obsolete and not real useful.   Thyroxine shows both bound and unbound (Free) T4... we really need to know just the Free T4, as that's the portion that's converted to T3... T3 Uptake is an obsolete was of calculating Free T4, as is Free Thyroxine Index.  

It would be much more useful if you'd get just Free T4 and Free T3, since Free T3 is the hormone that's used by individual cells in your body.  Most places that have packages with Free T4 and Free T3, also include TSH.  

That said, if you could post the reference range for the T4, we could start with that... Reference ranges vary from lab to lab and always have to be posted with results so we can compare where your results fall within the ranges used by your lab.

Anxiety can do strange things to us, even when we don't "feel" anxious.  Often when physical causes for discomfort have been ruled out, we have no choice but to accept a diagnosis of anxiety...I've been there, so I know what you're going through.

[Barb135]

I forgot to mention that anxiety can also be a symptom of a thyroid condition, so it's important to get the right thyroid tests.