Preparing for first visit - hypothyroid?

[Malamie]

I am in the process of switching PCPs. The one that I am currently seeing ran bloodwork when I first came in in November including TSH, which came back as 3.081 (within their lab's normal ranges). She agreed at the beginning of this month to do a Free T4 but said that based on my TSH levels anything else would be "a waste" and refused to do any further testing. My FT4 came back as 0.82, again within their lab's normal ranges. I am not happy with these numbers and based on my symptoms believe that I am likely hypothyroid. I have seen a lot and talked to many people who agree that a normal TSH for MOST people should be around 1.5 or so and thus further investigation should be done. I am leery of demanding further bloodwork but I seriously believe I am hypothyroid and expect any further testing to agree with this conclusion. I am desperate for my new doctor to understand that something must be done to help control my symptoms as the rest of my bloodwork is clear and I am otherwise normal and healthy (although overweight). How have you all gone about moving to a "willing to treat" doctor from someone who said your numbers are normal, even if your research and symptoms say otherwise? I need guidance as I am somewhat nervous about this.

[goolarra]

What's the lab's reference range for FT4?  A typical range is 0.8-1.8, which you can see puts you on the floor of the range.  The rule of thumb for FT4 is midrange, and that's based on where many of us have to be for symptom relief.  Rather than saying you are in range, your doctor ought to be saying "we have lots of room in this range to play with the numbers and see if it helps symptoms".  

A number of years ago, AACE recommended TSH reference range be changed to 0.3-3.0.  As you can see, labs and doctors have been slow to adopt the change.  Even 3.0 is too high for most of us.

[gimel]

There is much to discuss, but first, please tell us about any symptoms your are having.