RE:Blood Analysis

[CutieJ]

Can anyone help?  WBC (4.0)   B12(278)     T3(2.7)   T4(0.79)    Folate (>20.0)   TSH(0.785)  Homocycteine(9.0)   Doctor has put me on Armour 60mg/day  Am I on the right meds?

[Barb135]

Your Free T4 is below the range, so needs to be brought up and your Free T3 is at teh bottom of the range and also needs to be brought up - by switching to synthroid, I'm sure your doctor is trying to bring up your T4 levels and assuming that you can convert T4 to T3, that will also bring up your T3 levels, but hopefully won't make you hyper.  

It's good that you are starting on B12, your levels are very low and that can cause extreme fatigue and if it gets bad enough, tingling, burning, numbness in the hands and feet, etc.  Did your doctor tell you to do that or suggest that shots might be beneficial? Or did you decide to do it on your own?  I hope you're taking a sublingual in order to insure maximum absorption.  If you have pernicious anemia, it means you don't have intrinsic factor in your stomach to absorb B12 from pills or food - that's why I'm on shots, though I sometimes do supplement those with a sublingual - also next time you buy some, you might look into a liquid, dropped under the tongue.  Would be good to have B12 checked again in a few weeks to make sure your levels are coming up.  

I'm not a lab tech, but it looks like the normal for folate is anything over 5.4 and your result is > 20, so if anything yours would be high and I'm sorry I can't tell you if that's good or bad.........maybe try googling "high folate levels" and see what you get.  

I'm assuming that your thyroid was already "messed up" or you wouldn't have had to be on Armour for the past 9 months.  It sounds like your doctor is trying to get you leveled out.  Do you have symptoms?  If so, what are they?  

It takes patience (which most of us don't have) to get levels balanced out and get to feeling better.  I'm going on a year and 1/2 and not right yet and I know some on here have been a lot longer than that.  

I still suggest that you ask to get your antibodies tested and an ultra sound to confirm/rule out autoimmune conditions.  

[CutieJ]

Thanks for the response,  Here are the ranges, I've been on Armour 60mg for about 9 months, Everytime I'm tested something aways seems to be high or low. Doc is now changing meds to synthroid 75mg. Just started 1000mg/day of B12 tablets. Don't want to mess up my throid..maybe I shouldn't be on meds?
WBC (4.0) Range 4.0-10.5     RBC (4.60) Range 3.87-5.11   TSH(0.785)Range 0.350-4.500    FreeT3 (2.7)Range 2.3-4.2   FreeT4 (0.79) Range 0.89-1.80   B12(278)Range 211-911    Dont't really understand Folate level (>20.0) Deficient 0.4-3.3   Indeterminate 3.4-5.4     Normal  >5.4   What do you think?  Thanks Again!

[Barb135]

Your B12 appears very low, although it's probably within the labs reference range.  My doctor says normal b12 levels are between 200 and 1100, but different labs use different ranges.  I was dx'd with pernicious anemia with levels almost exactly like yours and have been on b12 injections for over 2 yrs - should have been for many years, but no one picked up on it - they all wanted to dx me with depression because I was tired all the time until I started having neuropathy (sp?) because of it, then my doctor decided we might need to look into it.  The shots do wonders for the energy level.  

Were the T3 and T4 tests Free or Total?  We would also need to know your lab's  reference ranges since most labs use different ranges?  Have you been previously on thyroid med?  What symptoms do you have? Have you been tested for thyroid antibodies?