Aa
Thyroid Tests and what this means?
I have a great new doctor that has been helping me figure out a few things about my health the past year. A little background, I am Active Duty military and have always just been ignored with health. Anyways my new doctor is helping me with get a few things back in order.
My symptoms. I have been having difficulty losing weight for 6 years. I do not gain weight but it's been a fight to lose 35lbs and I can maintain but I want to lose about 20 more. In the course of the past year my doctor has decided to prescribe me phentermine to help. Well with my strict food diary and working out we have seen me only shed about 10 lbs. In addition, I have had other issues going on that was never taken seriously. I have hirutism mild, and skin tags on my neck. I do have periods on the dot every month. My fasting blood sugar is always around 80 and never goes above 100 when eating. I have cholesterol 121 NOT Fasting and Tri's are always at around 65-74. My good cholesterol is always low and my so is my low. I am always told to bring that up with no luck. Now over the course of a year I was told I had IBS w constipation or Gluten sensitivity. I do not go out of my way to have a strict diet of non gluten but I eat pretty clean anyways. I hate bread and pasta but do eat sweets occasionally. Removing Diary has been great for me.
Now with all this going on my Doc suspects I have always been Insulin resistant and possibly PCOS. I had one Endo agree out of the 3 I have seen.
In addition, I have always suspected my thyroid was not working properly. Of course they always test TSH. But this doc did the following and I don't know what they are and what they mean. What are your thoughts with my results? BTW, she is sending me to a Endo next month and she is doing a thyroid ultrasound this week on me.
Thyroglobulin Antibody Result <1.0 Range 0.0-0.9
Thyroglobulin Immunometric Assay Result 37.4 Range 1.5-38.5
Thyrotropin 3rd Gen Result 1.39 Range 0.35-4.94
Thyroxine Free Result 1.68 HIGH Range 0.7-1.48
Nuclear Pending.......
Trriodothyronine Pending.......
I believe with the last result that is the T4 Free/T3 Free right? That would indicated hyper? But I can't lose weight WTH?
Thanks for the help and advise Alicia
My symptoms. I have been having difficulty losing weight for 6 years. I do not gain weight but it's been a fight to lose 35lbs and I can maintain but I want to lose about 20 more. In the course of the past year my doctor has decided to prescribe me phentermine to help. Well with my strict food diary and working out we have seen me only shed about 10 lbs. In addition, I have had other issues going on that was never taken seriously. I have hirutism mild, and skin tags on my neck. I do have periods on the dot every month. My fasting blood sugar is always around 80 and never goes above 100 when eating. I have cholesterol 121 NOT Fasting and Tri's are always at around 65-74. My good cholesterol is always low and my so is my low. I am always told to bring that up with no luck. Now over the course of a year I was told I had IBS w constipation or Gluten sensitivity. I do not go out of my way to have a strict diet of non gluten but I eat pretty clean anyways. I hate bread and pasta but do eat sweets occasionally. Removing Diary has been great for me.
Now with all this going on my Doc suspects I have always been Insulin resistant and possibly PCOS. I had one Endo agree out of the 3 I have seen.
In addition, I have always suspected my thyroid was not working properly. Of course they always test TSH. But this doc did the following and I don't know what they are and what they mean. What are your thoughts with my results? BTW, she is sending me to a Endo next month and she is doing a thyroid ultrasound this week on me.
Thyroglobulin Antibody Result <1.0 Range 0.0-0.9
Thyroglobulin Immunometric Assay Result 37.4 Range 1.5-38.5
Thyrotropin 3rd Gen Result 1.39 Range 0.35-4.94
Thyroxine Free Result 1.68 HIGH Range 0.7-1.48
Nuclear Pending.......
Trriodothyronine Pending.......
I believe with the last result that is the T4 Free/T3 Free right? That would indicated hyper? But I can't lose weight WTH?
Thanks for the help and advise Alicia
Barb thank you for the information. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. I have written down your advice and plan to bring it to my Doctor. She is amazing and will do anything to help us figure out what is going on.
Thanks again! Alicia
Thanks again! Alicia
COMMUNITY LEADER
Triiodothyronine is Total T3, not Free T3... Total T3 is considered to be obsolete and not as useful as Free T3, but will give an idea of whether or not the Free T3 will be high, also.
Thyrotropin Third Generation is TSH...with a result of 1.39, it would be considered "pristine".
The thyroglobulin result may be a concern, but your doctor may not think so, since it's not over range.
The doctor should have ordered a Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab), which is the other test to determine if you have Hashimoto's... Both TgAb and TPOab are needed, since some of us have one or the other of the antibodies and some of us have them both.
"Nuclear Pending..." Does that mean an ANA test was done, also?
Since your FT4 is above range, you should also ask for a Thyroid Stimulating Immunoglobulin (TSI) test... TSI is the definitive test to determine whether or not you have Graves Disease.
With Hashimoto's, many people swing from hyper to hypo in the early stages, before they finally settle into permanent hypo... Graves Disease is always associated with hyper.
Many symptoms of hypo, also apply to hyper. When you get the results of your ultrasound, please post them... With your high FT4 and excellent TSH, it's possible that you have a hyper-functioning nodule, that's acting independently of the thyroid.
Thyrotropin Third Generation is TSH...with a result of 1.39, it would be considered "pristine".
The thyroglobulin result may be a concern, but your doctor may not think so, since it's not over range.
The doctor should have ordered a Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab), which is the other test to determine if you have Hashimoto's... Both TgAb and TPOab are needed, since some of us have one or the other of the antibodies and some of us have them both.
"Nuclear Pending..." Does that mean an ANA test was done, also?
Since your FT4 is above range, you should also ask for a Thyroid Stimulating Immunoglobulin (TSI) test... TSI is the definitive test to determine whether or not you have Graves Disease.
With Hashimoto's, many people swing from hyper to hypo in the early stages, before they finally settle into permanent hypo... Graves Disease is always associated with hyper.
Many symptoms of hypo, also apply to hyper. When you get the results of your ultrasound, please post them... With your high FT4 and excellent TSH, it's possible that you have a hyper-functioning nodule, that's acting independently of the thyroid.
Today my T3 Free was not updated or the ENA test they did.
The TSH3 which is the 3rd Generation TSH I posted was 1.39. I had my B12 come it at 523. I am right in the middle there for that one. Iron was always good but have not had D3 or the Ferritin.
I am curious what the T3 Free says as well. Thanks for the info. If my T3 was high too what would you think I had going on? Thanks for your time.
The TSH3 which is the 3rd Generation TSH I posted was 1.39. I had my B12 come it at 523. I am right in the middle there for that one. Iron was always good but have not had D3 or the Ferritin.
I am curious what the T3 Free says as well. Thanks for the info. If my T3 was high too what would you think I had going on? Thanks for your time.
The TSH is the Thyrotropin Third Generation. I have it posted above. It's 1.39. I am pretty sure about 100% that I am insulin resistant. I know my ultrasound of my ovaries will show the pearl like string of cysts. I had this done a few years ago and it showed the cysts that are consistent with PCOS. In addition, all of my male hormones and female are on right on point. They have ran those like crazy, to include the testosterone and a few others like DHEA-17...etc. The only thing that I have that will show my PCOS right now is difficulty losing weight, hirutism, insulin resistant and cystic ovaries. My thyroid is really shocking to me that there are issues. Thanks for your input.
Yes the Thyroxine free is the Free T4 (FT4). and the pending Triordothyroneine is the Free T3 (FT3).
I will withhold judgement until the FT3 test comes back.
Did you get other testing for vitamins etc? Typical things we see many people being too low in who are suffering from low thyroid like symptoms are:
Vitamin D3
Vitamin B-12
Iron
Ferritin
Ferritin is necessary to properly metabolize thyroid. The others can cause a lot of fatigue like symptoms. If you have not been tested for these, I would suggest that you be tested for them.
Also you stated that you have been tested for TSH. But you did not list the result. Not that I'm much a believer in the accuracy of the TSH test as to how it correlates to your symptoms, but knowing the result and how your Dr uses all the test data to provide a diagnosis and what the Dr recommends. That will give us a better sense of what is what.
Your FT4 is OVER range. And yet you seem to indicate that you are experiencing Hypo (low) thyroid symptoms. Hummmm. It will be interesting to see what your FT3 levels are!
I will withhold judgement until the FT3 test comes back.
Did you get other testing for vitamins etc? Typical things we see many people being too low in who are suffering from low thyroid like symptoms are:
Vitamin D3
Vitamin B-12
Iron
Ferritin
Ferritin is necessary to properly metabolize thyroid. The others can cause a lot of fatigue like symptoms. If you have not been tested for these, I would suggest that you be tested for them.
Also you stated that you have been tested for TSH. But you did not list the result. Not that I'm much a believer in the accuracy of the TSH test as to how it correlates to your symptoms, but knowing the result and how your Dr uses all the test data to provide a diagnosis and what the Dr recommends. That will give us a better sense of what is what.
Your FT4 is OVER range. And yet you seem to indicate that you are experiencing Hypo (low) thyroid symptoms. Hummmm. It will be interesting to see what your FT3 levels are!
What's your TSH level? Also, you can have nice looking glucose levels, both fasting and after eating, but still be insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is pretty much pre diabetes, when your body is over producing insulin because your cells are not responding to normal levels. Ask for a 2 HR glucose tolerance test and have them check your fasting glucose, A1c, and your post drink insulin levels. That is how they will be able to test for insulin resistance. If you are not insulin resistant, it may be that your adrenals are the ones over producing male hormones in your body and not your ovaries, in that case your doctor will want to test the androgen levels produced by your adrenals and go from there.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Thyroid Disorders Community
We tapped the CDC for information on what you need to know about radiation exposure
Endocrinologist Mark Lupo, MD, answers 10 questions about thyroid disorders and how to treat them
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
