Got Thyroid Blood Panel Results Back. Can someone help me analyze it?

[cheriemousse]

Hi,

I received my test results back.

              My Results         Lab Range
Free T3: 3.42 pg/ml           2.50-3.90
Free T4:  .97 ng/DL           .58-1.64
TSH:      3.11 uIU/ml          .34-5.60

Symptoms:
- exhausted all the time
- brain fog/forgetfulness
- dramatic hair thinning
- heavy periods
- weight gain
- muscle aches (in arm, and hands) (sometimes)

Thank you in advance for all the help.

[goolarra]

Talk to your doctor or a nutritionist about the D.  With deficiencies like yours, doctors will sometimes prescribe D in doses as high as 50,000 IU per week.  Once the level rises, it's cut back to a maintenance dose.  Don't do this on your own though.  

Best of luck.

[cheriemousse]

Thank you both for the wealth of knowledge! I will take vitamin d supplements each day to increase my levels. That makes a lot of sense.

[flyingfool]

I agree.

Vitamin D needs to be significantly improved.  Low D will cause fatigue and being tired all the time.  and as stated above is sort of like a caytalist to help metabolize the thyroid that is in your blood.

I think the iron could go up a bit too.

[goolarra]

What are you doing about the abysmal D???

In my opinion, you'd be much better off addressing your vitamin D deficiency.  D is necessary in the thyroid for the synthesis of thyroid hormones.  So, raising your D is apt to increase FT4 level.  Also, D must be in cells in sufficient quantity for FT3 to get in and do its work.  If it's not, you can dump all the thyroid hormones you want into the bloodstream, and you will still be hypo at the cellular level and have hypo symptoms.  

I have read that for proper thyroid health, D needs to be in the 50-70 range.    

[cheriemousse]

Thank you for responding! I went for a checkup because I was worried I might have hypothyroidism. I am not on thyroid meds. My doctor told me I was okay, but with the AACE recommended range, and varying opinions, I have been feeling stressed. I wonder if I have subclinical hypothyroidism and would benefit with thyroid meds.

My doctor did order a complete iron panel, and tested Vitamin D.

                                                     Range
Iron            59 ug/dL                       35-140
Ferritin       123.2 ng/ml                   23.9-336.2
Vitamin D    21.3 ng/mL                   30.0-99.9

[goolarra]

FT4 is a little on the low side.  It's 37% of range, and the target for FT4 is about 50%.  On the other hand, your FT3 is 66% of range, which is well into the top half, right where it should be.  FT3 is the test that correlates best with symptoms.  AACE recommended many years ago that TSH range be changed to 0.3-3.0.  Using that more reasonable range, your TSH is a little elevated.  

You're not on thyroid meds?

While your FT4 could stand to be a little higher, with your FT3 where it is, I wouldn't stop looking for other things that can cause your symptoms.  Have you had a complete iron panel (with ferritin), vitamins D and B-12 tested?  Those can cause symptoms similar to thyroid and/or make it impossible for thyroid hormones to be used at the cellular level.  So, you feel hypo even with adequate serum FT3 and FT4 levels.