Total thryoidectomy and blood tests afterwards

[Laurelb73]

I had my thryoid totallly removed 4 years ago. I have been having constant problems finding a good endocrinologist.  The one I saw today insists that I need to worry about my t4 and not the tsh.  Can someone help me?  I am 25 weeks pregnant.  The tsh was 1.1 and the t4 was 210.  I feel great so I don't know why she wants to lower my dose.

[Laurelb73]

so is it normal to check t4 when you have no thryoid?  I am so scared to have hypo symptoms again.


t4 range is 60-160.  

I was told in the past not to worry about any test but the tsh.

[philber]

I am going to assume the T4 number you posted of 210 was actually 2.10 and was Free T4.

The typical rage for Free T4 is 0.61 - 1.75 ng/dL.

If your Free T4 was 2.10, you are clearly outside the range and are getting too much T4, which is why he lowered the dose.

If the number he gave you was truly Total T4, then the reference range for that is 4.5 - 12 ug/dL.  Again if this was the number and you had a 210, that is clearly way more than 12.

If you check your labs, make sure the UNITS are correct however.  Some labs use different units of measurement than what I posted.  If your labs are not the same units (ng/dL) as above then you will not be comparing apples to apples and need to do some math to convert your numbers.

Please double check which numbers he gave you, Free T4 or Total T4 and the units in which the test was measured.