thyroid disorders

[susamma]

what is the normal value of TSH,T3 and T4 of thyroid test

[Neplinfairy]

Here is my lab report, could you tell me if I have a problem:

8/27/12                                                  3/5/12

TSH     H   5.78                                     3.430

FT4           0.86

my doctor wants to put me on synthroid, right now I am seeking out an alternative treatment, something natural.

[gimel]

The range for TSH used to be .5 - 5.0, until 8 years ago when the AACE recommended that it be revised to .3 - 3.0.  Unfortunately many labs and doctors have yet to adopt the new range.  As for T3, if you mean total T3 then the usual range is around 87-190 ng/dl.  If it is free T3, then it would be around 2.3 - 4.2 Pg/ml.  It is sometimes also expressed in different measurement units, such as 230 - 420 pg/dl and 3.5 - 7.7 Pmol /L.  Likewise for free T4 it is usually around .6 - 1.50 ng/dl, which is equivalent to 10.2 - 19.2 pmol/L.  For free T4 it would be around 4.5 - 12.0 mcg/dl.

Now that I have probably confused you a lot, I need to go further and say that many doctors use TSH a sole diagnostic for thyroid problems.  This does not work because TSH is a pituitary hormone that is affected by so many variables that it is unreliable for that purpose.  At best it is an indicator to be considered along with  more important indicators such as symptoms, and also the levels of the biologically active thyroid hormones, free T3 and free T4 (not total T3 and total T4).  

If you have lab test results you are trying to understand, if you will post results, members will be glad to help interpret.  We would also need to know what symptoms you have that might relate to having thyroid problems.