Re: Latest Blog Post on Thyroid Blood Tests

[Guest guest]

> I would be really grateful if someone would help me understand recent some blood tests that I have just had.> Free T3 4.91 pmol/L ref range [2.63-5.70]> Free T4 14.38 pmol/L ref range [9.01-19.05]> TSH level Lo <0.01 mIU/L [0.35-4.94] > I currently take 4 grains of Erfa Thyroid and support my adrenals with 15mg Cortef daily.> > I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease about 11 years ago and have been trying to get well ever since.This site has been a godsend,it has helped me take control of my health although I still have to do battle with NHS!I think my results are ok although I'm not sure if my FT4 needs to be a little higher.I am better than I have ever been,diagnosed with M.E. 24 years ago, but still feel I have a way to go.My day to day life is still limited by fatigue and other Hypo Symptoms.Any thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated,my brain still struggles with numbers!

Hi Ginny,

Your lab results look good to me. On natural thyroid the FT4 is usually a little lower in relation to the FT3. This is because the ratio of T4:T3 is a little higher in NDT than it would be if our thyroid glands would work normally. If you wanted your FT4 a little higher, you could always supplement with 25 mcg Levothyroxin in addition. Personally I don't think it is necessary, because the T4 is only the back-up hormone, waiting to be converted into the active T3. But we are all different and some people say it helps.

Rule of thumb - if things feel right, then things ARE right.... but even on the right medication it still takes a few months to a year for the body to recover its former health - we hypos need a lot of patience....

All the best,

[Guest guest]

Ginny, if you have not had the following

blood tests done recently, can you ask your GP to do these in case any are low

in the reference range. If any of these are low, the thyroid hormone cannot be

properly utilised at the cellular level and you will still continue to suffer

symptoms until whatever is low has been increased with supplements. Iron,

transferrin saturation%, ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D3, magnesium, folate,

copper and zinc. Your blood test results look fine, and your fT4 is OK.

For anybody taking natural thyroid extract, the fT4 is often low and TSH

completely suppressed. However, it matters whether you took your Erfa Thyroid

on the morning you had your blood drawn for the test. If you did, then I would

have expected your fT3 to have been a lot higher, but if you stopped it the day

before, then your fT3 result is fine.

Also, check out the following by way of a

process of elimination to make sure none of these associated conditions with

hypothyroidism are getting in the way.

There are MANY reasons and many medical conditions associated

with thyroid disease that stop thyroid hormone from getting into the cells,

where it does its work. I mention these over and over and over again - ad

nauseum - people must be bored with the same old stuff, but as each new member

joins us, they need to know about these.

The main condition responsible for stopping thyroid hormone from

working is, quite simply, a patient’s thyroxine dose is too low because

the doctor or consultant refuses to increase it, because the serum thyroid

function test results appear OK. Sometimes, the thyroxine dose is too high, yet

patients still don't feel well. They continue to suffer. Some reasons for this:

They may be suffering with low adrenal reserve. The production

of T4, its conversion to T3, and the receptor uptake requires a normal amount

of adrenal hormones, notably, of course, cortisone. (Excess cortisone can shut

production down, however.) This is what happens if the adrenals are not

responding properly, and provision of cortisone usually switches it on

again. But sometimes it doesn’t. If the illness has been

going on for a long time, the enzyme seems to fail. This conversion

failure (inexplicably denied by many endocrinologists) means the thyroxine

builds up, unconverted. So it doesn’t work, and T4 toxicosis

results. This makes the patient feel quite unwell, toxic, often with

palpitations and chest pain. If provision of adrenal support doesn’t

remedy the situation, the final solution is the use of the active thyroid

hormone, already converted, T3 - either synthetic or natural.

Then, we have systemic candidiasis. This is where candida

albicans, yeast, which causes skin infections almost anywhere in the body,

invades the lining of the lower part of the small intestine and the large

intestine. Here, the candida sets up residence in the warmth and the

dark, and demands to be fed. Loving sugars and starches, candida can make

you suffer terrible sweet cravings. Candida can produce toxins which can

cause very many symptoms of exhaustion, headache, general illness, and which

interfere with the uptake of thyroid and adrenal treatment. Sometimes the

levels - which we usually test for - can be very high, and make successful

treatment difficult to achieve until adequately treated.

Then there is receptor resistance which could be a culprit. Being

hypothyroid for some considerable time may mean the biochemical mechanisms

which permit the binding of T3 to the receptors, is downgraded - so the T3

won’t go in. With slow build up of T3, with full adrenal support

and adequate vitamins and minerals, the receptors do come on line again.

But this can be quite a slow process, and care has to be taken to build the

dose up gradually.

And then there are Food allergies. The most common food allergy

is allergy to gluten, the protein fraction of wheat. The antibody generated by

the body, by a process of molecular mimicry, cross reacts with the

thyroperoxidase enzyme, (which makes thyroxine) and shuts it down. So

allergy to bread can make you hypothyroid. There may be other food allergies

with this kind of effect, but information on these is scanty. Certainly

allergic response to certain foods can affect adrenal function and imperil

thyroid production and uptake.

Then we have hormone imbalances. The whole of the endocrine

system is linked; each part of it needs the other parts to be operating

normally to work properly. An example of this we have seen already, with

cortisone. But another example is the operation of sex hormones.

The imbalance that occurs at the menopause with progesterone running down, and

a relative dominance of oestrogen is a further case in point – oestrogen

dominance downgrades production, transportation and uptake of thyroid

hormones. This is why hypothyroidism may first appear at the menopause;

the symptoms ascribed to this alone, which is then treated – often with

extra oestrogen, making the whole thing worse. Deficiency in progesterone

most especially needs to be dealt with, since it reverses oestrogen dominance,

improves many menopausal symptoms like sweats and mood swings, and reverses

osteoporosis. Happily natural progesterone cream is easily obtained: when

used it has the added benefit of helping to stabilise adrenal function.

Then, we must never forget the possibility of mercury poisoning

(through amalgam fillings) - low levels of iron, transferring saturation%,

ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D3, magnesium, folate, copper and zinc - all of

which, if low, stop the thyroid hormone from being utilised by the cells -

these have to be treated.

As Dr Peatfield says " When you have been quite unwell for a

long time, all these problems have to be dealt with; and since each may affect

the other, it all has to be done rather carefully.

Contrary to cherished beliefs by much of the medical

establishment, the correction of a thyroid deficiency state has a number of

complexities and variables, which make the treatment usually quite specific for

each person. The balancing of these variables is as much up to you as to

me – which is why a check of morning, day and evening temperatures and

pulse rates, together with symptoms, good and bad, can be so helpful.

The above problems must be eliminated if thyroid hormone isn't

working for you.

Luv - Sheila

I

currently take 4 grains of Erfa Thyroid and support my adrenals with 15mg

Cortef daily.

I was

diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease about 11 years ago and have been trying to

get well ever since.This site has been a godsend,it has helped me take control

of my health although I still have to do battle with NHS!I think my results are

ok although I'm not sure if my FT4 needs to be a little higher.I am better than

I have ever been,diagnosed with M.E. 24 years ago, but still feel I have a way

to go.My day to day life is still limited by fatigue and other Hypo

Symptoms.Any thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated,my brain still

struggles with numbers!