A little venting, and some lab results - help, please!

October 28, 2003

I went to a new endo last Friday. He responded to my statement that I'd felt

hypo all summer by declaring that no one can possibly know what their

thyroid is up to except through testing. He didn't like it that I wanted to

see my test results, and he really hated it that I was disappointed that

they didn't run FT3 and FT4 as I'd been led to believe they would. (In fact,

he hated it so much that he almost ditched me as a patient on the spot.)

After much discussion, he finally very grudgingly gave me a test sheet for

the tests I wanted, including TSI which he considers " worthless " .

Anyway, I'm going to get those done soon, maybe tomorrow (T4, FT4, FT3, TSH,

TSI). Is there a " best " time of day to have them done? My last set were

first thing AM, fasting.

Here are my latest results:

TSH 2.14 (.4-5.50, per this lab, though we know that it shouldn't go that

high).

Ttl T4 6.7 (4.5-12)

Ttl T3 126 (60-181)

Thyroid peroxidase AB >70.0 (0.0-2.0)

Thyroglobulin AB 16.7 (<2.0)

I know these last two are antibodies, but I don't know how to interpret the

results. When I had full blown Graves at its worst, these tested at 617 and

1444, respectively! While these readings are still above the " normal "

range, it is minimal compared to where they were a bit over a year ago. Does

it mean anything that they are elevated at all? My symptoms have been hypo.

I suspect that I'd be a happier person if my T4 were a good deal higher. (A

perfect " 10 " , anyone?

I will get the FT4 and FT3, and TSI done - again, is there a time of day I

should aim for?

-Jill

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