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Recent blood results and talk with GP

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lawnmower29
lawnmower29

So I have had some MOT blood tests recently and a couple of things have changed. My thyroid function 'needs watching' they said when I called, please retest in 6 months. I went away and thought about and rang back armed with a bit more knowledge and asked for the exact results to be read out. TSH 4.79 and T4 16.5 - so from what I have read that means TSH is a bit raised and T4 is low - hypothyroidism? No T 3 test. I am going back to talk through results in a week or so. Just wondered about ranges for results and what's regarded normal?

0 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • gill43753
    gill43753 lawnmower29

    Posted

    I'm trying to understand my thyroid,and reading a book so that I can go armed to my GP.I know I have hypothyroidism,but I don't think my medication is working as well as it should.Either that,or I'm getting side effects from it.Anyway,my book states that the free T4 should be between 9 and 22.7.The T3 should be between 3.5 and 6.5. The TSH should be between 0.35 and 5.0.It states that each laboratory differs slightly with each range,depending on their assay method,but your doctor would know what your local lab uses.Hope this is of use to you.

    • gill43753
      gill43753

      Posted

      Try looking for info on thyroid uk or British thyroid foundation.
    • lawnmower29
      lawnmower29 gill43753

      Posted

      Thanks, I have had a look at both sites, for symptoms and for levels. Hard to get a straight answer on that, so am going to go back to GP in a couple of weeks to discuss.
  • Scazzoh
    Scazzoh lawnmower29

    Posted

    Hi Lawnmower, unfortunately thyroid treatment is a bit of a post code lottery. In some areas, a reading of 4.79 TSH would be outside the normal range (3 being the upper maximum) so you would be put onto T4 (levothyroxine) treatment and regularly blood tested, until the TSH goes down to within normal range. 'Normal' here does not mean what your levels were before you were tested, but what biochemists think is normal, hence regional differences. Was the T4 the 'free' T4 or Total T4? It makes a difference to the results. Doctors tend to go by blood test results, rather than how you are feeling. Do you have any symptoms of possible thyroid problems and is that why you were tested?
    • lawnmower29
      lawnmower29 Scazzoh

      Posted

      Well, the more I read the more symptoms I can identify with. I have been overweight all my adult life, constantly trying to sort it out. I have been trying to piece together the jigsaw that is me! I had 5 miscarriages between my two children, pre-eclampsia in first pregnancy and high blood pressure and gestational diabetes with second successful pregnancy. My cholesterol reading is also now showing 6.2. My paternal grandmother had a goitre, so I know that there is some family history. I had thyroid function checked before and it was normal, so it must have changed. Guess I will find out more when I talk to GP. The lady who told me results, just said T4 and TSH figures, she didn't have more info.
  • tina1968
    tina1968 lawnmower29

    Posted

    Hiya..... I haven't ever gotten into the ranges & levels that deeply.... All I do know is that I was seriously ill many yrs ago & actually thought i was dying. I was shaking constantly, not keeping food inside me for 5 minutes... huge weight loss.... blah balh blah... Dr kept telling me I had a virus......... I had blood tests but nothing ever came back from them...... Eventually after a long time of getting used to being sooooo ill I was trying to get pregant & ended up at a fertility hospital clinic...here they tested my thyroid which they said was way way way OVER active... I needed beta blockers & tablets to sort me out as my whole body was racing like the clappers.... when I went back to my GP.... he said he had tested my thyroid & it was JUST within range & had obviously gone right off the scale & he'd never thought to retest me for that again. I am now UNDER active after have the radio iodine drink & have been fine for a long time....... suddenly at a recent medication review it appears I am now over dosing on Levothyroxine & need to lower my dosage....... It all seems a very hard thing to control to me... & I do question how much Drs know about thyroid issues.
    • lawnmower29
      lawnmower29 tina1968

      Posted

      I think my symptoms and blood tests point to under active thyroid. I will be glad to talk to my GP, but I think there may be an issue with diagnosing because of the cost associated with free prescription!
    • tina1968
      tina1968 lawnmower29

      Posted

      I'm not entirely sure what you mean there lawnmower29.

      My thyroid is under active & I get free prescriptions now for everything...

    • lawnmower29
      lawnmower29 tina1968

      Posted

      Yes, I mean that the reluctance is on the part of the GP, because it means free prescriptions.. Sorry I didn't put it clearly.
    • tina1968
      tina1968 lawnmower29

      Posted

      SURELY you are joking here????

      What difference does it make financially to the GP. if you are getting free prescriptions????

      Never heard of that before..... loads of people get FREE prescriptions for various life threatening illness.... are you sure you have got that right?

    • lawnmower29
      lawnmower29 tina1968

      Posted

      We'll I guess it is because it comes out of the budget for my GP practice, so if diagnosis is delayed,bit reduces costs for anything I am prescribed from then and in the future. A sad reality for the NHS.
  • suzanne00
    suzanne00 lawnmower29

    Posted

    Your TSH would be considered way too high by my practitioner who is a hormone specialist. Are you feeling like the descriptions of those who are hypothyroid? That would be the most important information with test results like yours. --Suzanne
    • lawnmower29
      lawnmower29 suzanne00

      Posted

      I think if I were to write down all the niggles that I tolerate most days, I can tick many of the symptom boxes that people describe. Something has changed recently, can't put my finger quite on it. But I don't feel great, or look great, although I have been really trying to take care of myself.
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