# Help me understand my lab results!



## Rinahen (Jun 26, 2011)

Hi everyone:
I am somewhat new to this board... have been up and down with my emotions for the past 1 1/2 months worrying about my health... all started with a swollen toe that let me to the podiatrist that ordered labs, that came back with a positive ana. Thought I had lupus, until my regular doctor just ordered a ds dna test, lupus came back negative, but found out that I was positive for Thyroid autoimmune disease. Today, I went to pick up my lab sheets and I still don't understand what they mean and I'm hoping you wonderful people can help me here... I must add ... that I have been on levothyroxine (.137 and .125) for over two years now...due to blood work showing disfunction of the thyroid... my mother has thyroid problems as well... I guess now all this explains the positive ana... anyways, all along I thought I was hypothyroid but the results today, I think suggest otherwise?

TSH - 0.355 (ref range for this lab says 0.450 - 4.500)
TPO - 543H
TG AB - 176H

The doctor also ran blood work and urinalysis that all came back normal, except for the Cholesterol which was total (211): Triglycerides (73); HDL (72) and LDL ( 124). I'm also on blood pressure medicine and take sertraline for anxiety.... I feel like turning 50 has turned into health problems galore!!!

When I had the ANA test, the doc also tested for rheumatoid arthritis which was normal, and uric acid and c reactive protein... all normal.

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Rina


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## Sissy (Apr 2, 2010)

those are just the antibodies that attack the thyroid. your tsh looks low, BUT if you don't feel hyper..shaky,wired,insomnia..ect, then it just confirms autoimmune thyroid.were you told you have Hashimoto's? The antibodies don't go away. The things that need to be loked at once it's established that you have hashimoto's are the TSH, Free T4, Free T3...along with symptoms...you may be on a dose of Levo that's a bit too high for you . But get the free's tested for a better picture.hope this helps a little, Sissy


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Rinahen said:


> Hi everyone:
> I am somewhat new to this board... have been up and down with my emotions for the past 1 1/2 months worrying about my health... all started with a swollen toe that let me to the podiatrist that ordered labs, that came back with a positive ana. Thought I had lupus, until my regular doctor just ordered a ds dna test, lupus came back negative, but found out that I was positive for Thyroid autoimmune disease. Today, I went to pick up my lab sheets and I still don't understand what they mean and I'm hoping you wonderful people can help me here... I must add ... that I have been on levothyroxine (.137 and .125) for over two years now...due to blood work showing disfunction of the thyroid... my mother has thyroid problems as well... I guess now all this explains the positive ana... anyways, all along I thought I was hypothyroid but the results today, I think suggest otherwise?
> 
> TSH - 0.355 (ref range for this lab says 0.450 - 4.500)
> ...


Because of the high TPO and the high TG Ab, I recommend that you get RAIU (radioactive uptake scan) or at the very least a sonogram although the latter leaves much to be desired "sometimes!"

cancer TPO and thyroglobulin
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1699-0463.1994.tb04888.x/abstract

Understanding Thyroglobulin Ab.
http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/thyroglobulin/test.html

I believe I mentioned also that just because Anti-DNA did not show up this time, does not mean it won't. I personally have had that experience and I have Lupus. At one time the Anti-DNA was through the roof; prior it was not detectable at all. Sometimes I have ANA and sometimes I don't.

Wondering why the doc did not run FREE T3 and FREE T4?

understanding thyroid labs
http://www.amarillomed.com/howto/#Thyroid
http://pro2services.com/Lectures/Spring/Thyroid/ThyTests.htm


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