# Test Reults



## scaredst (Apr 2, 2014)

Hi all, within the past six months I've been having suspicious symptoms: dry skin, low resting heart rate when sleeping (~50bpm), depression, anxiety, heart palpitations, carpel tunnel syndrome, slight insomnia, and fatigue. Some of these I could probably attribute to other things but not sure what they mean

I thought maybe my thyroid could be the culprit.

Can anyone tell me if subclinical hypothyroidism is worth pursuing at these levels? I'm seeing an endo in 2 weeks and he'll probably order an ultrasound. Here's my lab results from the past year:

7/25/2013

TSH: 4.96 *[0.45-4.50]*

T4, Free(Direct): 1.44 *[0.82-1.77]*

8/9/13

TSH: 4.10

T4, Free(Direct): 1.34

T3: 116 *[71-180]*

11/20/13

TSH: 3.68

3/31/14

TSH: 4.05

T4, Free(Direct): 1.18

My antibodies test came back normal


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Understanding the Thyroid: Why You Should Check Your Free T3
http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/understanding-thyroid-why-you-should-check-your-free-t3
(Copy and paste into your browser)

Hi there and welcome to the board. Well.....................most of us would feel pretty bad w/TSH that high. It's not really that high but clearly it is not in the right place for you are symptomatic. Many here feel best w/TSH @ 1.0 or less and the FREE T3 in the 75% of the range given by your lab. Yours was Total 3; do see if you can get the FREE T3 test.

Meanwhile; what antibodies were tested? What were the results and the ranges of that?

Info on FT3 above.


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## scaredst (Apr 2, 2014)

Thanks Andros, I'll definitely mention Free T3 testing when I see my doctor. Hopefully he'll comply. The strange thing is that in the last 6 months, I've gone from a state of extreme anxiety, complete loss of appetite, and interrupted sleeping to a state of depression, fatigue, and oversleeping. Plus some other strange symptoms thrown in the mix periodically. I've been on 5mg Lexapro for ~5 months too so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

Also, these were the antibody tests from back in august:

THYROID PEROXIDASE (TPO) AB: 7 [0-34]

THYROID ANTITHYROGLOBULIN AB: <20 [0-40]

I'm guessing those are the only thyroid antibody tests necessary.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Substances not found in normal serum (scroll down to autoantibodies)
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/chapter/evaluation-of-thyroid-function-in-health-and-disease/
(Copy and paste into your browser)

TSI
Normally, there is no TSI in the blood. If TSI is found in the blood, this indicates that the thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin is the cause of the of a person's hyperthyroidism.
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/thyroid-antibodies/tab/test
(Copy and paste into your browser)

Trab
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17684583
(Copy and paste into your browser)

TBG (thyroxine binding globulin) up, hypo............down, hyper
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003374.htm
(Copy and paste into your browser)

TBII
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9364248
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-thyroid_autoantibodies

You should not have any of those antibodies.

It appears that you may be flitting back and forth from hypo to hyper. Blocking, binding and stimulating antibodies would be responsible for this.

I have enclosed suggested test and info on what should not be found in the blood of the healthy person as related to thyroid problems.


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## txspring (Apr 3, 2014)

What would cause someone to go back and forth between hypo and hyper?


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Antibodies. For me, when my immune system was acting up and creating antibodies that were attacking my thyroid, my thyroid would slow down/go hypo in response to the attack, requiring more thyroid meds. Then when my immune system calmed down and eased off the attack, my thyroid kicked back into gear and spit out more hormones (in addition to the meds I was already on) and I'd go hyper. I could never get the swings under control so my thyroid came out last October--now that the source of the attack is gone, the swings are, too.


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## txspring (Apr 3, 2014)

Wow - that is amazing. Can you tell me what antibodies make you go hyper and what ones make you go hypo? I am learning so much here. Sounds like you went through a lot, Jenny V! Are you feeling good now?

Scaredst - hope you get some answers fast and start to feeling better!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Usually, it's high TSI or Trab that indicate hyper and high TPOab that indicate hypo. Sometimes people can have high levels of both and can swing between Grave's and Hashi's disease.

I'm about 6 months out from surgery and in just the last few weeks I've started turning a corner and am noticing I'm feeling much better. I had Hashi's for over 10 years, so there's a lot of damage to fix, but it's getting there. I went very hypo after surgery but I was just hypo, I wasn't swinging back and forth like I used to. It was hard to deal with, but it's nothing I couldn't handle. Surgery isn't common with Hashi's but mine just got to the point where it wasn't controlled by medication, I had some suspicious nodules (all benign, yay!) and my thyroid started growing back into my neck and displaced my esophagus.


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## txspring (Apr 3, 2014)

Thanks Jenny. Glad you are feeling better!


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## Northstar (Mar 29, 2014)

Scaredst, sorry you're dealing with the thyroid mystery as well. I'm reading others results in hopes of understanding mine a little better. My tests came back "in range" but apparently not ideal .

I was surprised about the reaction to your TPO antibody test. If I understood Andros correctly, the result should be zero and anything higher indicates something is attacking your thyroid. Yes?

Mine is 28 (same 0-34 range as your test) I assumed mine came back negative since it wasn't higher than the normal range. I've seen people here with numbers in the hundreds! I figured THAT was evidence of a problem, but certainly not 28.

So does this amount of antibody mean my thyroid is under attack? And does that indicate Hashi's? 
And can a goiter develop under those circumstances? My thyroid seems to enlarge at times, a small goiter was discovered by my endocrinologist. But it seemed to go away, but has flared back up at different points it feels.

Sorry for intruding here. It's so hard to sort all of this out! Perhaps by discussing symptoms and issues together, we can all help each other put the pieces of our puzzles together


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