# "Normal" Lab values but hypo symptoms & Graves disease in family



## kr2486 (Jul 6, 2013)

Hi all....

As some background:

5'6, Female 27 years old. Always naturally thin around 135lbs.

About 3 years ago, I gained about 15 lbs from drinking too much and staying up to late and just not taking care of myself. I stupidly did the homeopathic HCG diet (500 calories a day) and dropped the weight in 3 weeks and felt great. As soon as I started eating more, I got crazy symptoms like fatigue, severe bloating, brain fog, moodiness, depression, etc. I was tested over the next 2 years and doctors could not figure out what was going on (Not celiac, tested in Endoscopy & Conoloscopy, food allergies negative, negative H Pylori). My symptoms have only gotten worse. I began a gluten free diet last year and it helped a bit, then cut out dairy and soy. At this point I began exercising 5-6 days a week to help with my energy. When I went on a full Paleo diet last summer, my brain fog persisted, and I began waking up in a panic nightly and feeling anxious (I know believe I was overtraining and not eating enough).

In January, my family thought my eating habits were incredibly orthorexic for me not even feeling much better, so I went back to eating whatever and stopped working out. I gained 40lbs (the most I have ever weighed in my life) in a matter of 5 months and in the past month symptoms got wayyyyy worse. My fatigue got so bad I couldnt get out of bed even after 12 hours of sleep. My stomach looked pregnant, hands and feet would swell up and my muscles and joints hurt.

I recently saw an Endocrinologist who tested me for Hashimotos -- antibodies came back normal and my thyroid levels, Vit D levels and CBC are all "normal", although I did have a few small nodules on my thryoid. He put me on 50mcg of Synthroid anyways because my symptoms are still in line with hypothyroidism although my blood tests say differently. I've been on the Synthroid for 5 days and dont notice a difference yet. 
I started the Paleo diet again and that has helped the bloating, joint pain and fatigue a bit. I will not go back to SAD but there is definetly a missing element to my symptoms.

ANYWAYS-- can anyone shed some light on what could be going on?? I feel like I am intolerant to everything -- I now am following the Paleo autoimmune protocol to feel even a little bit better.

Could it really be my thyroid although my tests are all in the normal range? Or is it adrenal fatigue? I feel like I am not living and am just existing at this point.

Also, I just found out that my grandfather had Graves disease. Anyone have experience with Graves disease but hypo symptoms? I was not tested for Graves Antibodies, only Hashimotos...

test results:

Vitamin D: 76 ng/ml

TSH: 0.60

T4 free: 1.0 ng/dl

T3 free: 3.8 pg/ml

T3 uptake: 28%


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

kr2486 said:


> Hi all....
> 
> As some background:
> 
> ...


You could be hyper; I and many others have gained weight w/Graves'/Hyperthyroid.

Do you have the range for that T3 uptake?

We usually need the ranges for everything as different labs use different ranges.

TPO Ab (if that is the one you are referring to) would only be normal if it came back negative. You should not have any TPO Ab.

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

It would be a good idea for you to get TSI (or Trab) tested, Trab being the least expensive lab test of the 2.

Trab
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17684583

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

And an ultra-sound of the thyroid; that would be very important as well.


----------



## kr2486 (Jul 6, 2013)

thanks for the quick response.

The range for the T3 uptake sis 22-35%

My TPO Ab came back <10, reference range is <35
My Tgo Ab came back <20, reference range is <20

The doctor did an ultrasound on my thyroid and found 2 nodules, a little larger than 1cm each. He is going to check again after the 6 weeks on snythroid and see if they are smaller.

This is only day 5 on the synthroid but I dont notice any difference. Would I still need to be on synthroid if I was hyper, even though I have hypo symptoms?

And I was going to call my doctor on monday and request to get the TSI test, but I will request Trab one as well. Thanks for the suggestion!


----------



## Prudence (Oct 30, 2012)

My lab work was always borderline/ or normal, yet I had Graves'. If you can, see if they'll check for TSI/Trab. You can have hypo symptoms with Graves' and hyper symptoms with Hashi's or hypothyroidism-no person is alike. I had the typical hyper symptoms before diagnosed, but when I started having them again when my first RAI failed, I didn't lose any weight nor really gain any that time-but I also had fatigue, joint pain, hair loss, bloating, etc.


----------



## kr2486 (Jul 6, 2013)

ok thank you. i am calling tomorrow to see if they can call me in a test for the TSI/Trab.

How are you doing now? Did you do another RAI?


----------



## Prudence (Oct 30, 2012)

I had my second RAI in February. Still tweaking meds (went severely hypo until May and now am hyperactive again) but getting there!


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

kr2486 said:


> thanks for the quick response.
> 
> The range for the T3 uptake sis 22-35%
> 
> ...


Well; it's hard to say for it takes about 8 weeks for T4 to build up in the system.

Was there a description of the nodules? Like were they cystic, solid, calcified rim, comet tail? Etc.??

Now that the holiday is over; hopefully others will chime in. It is good to have many insights and opinions.


----------

