Kassia Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 For Vit D, the lab report may very well have labeled the 31 within normal range, but I would hope an informed physician would have noticed it. My level was 37 and my physician didn't comment on it. She advised me to exercise regularly...I already exercise 2 hours/day! Not helpful at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) I got a note from my doctor saying he had sent in a prescription for me, for 50,000 IU pills. So the question of how much to take has been settled. He wants to re-check my thyroid in three months, because my TSH is still within normal range, but just barely, and has been dropping steadily for the last three years. We'll recheck my Vit D level at that time too. Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for all of your help in this thread! My money is on the fact that you are already hypo although if you say your TSH is dropping that indicates HYPER. TSH goes up for hypo and down for hyper. I'd want a copy of the labs most of them have ranges for TSH that doesn't agree with recent research as to what is normal. Heck, my mom's lab didn't count her as hypo until she was over 5 and even then her dr. didn't want to do anything about it. So, likely is your body is killing off your thyroid so your levels are worsening but let's wait until it's gone to treat it. 90% of hypothyroidism is Hashimotos. Edited November 23, 2016 by soror 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 My money is on the fact that you are already hypo although if you say your TSH is dropping that indicates HYPER. TSH goes up for hypo and down for hyper. I'd want a copy of the labs most of them have ranges for TSH that doesn't agree with recent research as to what is normal. Heck, my mom's lab didn't count her as hypo until she was over 5 and even then her dr. didn't want to do anything about it. So, likely is your body is killing off your thyroid so your levels are worsening but let's wait until it's gone to treat it. 90% of hypothyroidism is Hashimotos. Ack!!!! Well, that's rather worrisome! Here are the numbers that I have. TSH: This was holding steady at about 1.2 up through 2013. Then in 2014 it dropped to 1.02. In Jan of 2016 it was 0.85. And earlier this month it was 0.69. Unfortunately, my doctor has not checked T3 and T4 as often, so I don't have as much information on those. But here's what I do have. T3: 86 in October of 2014 138 in January of 2016 Free T4: 1.0 in February of 2013 1.0 in October of 2014 1.2 in January of 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Ack!!!! Well, that's rather worrisome! Here are the numbers that I have. TSH: This was holding steady at about 1.2 up through 2013. Then in 2014 it dropped to 1.02. In Jan of 2016 it was 0.85. And earlier this month it was 0.69. Unfortunately, my doctor has not checked T3 and T4 as often, so I don't have as much information on those. But here's what I do have. T3: 86 in October of 2014 138 in January of 2016 Free T4: 1.0 in February of 2013 1.0 in October of 2014 1.2 in January of 2016 here's the image of optimal. you want to know if that t3 if free or total. there's an antibody test to check for hashimotos. it's an autoimmune disorder. are you doing anything dietwise to support thyroid? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Well, then your TSH is great, not low but your FT4 is low. It is good that your T4 has risen, although the 1.2 is still not optimal. The bigger picture is to see where the FT3 and RT3 is at as well as the FT4. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 here's the image of optimal. you want to know if that t3 if free or total. there's an antibody test to check for hashimotos. it's an autoimmune disorder. are you doing anything dietwise to support thyroid? Thank you for this! The T3 values were total, not free. I eat a pretty healthy diet (absolutely NO sugars or sweeteners, very limited refined grains, a good variety of fruits and veggies, no food groups eliminated but none eaten to excess either), but I don't know specifically what I should (or should not?) be eating to support thyroid health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 Well, then your TSH is great, not low but your FT4 is low. It is good that your T4 has risen, although the 1.2 is still not optimal. The bigger picture is to see where the FT3 and RT3 is at as well as the FT4. Okay, thank you! So do you think I'm okay waiting three months for more extensive tests, like my doctor recommended? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Can you overdose on D3? The last time I had my levels checked they were just barely in the normal range at 31. I've been supplementing off and on but have been afraid to take too much. I wonder if I need to take more. If a few drops of D3 could improve my energy level, mood, immunity, and get rid of these random muscle aches this winter that'd be great. I know of one case of D3 overdose, but it was in a person on dialysis for kidney failure. It caused horrendous headaches and I think maybe vision problems for months before the dr.'s figured out the source of the problem and had her stop the supplement--at which point the problem cleared up entirely. She wasn't on a super high dose, the problem apparently resulted from dialysis in the place of kidney function. Otherwise an overdose is supposed to be very rare (which is why it took the dr.'s so long to figure out). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Okay, thank you! So do you think I'm okay waiting three months for more extensive tests, like my doctor recommended? More extensive tests for what? All the TSH numbers you've mentioned are within normal and you don't have high thyroid numbers. Graves is HYPER thyroid, meaning you have too much thyroid hormone, yet your T4 numbers is smack in the middle of the range. If however they want to test you for anti-bodies all the better- because that would screen for Hashimotos too, you need anti-TPO and TGaB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I did end up with high D because I started having symptoms I attributed to d levels but was actually a RT3(thyroid problem) and supplemented heavily. But I also learned that there is more than one test for d, and I still don't quite understand that but it lowered on its own when I stopped supplementing and was low again this summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 More extensive tests for what? All the TSH numbers you've mentioned are within normal and you don't have high thyroid numbers. Graves is HYPER thyroid, meaning you have too much thyroid hormone, yet your T4 numbers is smack in the middle of the range. If however they want to test you for anti-bodies all the better- because that would screen for Hashimotos too, you need anti-TPO and TGaB. Oh, sorry, thought I had mentioned this already. The doc only screened my TSH on this last visit. But since it's been changing, he said he'd want to recheck it plus Free T4 and total T3 in three months. He didn't mention any other tests, but I could certainly ask him about the antibodies test or anything else that might be important to check. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) Oh, sorry, thought I had mentioned this already. The doc only screened my TSH on this last visit. But since it's been changing, he said he'd want to recheck it plus Free T4 and total T3 in three months. He didn't mention any other tests, but I could certainly ask him about the antibodies test or anything else that might be important to check. I don't think that is a bad idea. I wasn't clear, sorry I was multi-tasking. I think it would be good to check all of it, TSH, FT3, FT4, RT3 and antibodies. Edited November 23, 2016 by soror 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Thank you for this! The T3 values were total, not free. I eat a pretty healthy diet (absolutely NO sugars or sweeteners, very limited refined grains, a good variety of fruits and veggies, no food groups eliminated but none eaten to excess either), but I don't know specifically what I should (or should not?) be eating to support thyroid health. your tsh - is in the optimal range, and your free t4 is almost optimal. the total t3 is a worthless number - it doesn't tell you how much is available and how much is tied up. you diet is probably helping. stopthethyoidmadness.com is a good site that can tell you about food to help, and foods to avoid. Oh, sorry, thought I had mentioned this already. The doc only screened my TSH on this last visit. But since it's been changing, he said he'd want to recheck it plus Free T4 and total T3 in three months. He didn't mention any other tests, but I could certainly ask him about the antibodies test or anything else that might be important to check. do not bother having another total t3. you want FREE t3. big difference. total can look fine - but your free t3 can still be low. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 Thank you, gardenmom and soror, very much for all of your help throughout this thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeofakind Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 When I first saw the headline, I thought maybe she should have her thyroid checked! I agree with everything that has been said and I'll share very briefly my experience. I had low vit. d several years ago (level 8) and is barely above 30 now, but in the meantime I have had so many symptoms of hyper/hypothyroidism. My tsh was 'normal' (0.5-0.7) and even my free t3 and t4 are within normal range (can't remember) but my antibodies are getting high, but not too high. I also have a large thyroid nodule being biopsied (want to determine if its cancerous or hashimotos). Basically the last few months I have done a lot of research and some believe low vitamin d can make you vulnerable to developing an autoimmune disease- and it can take years to diagnose because like others have said those tests are not normally checked until things get bad. I should clarify there are many types of autoimmune diseases, but regarding the thyroid, those tests are not normally done. I also read that sometimes you can cycle through hyper/hypothyroidism in the early stages of hashimotos. I have enjoyed the thyroid pharmacist website - and amy meyers. But I think educating yourself and making the best of conventional medicine and functional medicine are key. I have eliminated dairy and need to consider gluten now. Good luck! (I had a lot of brain fog so my apologies if something does not make sense ;) ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 When I first saw the headline, I thought maybe she should have her thyroid checked! I agree with everything that has been said and I'll share very briefly my experience. I had low vit. d several years ago (level 8) and is barely above 30 now, but in the meantime I have had so many symptoms of hyper/hypothyroidism. My tsh was 'normal' (0.5-0.7) and even my free t3 and t4 are within normal range (can't remember) but my antibodies are getting high, but not too high. I also have a large thyroid nodule being biopsied (want to determine if its cancerous or hashimotos). Basically the last few months I have done a lot of research and some believe low vitamin d can make you vulnerable to developing an autoimmune disease- and it can take years to diagnose because like others have said those tests are not normally checked until things get bad. I should clarify there are many types of autoimmune diseases, but regarding the thyroid, those tests are not normally done. I also read that sometimes you can cycle through hyper/hypothyroidism in the early stages of hashimotos. I have enjoyed the thyroid pharmacist website - and amy meyers. But I think educating yourself and making the best of conventional medicine and functional medicine are key. I have eliminated dairy and need to consider gluten now. Good luck! (I had a lot of brain fog so my apologies if something does not make sense ;) ) Thank you so much for sharing this! I'm going to check out the website you mentioned. You made perfect sense - but believe me, I understand about brain fog. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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