I am going to have my thyroid tested. I have heard that regular blood tests will not give a true result.
What kind of blood tests should I request? I have heard and read a lot about T3 T4, Reverse T3 and Reverse T4.
Can anyone explain this for me? (Hypothyroidism.)
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
I think you should go to the best endocrinologist you can find. An endo will do the blood tests and many other tests if he feels it is warranted.
A good endo also knows when "normal" blood test results are not good and knows when to do a trial of meds and when not to.
A good endocrinologist is worth his weight in gold. An endo diagnosed me with lyme disease after I went from doctor to doctor for 10 years!
I recently went back to him for a thyroid problem. Again, he was great.
The internet will tell you who the top endos are in the country. My endo is in the top 10%. He didn't take insurance, but he talked with me on the phone several times after my one appointment, and sent me scripts for various tests, then called me and discussed the results with me. So, it was like having at least 3 appointments and only paying for one.
Posted by Razzle (Member # 30398) on :
There is also a 24H urine thyroid hormone test that measures Free T3 and Free T4 in the urine. And some people claim that this test can be helpful in diagnosing hypothyroidism.
Also, some people will also get other blood tests such as iron, ferritin, B12 and etc. because the body requires certain nutrients to utilize thyroid hormones correctly.
And sometimes people will also get a saliva cortisol test. If your cortisol is very low then you may not be able to tolerate or fully utilize thyroid meds as well as you should.
Hypothyroidism seems to be able to induce low cortisol and adrenal fatigue in some people. And those people may have to take a "circadian" dose of a T3 containing med such as Cytomel to correct the low cortisol production/adrenal fatigue.
You can read more about the T3 circadian dose protocol in Paul Robinson's book "recovering with T3".
But testing is not 100% accurate. So, even if your test results are normal that does not rule out the possibility that you have hypothyroidism.
But no blood test will be able to rule out hypothyroidism with 100% accuracy. And some doctors will diagnose people with hypothyroidism based upon their clinical symptoms.
Long and Pathetic List of Symptoms of Hypothyroidism
Some people have normal thyroid hormone blood levels but they have hypothyroid symptoms and when the do a trial of a thyroid med such as Armour or Cytomel some people find that their symptoms improve and sometimes go away completely.