Test results!
Posted on: October 21, 2005 | Posted in: My Story
So, when I got my Synthroid prescription, after the office visit I gave more blood to the nice people in the lab. They were going to run more detailed thyroid tests, and some more liver-related tests. Nobody specified exactly what, but hey… the doctor says “more tests” right after telling you you’ve got mysterious problems with your endocrine system and worrying liver enzyme levels, you just hand over your arm and play along.
A couple weeks after the second blood-sucking episode, I got a massive bill from the clinic, listing everything they’ve actually tested for. Seems they tested TSH level, rheumatoid factor, general liver panel, metabolic somethingorother, and a couple other things the first time (boy that adds up!). The second visit, they ran the recommended Free T4 & T3 tests (as in ‘free-floating’ not free-of-charge), as well as the full set of Hepatitis tests (yes kids, Hepatitis comes in A, B and C varieties). The hep tests were mercifully free of charge (and apparently Hep C tests are run by a single State lab as well…).
So I had a nice week and then some of mild anxiety about this Hepatitis business, as I had elevated liver enzymes in the first round of tests.
But I got a nice letter just the other day saying all three Hepatitis tests came back negative, and that my thyroid test was ‘normal’… So that’s some good news, although a bit baffling on the thyroid front, as the doc had described my TSH levels in the first round of tests as “really low”, and the second round of tests was drawn before I started medication, but turned up with ‘normal’ T4 & T3 levels?
At any rate, I will now do more research, and then ask for more details at the 6 week follow-up. Am I at the low end of normal for T4 and T3? Is low TSH with normal free T4/T3 levels be indicative of some other problem? And what does everything look like at the 6-weeks-after-medication point? More importantly, how will I be feeling at the 6 week mark? (I note, with glee, that my bloating problem seems to be almost completely gone…)
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