[NikkiDay]

#1058750

Hi,
I’m newly diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, and just obtained my lab results. I was hoping that maybe someone could help me to understand what these numbers mean.

TSH .01 (Range .27-4.2)
T4, Free 1.85 (Range .7-1.7)
TSI 212 (Standard <140)

I appreciate any help that you can give me as I’m currently trying to decide on a treatment and want to make sure that I understand what’s going on with my body before I do anything drastic.

Thank You!

[Kimberly]

#1169802

Hello – We are just fellow patients here, and can’t comment specifically on your labs, but following is some general information on thyroid function testing.

T3 and T4 represent the actual levels of thyroid hormone in your body. T4 is converted in the body on an "as needed" basis to T3, which is the more powerful and active form of thyroid hormone.

TSH is a substance produced by the pituitary gland that either directs the thyroid gland to produce more hormone or tells the body to put the brakes on thyroid hormone production. The amount of TSH produced by the pituitary generally depends on a “feedback loop” according to where our T3/T4 are. If T3/T4 levels are *low*, you should see the TSH levels *increase* in order to prod the thyroid gland to make more hormone. If T3/T4 levels are *high*, then you will see TSH decrease to tell the body to stop making more thyroid hormone.

TSI is a measure of how much stimulation the thyroid gland is receiving from the antibodies in our system. A result above the “normal” range indicates that there is enough antibody activity going on to make us hypERthyroid.

Hope this helps!

[liltaz]

#1169803

May God Bless you!!!! You have really helped me out with these levels. I am new and was diagnosed 7 weeks ago just after a major hysterectomy that had a 10 pound phybrotic syst around the top (size of a soccer ball). I had tachicardia coming out of post op. I dont remember much for testing and what they did but I am on 30 mg of Methimizole a day since, cumadin and metroprolol for the afibulation. I just had my first endo apt yesterday. All information is so important to me but I did opt out for medicine management due to the major surgery I had. I was afraid my body would go wacko on me even though I have LOL ” title=”Very Happy” /> With all of my symptoms of hot flashes, constant hunger, weight gain, insomnia, anxiety, asthma, irratations I am definitely feeling crazy and out spoken all of this since surgery. Not me at all. I had lost a total of 116 pounds since Nov last year and thought it was credited to my will power of dieting and starting to do exersize. Boy was I wrong. Thank you so much for the T level information, May your have a Merry Christmas and Happy and Safe New Year!!!

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