[Anonymous]

#1157681

Brenda,What did you think of Dr Volpe’s other comments in that article?

[Anonymous]

#1157682

hI kARIN,
Which comments are you referring to? I found a number of his questions interesting, particulary his comment that many physicians become confused with the various thyroid tests. However at the time my prime concern was the fact that T4 test results are not reliable in a patient on replacement taking thyroxine by mouth. However I was fascinated by Dr. Powell’s other article on eye disease suggesting that it is the hypo phase of RAI that contributes to eye problems rather than the RAI itself especially because I had eye problems when very low. Mind yu my optometrist says eye problems onlly happen during the hyper phase.I wish they would give GP’s paid time off to do research!
Brenda

[Anonymous]

#1054032

Hi Bobbi,
Thanks for posting site of the article on T3. I also found reference to the fact that T4 is not reliable for patients on replacement in the Q&A of Thyroid Association of Canada. Since TSH is not reliable for those on birth control pills or HRT one wonders why there are so many replacement problems!!! I took the article to my doctor and he immediately ordered a T3 instead of a T4 so we will see. I find it very frustrating to be finally feeling well and then told everythings too high – reduce the dose, then 3 weeks later I feel sick again.
Wonder if you have any information on lab values My lab uses pmol/L for T4 but the article refers to ugm% Any ideas? My biochemistry is not the best.
Thanks,
Brenda

[Anonymous]

#1157683

Hi, Brenda:

I’m trying to remember what article you are referring to? My memory is more than a little patchy these days.

As to your question about TSH tests. There are different ways of doing the assay, which is why different labs (and sometimes even the same lab) will give you a different range of “normal”. I recently ran into confusion over some of my own bloodwork until I realized that one was done with a super-fine assay, which yielded much more precise results. Anyway. To try and translate your pmol/L and ugm, which refers to how the lab measured the T4– (Are you SURE you want this expanation??? I’m not sure how much of it I understand. Remember, I was a history teacher.)

mol, I think refers to “mole”. This is a term from chemistry, and refers to the gram molecular weight of a substance. My chemistry course amounts to ancient history right now, but if I remember correctly, a mole is a term like “dozen”, referring to a specific number of atoms, or molecules. There will be the same number of atoms of Oxygen, for example, in a mole of oxygen as there will be molecules in a mole of water. (The number of atoms in a mole is huge, BTW. My mathematical skills had a devil of a time figuring out the computations with moles. Which is why I became a history major.)

L – stands for liter (slightly more than a quart)

p – stands for one one-trillionth.

So pmol/L would mean one one-trillionth of a mole (of T4?) per liter (of blood?). ? indicates a guess. If your lab report read 25pmol/L, then the lab would have found 25 one-trillionths of a mole of T4 per liter (of blood) in the measurement. We are talking very small amounts, here.

ugm%:

u (sometimes written as mc) is one one-millionth. This is also the amount referenced when you see, in a book, a little symbol that looks like u with a tail on the front– it stands for the Greek letter “mu”.

g/gm – gram. A unit of weight. There are 2200 g in a pound. One milliliter of water weighs 1 g. Blood is heavier.

I’m stumped by the % sign. My guess though would be that a reading for T4 of 30ugm% would be something like 30 one-millionths of T4 per gram (of blood) were found.

I hope this helps.

Bobbi — off to read something easy, like a mystery.
Bobbi1436@AOL.com

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