Basic Labs to Request from Your Doctor
It is VERY important for you and your doctor to remember that TSH is NOT a hyroid hormone. It is a pituitary hormone, ideally produced in sufficient quantities to stimulate production of adequate levels of thyroid hormones.. Some pituitaries do NOT work the way they're supposed to, and you can have severe hypothyroid with a normal or low TSH. Hashimoto's thyroiditis can also interfere with TSH production by tricking the pituitary into thinking that there's plenty ... when there is not.
Here's what you NEED:
- free T3--most people seem to feel best with this at the top of the range
- free T4--most people seem to feel best with this in the top 1/3 of the range
- TSH
- TPO (thyroid peroxidase antibodies)
- antithyroglobulin antibodies
- TSI antibodies
- ferritin--most people seem to do best with ferritin 70-80
- B-12--based on our research, this should be at least 800, and 1000 is better. If you've been supplementing B-12, then testing it directly may not be valid--the MMA will be a more accurate test.
- Vitamin D (make sure it's the test for 25(OH)D)
Be sure to stop Armour 12-18 hours before the blood draw. If you're going to have AM cortisol checked, it needs to be as close to 8AM as possible, and it's best to also check ACTH at the same time. Testing cortisol in any way while supplementing it via HC, Isocort, or anything else, will NOT give valid results.
VERY VERY Strongly Recommended:
ASI (Adrenal Stress Index)--the best value I've seen is at the Canary Club website, where you get thyroid, adrenal and sex hormones tested for around $141. This is so important that I'm right on the edge of putting it in the "MUST HAVE" list. Along with it is AM cortisol and ACTH (which you get through your doctor).
When doing the saliva test, continue to take everything you normally take--but swallow anything that you'd normally do sublingually.
For a really good summary and more links, see the STTM site.