Yaz

[christemo.livejournal.com]

Has Yaz messed with your blood tests?
I just had a blood test done, and my T4 came back as high (12.6), meaning hyperthyroidism. However, I gained about 40 pounds for no reason, so I don't see how it would be hyper at all (but I've got some more tests to go through for lupus, RA and lyme). My calcium and chlorides were also very high. :(

Comments

[geminigirl]

My daughter is fussing at the moment so I need to grab her, but I do know there's sometimes an issue with thyroid screening for people taking birth control pills or other synthetic estrogens...it's not unique to Yaz. Maybe archangelbeth or someone else has a link handy.

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

Total T4 or free T4? I recently (while undergoing thyroid testing myself) discovered that HBC in general (not limited to Yaz) can affect total T3 and T4 results.

[archangelbeth]

I know that HBC can affect how thyroid is absorbed, yes...

I would request (as in request-and-require...) testing for free T4 and free T3, as well as TSH -- if total T4 is high, but free T4 is low, that means your body needs more T4! Also, if your body is not processing T4 into T3 for some reason, you will have low free T3, and that is the energy hormone.

Total levels can tell some of the story if they're very low, but if they're normal-to-high, then it's not really conclusive necessarily.

Testing for other things is a good idea as well. Check your cortisol levels, and get the numbers?