You're an angel!
Thanks,
Diane
http://www.amarillomed.com/howto:
Free T4 : (FT4) This test directly measures the free T4 in the blood rather than estimating it like the FTI. Because it is a more reliable test that the Total T4, many labs such as ours do the Free T4 routinely rather than the Total T4. High levels suggest hyperthyroidism, and low levels are found in hypothyroidism and chronic illness.
Total T3: (TT3) This is usually not ordered as a screening test, but rather when thyroid disease is being evaluated. T3 is the more potent and shorter lived version of thyroid hormone. Some people with high thyroid levels secrete more T3 than T4. In these (overactive) hyperthyroid cases the T4 can be normal, the T3 high, and the TSH low. The Total T3 reports the total amount of T3 in the bloodstream, including T3 bound to carrier proteins plus freely circulating T3.
Free T3: (FT3) This test measures only the portion of thyroid hormone T3 that is "free", that is, not bound to carrier proteins.
T3 Resin Uptake or Thyroid Uptake. (T3RU) This is a test that confuses doctors, nurses, and patients. First, this is not a thyroid test, but a test on the proteins that carry thyroid around in your blood stream. Not only that, a high test number may indicate a low level of the protein! The method of reporting varies from lab to lab. The proper use of the test is to compute the free thyroxine index.
--Bill
Sorry Bill but I can't find T3 Uptake on either one of the sites you mentioned.
http://www.healthtestingcenters.com/thyroid-profile-blood-test-explained.aspx
Hi again, Diane—
Take a peek at this, and see if it gives a better explanation of the different thyroid problems. It’s an Aussie site, so the lab values might be expressed differently than ours, but it looks like a pretty decent basic overview:
http://tinyurl.com/29q6xfc
Let m know how things go—
Bill
I read that last month and came away wondering what they were talking about. Guess I'll just have to try to remember to ask the doctor......... IF I can remember....
Sorry, I see you're way ahead of this already after reading another thread in here, Diane. Again, the labtestsonline site should be informative--
--Bill
Hi Diane-
T-3 uptake is part of your thyroid panel; how it interacts with free T4 and the rest of it I'm less clear on. If you refer to lab tests online site, it should give you a pretty clear overview though.
Is yours out of whack?
--Bill