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Throid - High Thyroglobulin

I am a 39 year old female with a high thyoglobulin level of 4.6.  I have had some basic tests for my thyroid over he last two years because of sudden weight gain and they all came back normal.  I finally saw an Endo.  My concern with the weight gain is that is started at age 37, as a steady gain of about 2 pounds per month.  I am a healthy eater and have a very active lifestyle and never weighed more than 115 pounds (only 130 pounds when pregnant 10 years ago).  Of course, I have to wait several weeks for my next appointment and Google scares me (cancer, cancer, cancer).  My test results are as follows:

Testosterone, Serum               Value 17        Range 8-48 ng/dL
TSH                                          Value 1.030  Range 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL
Thyroxine (T4)                          Value 6.5      Range  4.5-12.0 ug/dL
T3 Uptake                                 Value 27       Range 1.2-4.9
Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) AB  Value 12       Range 0-34 IU/mL
Thyrolobulin, Antibody               Value 4.6     Range 0.0-0.9 IU/mL

Any insight would be great and much appreciated.
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Avatar universal
Your TGab is above range, but it's not what we typically see.  It's not unusual at all for people who have Hashi's to have TPOab and/or TGab in the high hundreds or even thousands.  Just to give you some perspective, my TPOab was 900+, and my TGab was 3,000+ on diagnosis.  

Of course, yours bears watching because it could be the onset of the disease.  The antibodies could also be gone next time you test.

As I said, FT3 is the test that's missing, and it's FT3 that correlates best with symptoms, especially weight gain or inability to lose weight.  So, you might consider requesting that along with FT4.  Be sure they specify "free" in both those tests, or you'll get total T3/4, and those aren't nearly as good.

I think you'd have other symptoms as well if it were thyroid causing your weight gain.  However, check FT3 just to make sure.

    
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Avatar universal
I realized I forgot the decimal in the T3Uptake.  2.7  I guess that makes more sense.
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Healthy as can be.  No family history.  No medications.  No obvious symptoms.  My family doctor and OB-GYN both have done blood work over the last two years and found nothing.  I exercise (I had a personal trainer until a few months ago because I am aggravated at the weight gain, despite exercise)  and am a very healthy eater (whole foods only, no soft drinks, etc.).  A few months ago a did a 7-mile run in the mountains of Pennsylvania and gained 2 pounds from Friday to Monday.  The weight is 90% in my stomach.  I look 7 months pregnant.  I finally went back to my family doctor crying and was referred to an Endo.  That's who did the tests.  

The only other symptoms I can possibly relate are that I am usually warm and sweaty when I shouldn't (I relate it to the hotness of being pregnant, not hot flashes) and I have battled depression and anxiety over the past three years, but I have also had some "life" issues that have more than caused the depression and anxiety.  I have had Coritsol tests in the past, and they have come back normal.  

This is the first test to come back out of range.  
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Avatar universal
It almost looks like there was some kind of glitch in your report.  T3U range should be something like 24-37%.  The T3U range on your report looks like the range of something else.  I'm guessing FT3.  I'm not too concerned what the T3U range is.  T3U is an obsolete test.  But FT3 is very important, so if they tested that, I'd like to see it.

Your doctor should have ordered free T3 and free T4.  The fact that he's ordered two obsolete tests (total T4 and T3U) makes me think he may not be as up on thyroid as he should be.

TGab is elevated, and TPOab is a bit elevated, so it looks like you might be in the initial stages of Hashi's.  Your TT4 is at 27% of range.  The target for T4, based on where many of us have to be to find relief of symptoms, is 50% of range.  So, you are considerably below that.  

However, it's FT3 that correlates best with symptoms, and it's FT3 that regulates metabolism.  So, if your FT3 is low, it can be very hard to lose weight and very easy to gain it.

Nothing in your current labs indicates cancer.  TG (not TGab) can be an indicator of a recurrence of cancer if the original cancer raised TG levels to begin with.  As a one time, stand alone test, it's virtually useless.  If TG was high when a person had thyroid cancer, it went down after surgery, and then it rises again, recurrence is a possibility.

I think the best thing you can do right now is repeat lab work to include FT3, FT4 and TSH.  FT3 is really a huge factor in weight control.  

You don't have any other symptoms?  Fatigue or sleepiness?  Constipation?  Depression and/or anxiety?  Cold intolerance?  Low body temperature?  Lowered BP and/or HR?  High cholesterol?



  
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the quick reply.  I copied my lab reports exactly and that's all I was tested for.  I have ZERO known health problems other than the weight gain.  I am clueless what any of this endocrinology stuff means, I just want an answer.  
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Avatar universal
Thyroglobulin (TG) and thyroglobulin antibody (TGab) are two different tests.  Your test was TGab.  TGab can be elevated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease.  Both TGab and TPOab can also be somewhat elevated with other autoimmune diseases.

Your T4 test is a total T4, and that's not nearly as useful as a free T4 test.  TT4 is a little on the low side.

Your T3 Uptake (T3U) result looks like a T3U result, but the range looks like a free T3 range.  T3U is considered an obsolete test of little use.  Did they also test FT3?  
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