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Thyroid Profile - 000900

The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland located in the region of the neck. It secretes the hormone, thyroxin which is necessary for almost all the metabolic processes in the body. The thyroid profile is a test which helps to assess the capacity at which the thyroid gland is functioning.

The thyroid profile helps your doctor assess the amount of thyroxin that is being secreted from the thyroid gland. Since there are three main components that form a part of the action of the thyroid gland, the thyroid profile helps to assess the levels of all these substances, which include, TSH, Free T4, and Free T3.

If your doctor suspects that you might be suffering from a condition which is affecting your thyroid gland, and causing it to release either too less of the thyroxin hormone (hypothyroidism) or too much of the thyroxin hormone (hyperthyroidism), then he will order you to undergo this test in order to evaluate the severity of the condition. It is also routinely done in patients who have had their thyroid gland removed, when they are on lifelong thyroxin, to evaluate the adequacy of the medication.

Certain medication can have an effect on the liver function, therefore your healthcare provider may request you to avoid some of your medication before you undergo this test.

During this, a Medical Lab Technician will draw out a small volume of blood, using a needle and syringe which is inserted into a vein in your arm. This blood sample is then sent to the lab for analysis.

Since this test is a simple drawing of blood, you will not feel a lot of discomfort. You might experience a mild pain on inserting the needle, but you will not experience any uneasiness afterwards.

There is very little risk in undergoing a thyroid profile test, because it is a simple blood drawing. Very rarely you might continue to have a mild pain or some swelling at the site where the needle was inserted, but these symptoms will resolve on their own within a couple of days.

Since each of the three constituents in this test play a vital role in almost all the metabolic processes in the body, your doctor will evaluate all the results very carefully. Your target values should be:
• TSH – 0.4 to 5 mIU/L
• Free T4 – 0.9 to 2.3 ng/dL
• Free T3 – 130 to 450 pg/dL

If you have results which are higher than or lower than this range, you should speak to your doctor about it.

Certain medication that you consume can play a role in altering the levels of these substances, therefore you must always have a discussion with your doctor regarding this.