What are normal thyroid levels? The exact normal levels can depend on your age, build and gender. The thyroid is a gland located in your lower neck that produces hormones essential for metabolism function. When these hormones become imbalanced, your entire body suffers the effects.

What Does the Thyroid Do?
The thyroid gland provides two important hormones to your body. The first hormone is tri-iodothyronine, known as T3. The second is thyroxine, known as T4. These hormones then determine how fast or slow your body functions. The thyroid produces these hormones in response to a thyroid stimulating hormone known as TSH.

How Are Thyroid Levels Checked?
The most effective way to determine if you have a thyroid problem is to test the T3, T4 and TSH hormone levels in your blood. TSH tells your thyroid gland that it should make more hormones, so it is usually tested first. High TSH levels can mean that your thyroid in underactive and low TSH levels can mean your thyroid is overactive. T4 levels are tested next, with high levels meaning overactive and low levels meaning underactive. T3 levels are checked last because they’re not always reliable indicators.

Low TSH hormones levels and high T4 levels can often be an indicator of an overactive thyroid gland. High TSH hormone levels and low T4 levels can often be an indicator of an underactive thyroid gland. If your levels appear abnormal, your doctor may need to perform a thyroid antibody test to discover the reason for your problem. A thyroid scan may also be performed to check for growths, known as thyroid nodules, that could be causing the problem.

How Are Thyroid Levels Balanced?
If you have an overactive thyroid gland, you may experience fatigue, unexplained weight loss, vision trouble and a rapid pulse. The overactive gland can be treated with medication to help inhibit hormone production or treated with radioactive iodine pills to destroy thyroid cells. For severe problems, partial or complete removal of the gland may be required. Using radioactive iodine or surgery often results in an underactive thyroid that can be treated with a daily thyroid supplement.

If you suffer from an underactive thyroid, you may experience fatigue, unexplained weight gain, depression, dry skin, constipation and a slow pulse. An underactive thyroid can usually be treated with synthetic thyroid supplements. You may have to spend your life on the pills, depending on the exact cause for your lack of thyroid hormones. Some minor cases of underactive thyroid can also be treated with a doctor-approved diet.