My feet & ankles are swollen, hot and reddish color. I have high blood pressure, lupus, asthma, back problems, diabetic, fibromyalgia, and Padgett disease, an enlarged heart, and enlarged thymus gland.
1 Free T4 (Free Thyroxine) â considered a precursor hormone, T4 is converted to T3 as required by cells throughout the body; levels of T4 are generally much higher than T3.  Total T4 (Total Thyroxine) - Most T4 in the blood is bound to carrier proteins which make it biologically inactive. Total T4 includes unbound (free) T4 plus T4 that is bound to carrier proteins in the blood.
Since blood plasma-the liquid part of blood that carries hormones and other signaling molecules to tissues and cells throughout the body-is about 90 percent water, steroid and thyroid hormones have trouble mixing with and traveling in the blood.hese transport proteins deliver the hormones to their target cells and protect them from being chemically altered, inactivated, and eliminated from the body by the liver and kidneys. Some hormone transport proteins in plasma are highly selective, transporting only steroid or only thyroid hormones.