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.
Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins bind IGF-I and IGF-II with high affinity but do not bind insulin. Of the 6 distinct IGF binding proteins structurally characterized at this time, IGFBP-3 has been shown to be the major carrier of the IGFs, transporting approximately 95% of circulating IGF-I and IGF-II. IGFBP-3 is growth hormone (GH) responsive.