Interpretation of Free T4

dea4

Can't post the website it against board rules, but you may want to look up information by the following drs, this is a list of drs Midwest posted on another thread.
Dr. John Dommisse
Dr. Kenneth Blanchard
Dr. Richard Shames
Dr. David Derry

Good luck


By the way, additional Armour should bring up your T4 as well as your T3, its about 80% T4 and 20% T3.

midwest1

I've been searching through those experts' writings that I can find online. So far, I've only found their opinion that TSH can safely be below the range, but nothing about the frees above mid-range. The only one I found who specifically says that is Dr. Mercola. *
*Edited to say... I will keep looking and report back if I find more. I desperately need a reference to this myself.

Your 3/4 grain of Armour isn't equivalent to your .088 Synthroid. A full grain approximates the .088 more closely. It could be he is starting you out slowly on the Armour, to avoid complications that can happen starting out with T3; but if you feel yourself 'crashing' within a week or two, I wouldn't hesitate to call and ask for an dose bump in order to get back to a dose closer to the Synthroid's.

Ltraci2

Oh my. My Free T4 was .78 7 weeks ago and has dropped to 0.40 since put on Cytomel. A whole other issue. I have a post on the front page asking for help.

This is so confusing. lol

Traci

cossette2

Thanks much. I should reread the rules about the board as I keep forgetting (as you all know hypo does amazing things to your memory ). My apologies. I guess I'm getting desperate and as many of you, I'm looking for a doc who knows what they're doing.

In the meantime, I've found info that shows that many, many people do well on a very low TSH (almost suppressed in many cases) and as many of you have said, it is of little value in regulating your symptoms, but only valid in diagnosing initially.

You all have been a great help to me and I'm ever so grateful for this board.
Thanks so much again.

For now, lets see what happens with the Armour. it's been 10 days since i started it and i notice little or no change one way or the other so far.

I'm so looking forward to the day (and i trust that that day will come) when i can write on the board and proclaim that i am feeling so much better. In the meantime, let's hang in there together all of us frustrated hypos.

Also, i forgot to mention, regarding the Armour dose, you're right, I realise that the 45 mgs is NOT equivalent to .088 synthroid and i had asked him for 60 mgs, but he would not go for it. he only has 3 other patients on dessicated thyroid and even had to look up the dose. he even remarked on how knowledgeable i was about armour. i'm glad he noticed i'm informed. i told him how desperate i was to start feeling well again and am researching as much as i can. he seems to respect me more now.

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hypo, Synthroid 75 mcg, estrace 1mg, prometrium 100mg, celexa 20mg, adrenal support (also have primary ovarian failure - extremely rare condition)

cossette2

Hi Traci,

I know how confusing this all is, but i want to clarify something. There are varying ranges for Free T4, so yours may not be so bad. I also know that Canadian and US ranges differ greatly. So make sure you CHECK YOUR RANGE. Hope that helps some.

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hypo, Synthroid 75 mcg, estrace 1mg, prometrium 100mg, celexa 20mg, adrenal support (also have primary ovarian failure - extremely rare condition)