can someone do the math

Reece

How do you feel? That's more important than the numbers!

You definitely look hyperthyroid to me.

mkgb

TSH <.01 L (.034 4.82) Are the MDs trying to suppress your TSH for a reason?

Free T4 1.30 H (.59 1.17) 122% of normal range. You are hyperT in T4 levels. The top of the optimal range is 80%. I might cut back to 75 mcgs of T4 if I was you. Then see about going up after new labs are drawn.

Free T3 402 (230 - 420) 90% here. You are bumping high here. But at least you are still in the normal range. If you cut back the T4 you may just balance out in both. Right now on your current dosing:
20mcg cytomel
112mcg levoxyl

You are hyperthyroid. As too BT. Some run a lower BT. I run in the 97.5 range with good hormones.. but I flux from 99 to 95 depending on my hormone state. T2 levels and minerals and other thingss can effect your BT.

MG

__________________
If we learn by our mistakes, I am working on one hell of an education.

jeanettr

thanks for the quick reply. I started off hypo. and was over medicated. They reduced my meds to what they are now. I don't think they are trying to suppress the TSH on purpose. I am still tired all the time. I have so much fluid in my legs they hurt. My feet burn and itch uncontrolably sometimes.

I return to the doctor in August. I am going to call and see if he will change med.

mkgb

The symptoms you just told me are signs of too much T4. It hits you with BAD fluid retention, you feel tired and run down, itching everywhere because your skin is just tight. My hands and feet were the worst. Cut back the meds and call and tell the MD why you did it. Request they call you back and let them know your symptoms give the levels of your blood work. I do not think they would have an issue with you rbacking down. i am surprised they didn't call and insist you back down. When my TSH plummeted to 0.04 adn my Fts were 190 and 290% of range I was told to stop meds for 5 days then go back on half dosage. Getting to your happy thyroid hormonal state can be a chore.

What is your pill combination making up the T4 component? If you can drop a 25 mcgs pill for 2 weeks I bet you will see a dramatic difference.

MG

__________________
If we learn by our mistakes, I am working on one hell of an education.

jeanettr

I emailed the doctor this morning and asked for a new reduced dose of T4 med. I have 125mcg I took previously, and the 112mcg. In the mean time I will take half of a 125mcg.

Thanks for the help.

Eagle

Math's part of my problem too. Hypo brain fog. So glad to meet you guys.

But first, ********, don't such drastic changes so suddenly ever make you feel worse? Maybe that only happens with older people and diabetics?

Since I started Medicare and a new doctor who just may be hypo too, may not be joking about also having brain fog, is he mixed up when he says a TSH test result of .0025 is "way off" the latest local range of .027?

Can anyone do that subtraction? Exactly how much difference? TIA

tygwyn

I've replied in the other thread but I'll reply here too

Going from .027 to .0025 is a drop of 0.0245 - not a huge drop, but based on the original ready being very low in the first place, you really couldn't have dropped much more.

HTH

Rach

__________________
Rach xxxx

Total Thyroidectomy Oct 06 due to Massive Multi Nodular Goiter and Hashi
Adrenal Fatigue
180mg NTH
28mg HC
2 x Caltrate

Rach xxxx

Eagle

Bless you and thanks, again. And I've subscribed to both threads.

I may not have worded this question optimally. Does this version change your reply in any way? TIA. It's the Range, not my TSH, that is .027. You're saying it's really low. Yes. And may go lower before long.

So am I right that I wasn't "way off" from the Range and really don't need to reduce my dosage 7%?

tygwyn

Ok lets make this easier

What was the old range and your result?

And what is the new range and your result?

Then we can work out the percentage - thats the best way to work it out

__________________
Rach xxxx

Total Thyroidectomy Oct 06 due to Massive Multi Nodular Goiter and Hashi
Adrenal Fatigue
180mg NTH
28mg HC
2 x Caltrate

Rach xxxx

mkgb

Eagle,
But first, ********, don't such drastic changes so suddenly ever make you feel worse? Maybe that only happens with older people and diabetics?

When you are older and diabetic the longer you stay in a hyperthyroid state the more damage you are likely to do to your system. Dropping an increment of 25 mcgs while hyperT is not a large drop... it is just a dosage shift. Titration or.. increasing and decreasing of T4 medication tends to be done in 25 mcg increments. When you get close to optimal.. you begin to reduce the shift changes to 12.5.. 6.25.. etc. You also have to take into account that you have excess hormone running around. Slowing down the input.. cutting your dosage.. allows your body to use up the excess and acquire a more natural rhythm.

Since I started Medicare and a new doctor who just may be hypo too, may not be joking about also having brain fog, is he mixed up when he says a TSH test result of .0025 is "way off" the latest local range of .027?

It is a magnitude of ten in difference. Think of it as a dollar versus 10 dollars.. or 10 dollars versus 100.. 100 versus 1000. See the difference. In either case, be it 0.027 or 0.0025 your body is telling you.. you are hypothyroid. The lowest TSH I had was 0.01.. this was the low end limit. The lab didn't go any lower. My FTs were at 190 and 290 percent of normal range. I was climbing the walls and my body was shifting with the tides from the waste down.

How are you doing now? What are your FreeT3 and Free T4 levels? Those are as important.. actually more important than the TSH.

As to lower limit of normal range. Normal range for a TSH is 0.3-2.5 these days. However each lab is going to vary a bit because of machine calibration issues. Thus having a lower limit of 0.27 versus 0.3 is not far off. It is a calibration adjustment. NOW you are saying your TSH is 0.0025. This means you are hyperthyroid on your medication IF the FTs support the result. You need FTs and TSH when trying to optimize medication.

IF your TSH and FTs indicate hyperthyroid.. FTS will be high in range and TSH will be low. THEN you need to reduce your medication. If i remember correctly you are on T4 supplementation alone right? If this is the case, oprtimal TSH range for you would be .89-1.1.. being a little above or below is alright.. AS long as you feel fine.

MG

__________________
If we learn by our mistakes, I am working on one hell of an education.

Eagle

Okay, looks like I was wrong about this new lab's range, used one I'd heard on this board instead of really looking at the report. Report from old lab is two pages. New lab just one.

Old lab.......TSH .01, Ref Range .34- 5.00, which wasn't up-to-date....Free T4 was .0, they didn't test?

New lab......TSH .0025, Range 0.35-4.94, also not really up-to-date , Free T4 1.80

LDL (the good or bad cholesterol?) 139 (H)
One Dr. said one of my cholesterols was good.

TSH Range in some parts of the country is .027, I've read at this board, but Range has been going down much more slowly here. Or labs may just not want to spend to update forms.

Thanks for understanding the numbers which I didn't really study very closely before. In case I didn't mention it, I take (generic) levothyroxine 300, blue pills.

I have to be away this afternoon, couple of appointments, picking up my diabetic shoes if they fit, then the Podiatrist at 4:15.

I'd like to watch for diabetic kidney failure too, and can't tell on this report, "GER Stages", I never heard of, 5 stages. Last one is kidney failure and I don't know if <15 is my reading or a Range.

tygwyn

Ok those levels make more sense


As MG said though, we really need to see your FT3 and FT4 before saying anything more. Going by your TSH you were hyper, and are heading further hyper...but your FT3 and FT4 may tell a different story.

__________________
Rach xxxx

Total Thyroidectomy Oct 06 due to Massive Multi Nodular Goiter and Hashi
Adrenal Fatigue
180mg NTH
28mg HC
2 x Caltrate

Rach xxxx

Eagle

Thursday 7-24-08 Good morning,

My mother had her gland removed long before I was born, and probably my brother and some of our children have a problem.

I haven't found the threads again yet, but at this forum just maybe a month ago we discussed that the Range in some parts of the country has gone down steadily since 2000 to .027.
Anyone remember? Dr. Lowe and others write that the TSH test result just shows how much hormone is in the blood stream, I may have said already, doesn't show how well it's utilized.

I'm feeling almost too low for my heart to beat, not climbing the walls. This latest test result just isn't right. I've had lots of different doctors and labs, always am at .1.

Some doctors have admitted they only studied this about 10 min in med school, that "you just prescribe 1 gr of Synthroid.:
I compliment and greatly appreciate you on your having zero'd in on the frees, and can you tell from my report I admit is inadequate, how I was doing about that?

I've also got the low temperature, of course, that The Wilson Syndrome is all about, which temp itself isn't hurting anything, just another hypo symptom of many.

Back to the subject, can you tell from the only Frees info I've given? If that's not enough info, it's another indication the lab is not one of the best.

Remember, labs often don't keep up with the changes, assuming patients won't know, I guess. water. Some but not enough. I could offer to compromise by taking 1/4 a pill on Sunday instead of 1/2. When he was probably expecting to gradually reduce even more, meaning I can't really trust him to be up-to-date on anything after all.

Really would feel better if I knew a shortcut way to find doctors using up-to-date labs, who wouldn't think TSH is the law, and know nothing about frees, So I don't either.

Hope we never get a health care system where we can't choose our own doctors. And I've edited to shorten this a lot.

Thanks for your time. If I get another test someplace I can trust, I'll ask again about the Free's.

tygwyn

Wow long interesting post Eagle
This is the only Frees info I've found but its not enough for us to comment on,
We need the ranges for the Free T4 and we also need Free T3:

__________________
Rach xxxx

Total Thyroidectomy Oct 06 due to Massive Multi Nodular Goiter and Hashi
Adrenal Fatigue
180mg NTH
28mg HC
2 x Caltrate

Rach xxxx