Help with my latest results please.

[mitchell66]

My pre-diagnoses results are on my profile. Three months later I have worked up to 125 levo and my result are:

TSH 0.05 range 0.3-5.5

T4 26.3 range 12-22

T3 6.4 range 3.1-6.8

I have to make an appointment to reduce my dose. Although I believe I have just started to feel better. My only worries are I've had the runs a bit and my hearts a bit racey.

Should I stick with 125 or reduce to 100? I have been on 125 for 4 weeks.

[Jackie]

Hi I would definitely reduce the dose of T4 to 100mcg. Hypo and Hyper symptoms can be identical, only the blood results show that. It is important to take care of the heart, as there is a connection.It may be that the little boost has helped you initially. Also it does take a while to be better , so it is also possible that, in your case ,you went up too quickly, and before there was a chance to recover on the lower dose.

Best wishes,

Jackie

[marram]

you say your heart is a bit racy, is it all the time or just sometimes? Do you know what your pulse rate is?

If you are concerned about your heart, have you had any problems or have you been diagnosed with heart problems?

It would be useful to monitor you pulse, BP and temperature to see if they are elevated. If they are, then drop your Levo, but only by a small amount, if you have 25mcg tablets take half instead of the whole one. a drop of 25 might bring your levels down too much and you could feel hypo again. A small reduction to 112.5 could be sufficient to stop the racy feeling, you can easily keep an eye on that. Your morning temperature is a good guide.

There is just as much danger to the heart from under-medication as from over-medication. Your blood test results do not actually indicate over-medication, your T3 is at the upper end of the lab range, which is where most of us would be aiming. It may be that you are unaccustomed to a normal heart rate and it 'feels' racy.

Hope this helps

Marie XX

[mitchell66 in reply to marram]

hi marram, heart has usually been 74 b/m but has been going up to between 90-100 b/m now and again for short periods. Pulse is very hard to find, its pretty week. Temp has been averaging 35.9 degrees c but was getting slightly over 36 last week. Blood pressure remains very low, on monday it was 94/59, they had a job taking the blood.

No heart probs that I know of.

[marram in reply to mitchell66]

With low blood pressure and a temperature of just about 36, you are still hypo.

It is exactly the symptom which I have been suffering. The only thing which has helped is to very, very gradually increase in tiny increments. If you do decrease back to 100, you would likely continue to have the same symptoms, so it would be important to start re-introducing extra thyroxine as suggested.

Sometimes if you have been on too low a dose for a time, or were undiagnosed for quite a while, then you could suffer these symptoms due to adrenal problems. There are two schools of thought on that.

Some private consultants would say you should take adrenal support before trying to increase thyroxine. Others would say that the increase of thyroxine will enable the adrenals to regain their strength.

It can be a very difficult time, I am experiencing the same uncertainty but the fact that the racing heart episodes are far less than they were, and my temperature has gone up from an average 35.6 to about 36.8 shows that they were a symptom of under-medication, not over-medication.

By all means try a tiny reduction - I personally have always preferred splitting tablets to alternate dosing which never suited me at all - but keep in mind your target dose.

Keep looking and learning on the main website. Read other people's blogs, I have found lots of helpful ideas that way. Always ask the questions if you need help - Marie XX

[mitchell66 in reply to marram]

thank you Marie, I have been ill/undiagnosed a long time but especially the last 12 years after having children. I wll do as you've advised. I am hoping my good T3 level will eventually make me feel better

[Jan49]

What about trying 125/100 on alternate days to average out @ 112.5. A drop of 25 might be too much, especially now you are starting to feel better. X

[mitchell66 in reply to Jan49]

thanks Jan, I am going to try this x