So I was diagnosed back in December with the following bloods
TSH 1.4 (0.3-5)
Free T3 2.1 (3.1-6.8)
Free T4 10.7 (12-22)
I was put onto 50mcg Levo and although it took a few weeks my clinical progression was rapid and I definitely responded well. By the time I had my 6 week blood test a lot of the symptoms had disappeared (constipation and brain fog especially)
My 6 week blood test results were as follows:
TSH 0.97 (0.3-5)
Free T3 5 (3.1-6.8)
Free T4 16.5 (12-22)
Dr and I agreed there was still room for improvement and he wanted me to feel as good as I could possibly feel and so increased my dose to 75mcg. Despite taking a week to adapt to this new dose, for the past 4 or 5 weeks I have felt amazing- like the world is a different place, I have so much energy, I'm losing weight, I can concentrate for hours. But all of a sudden in the last week I have definitely started to feel like it's too much. I have insomnia and I'm anxious and feel on edge and a bit shaky.
Luckily it coincided with another 6 week blood test and here are te results from this
TSH 0.03 (0.6-5)
Free T3 4.6 (3.1-6.8)
I went to see another GP yesterday to talk about my symptoms and she has recommended that I now take alternate 50 and 75 but I'm seeing my proper GP tomorrow. Does anyone have any advice? I still feel very jittery and on edge today (for the last 2 days I have only taken 50mcg). I don't know my free T4 yet, but with a T3 not higher than last time my symptoms can't be due to having too much actual thyroid hormone and is it just a side effect of an incredibly suppressed TSH?
Any advice would be great.
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mk366
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I did have a adrenal test about 6 months ago (so obviously before thyroid diagnosis) that showed my Cortisol was really high but that I didn't have adrenal fatigue and the situation could be reversed. Not sure if there is anything else that displays my adrenal function?
Looking at your numbers, they look very good so perhaps because you have high cortisol and are well within range, you may need a bit less thyroxine. Id be happy to have numbers like yours!
Must say that I think you have an extremely good doctor. Not many would have put you on thyroid meds with a TSH of 1.4, even though your FT4 ans FT3 were obviously low, in fact many wouldn't even have tested your FT3 at all.
Have a look at this link, which gives you a list of symptoms of over active adrenal glands, so that you can judge if the way you are feeling is down to your adrenals.
Do the adrenals only come into play when I am perhaps being overmedicated? Because obviously up until now I have had all of the hypothyroid symptoms- no anxiety, never on edge- far too down depressed and lethargic for that!!
Couldn't find a definite answer but found this, which is interesting, as it states that your high adrenal results could have caused your thyroid issues.
The adrenal glands most of the time are the center of attention when it comes to hormonal balancing. Too much stress increases cortisone levels in the initial stages of the adrenal stress disorder and this will suppress thyroid, pituitary, pineal, and ovary/testes production. In my opinion, and those who practice functional medicine, an adrenal issue is present before a thyroid issue.
If I were you I would ask for a re-test of your adrenal status and see if it throws anything up. Do you have your adrenal results to hand so that we can see exactly how high they were.
I had to pay for my first readings of Free T4 and T3 but now Ive found a great GP who knows my TSH isn't the best indicator and he always ensures these are tested on the NHS
Looks like the link isn't working but here is my original story!:
So I've had all the hypothyroid symptoms for quite some time....
Tiredness, can't lose weight no matter what (basically cut out most food groups and don't drink alcohol), I exercise to no avail, cold hands and feet, slow metabolism, feel the cold easily, thin hair that doesn't grow.
Over the years blood test after blood test come back 'normal' and it was only when my GP told me to research online about Fibromyalgia that I realised my symptoms fitted so perfectly with hypothyroid and that maybe my normal blood tests were because my TSH was normal. So I pushed and pushed for them to test my free T3 and T4 and with reluctance they referred me and I paid to have it done privately- they wouldn't do it on the NHS- I could tell my GP just had written it off.
So I got my results back today and my free T4 is:
10.9 (12-22)
and my free T3 is 2.7 (3.1-7)
My GP just said, we will retest you in 2 months and I was like, I have all these symptoms and I've paid for a blood test to check and my levels are clearly low you just say we will retest. I know she is not with me on this as she didn't support the idea of me asking for further investigation and now my results prove there is a problem it's like she doesn't want to see it and she kept saying - I don't think there is a problem because your TSH is normal.
You should look into getting your adrenals sorted anyway because treated thyroid only will put more pressure on strained adrenals. Lots of sites out there on the subject. Im a convert to Dr Lams hypothesis, he goes into massive detail
It says that this is Stage 1- the alarm stage and i'm in a state of adrenal over stimulation but that it's reversible as I haven't reached stage 2- the resistance stage when the body produces more cortisol but less DHEA and so the ratio of DHEA: cortisol would be out of range.
And I'm far off of stage 3 which is the exhaustion stage when the adrenals fail to produce enough cortisol or DHEA.
I actually think that this is what led to my thyroid problems so I agree with what has been posted above.
the top figures are Cortisol values and they are from July 2013. My thyroid diagnosis was in December 2013 with symptoms really getting bad in October 2013.
Have you posted these results as a question before on this site because if you haven't I would do so - I don't really know enough about adrenals to comment except to say they are showing high nearly all day, which is not good, but maybe others on here are better with adrenal results than me and will be able to tell you in detail what this means.
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Fluctuating thyroid results
T3 taken away, looking for a new source please :)
Newbie
Third blood test in 4 months
Need help on thyroid blood tests interpretation please
