It's Blood Test time of year again, resulting in a drop from 120mg to 90mg of my Armour tablets. So two to three months of going through hell until I can persuade my doctor to put me back on the original dose.
It's really difficult as I'm a full time carer for my husband who has had a stroke.
I don't understand the results but they read that my T4 level is 13.0 pmol/L (7.0 - 20.0)
TSH level is 0.01 mu/L (0.30 - 5.00) - it's another language to me.
One lives in hope that one day the doctor will go by how the patient feels and not by what the numbers on a piece of paper tells him. Hey Ho!!
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sun2shine
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Sun2shine, I've edited your gm to mg and deleted your other post. You can edit your own post by clicking on the v down arrow and selecting Edit. Click on the orange Edit Response tab to submit your changes.
One lives in hope that doctors will order FT3 in addition to TSH and FT4, particularly when patients are taking NDT and T3.
TSH 0.01 is suppressed which is expected due to the T3 in 90mg Armour. Don't let your doctor tell you dose needs reducing because TSH is low, it doesn't mean you are overmedicated because your FT4 is mid-range and quite satisfactory. It would be helpful to know what your FT3 is because it's low FT3 which causes hypo symptoms.
You should also ask your doctor to check ferritin, vitamin D, B12 and folate. Deficiency/low levels are common in hypothyroid patients and can present musculoskeletal pain, fatigue and low mood similar to hypothyroid symptoms.
I agree with Clutter. Don't reduce your medication and I realise you've been through this regime before. They haven't a clue that adjusting doses due to the TSH result alone can result in the patient becoming quite unwell.
If the doctor is afraid that because you are on Armour it will cause problems due to your TSH. This is an extract and go to the question dated November 27, 2004:
Hopefully the endocrinologist won’t keep your Armour dose too low. He most likely will, however, if he adjusts your dose according to your TSH and thyroid hormone levels while ignoring your clinical response to a particular dose. To get well, some patients must use Armour doses that are high enough to produce TSH and thyroid hormone levels that upset endocrinologists. But the lab values are meaningless in themselves, as long as a patient isn’t overstimulated and has gotten well from her hypothyroid symptoms. What's truly harmful is for a doctor to keep a hypothyroid patient’s dose too low strictly for the sake of predetermined lab values.
You do not have to reduce your dose, just disagree and tell your doctor that you are happy on the dosage your on. Remember your doctor is an ADVISOR only and cannot make you do anything! In the UK there are rules within the NHS to stop your doctor dictating to you.
Totally agree. When on T3, the TSH is usually suppressed. Your doctor should have requested FT3 bloods as well as you are on T3. Make sure at the next test that it is on the request form that patient takes T3.
Also make sure bloods drawn early morning and that you have left 24 hours since taking your last tablets.
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