First results on NDT...advice on limited information please.

[Shonnyuk]

Hi all,

I was diagnosed hypothyroid, high antibodies TSH 5.5 (0.35 to 4) September last year. Six weeks later my tsh was 1.9.

After a month on levo... I switched to

NDT at this point as I know people personally have felt good on it.

I have just received my latest results over the phone.

Blood test was am, before ndt and empty stomach yesterday morning.

The only results I got was TSH 0.01, and T4 is 11.2 (range 10.4 to 24)

I am on 2 grains.(since end oct 2015).which i raised according to STTM..starting at half. Prior to this I was on 75mg of levo but obviously was not optimally treated when I swapped.

I take my morning temp and it usually 36.5 or thereabouts. My pulse around 75.

I feel fine and as far as I can tell... my larger symptoms such as joint pain have gone but I do still find it hard to tolerate the cold.

I sleep well although I'm often tired. But I've also had breast cancer twice so the tablets don't help with that.

The Dr is going to speak to me. . I did tell them I was going to self medicate. I requested to be referred to an endo, but was told only if I am overactive.

Can anyone give me some advice? Preempt this conversation? I can't afford a private test and they refused to do a full blood panel at my Dr. I was lucky to get a T4!

Also. ..bit concerned at suppressed TSH and low T4. Should I raise ndt?

Many thanks

[Jazzw]

That's pretty much what I'd expect to see on 2 grains. That, at face value, is fine - but an FT3 result would have been so much more useful! TSH is nearly always suppressed when you take medication with T3 in it, so the fact it's suppressed is meaningless (particularly in the absence of an FT3 result). And for reasons I don't fully understand, FT4 is often not that high in range when you take NDT - you can't gauge whether you're on enough NDT using the FT4 result.

You could pursue getting private blood tests, if only for FT3. You can do them using a finger prick to fill a tiny vial with blood - I use homebloodtests.co.uk (Blue Horizon).

Before blood testing became available, temperature - pulse - how you feel - those things were used (and very successfully!) to gauge if someone was on the right dose. If you're going to go it alone anyway, you could try raising half a grain. If it makes you feel better, great. You'll probably soon realise if it's too much by how it makes you feel.

2 grains isn't a high dose, many end up on 3 grains, a few on more than that.

[Shonnyuk in reply to Jazzw]

Thanks so much for replying. I wasn't aware I could get a finger prick test for just ft3.. I think I need this to complete the picture. Thanks for the reassurance