Hi, Im new to this site. Just received letter from consultant who wishes to reduce my thyroxine dosage further. At present I am taking 150mcg 5 days pw and 125mcg on 2 days pw. My current blood test results are:
Free T4 -20.5 and TSH - 0.02
Cortisol 467.
I confess I dont really understand the numbers, hut one thing I do know is I cannot function on an average doseage of 137.50 per day ( 150mcg then 125 mcg on alternate days.) I have tried this dosage, and it leaves me needing more sleep ( min of 9.5 hrs per night) and also leaves me feeling mentally fuddled.
Written by
0078
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Do you have the reference ranges for those results? Eg TSH 0.02 (0.2-4.2)
And have you had FT3 tested?
FT3 is very important and unless that is in the upper part of it's range you most likely will still have symptoms, and you may not be converting T4 to T3 very well.
I do know my body is not stimulating my thyroid gland to produce enough of its own thyroxine - the reason Ive been given for reducing thyroxine levels..
The consultant describes my current readings as:
''This ladys bloods show her thyroxine replacement is perhaps still a little high, with Free T4 of 20.5 and TSH of 0.02. Cortisol is satisfactory at 467.''
I think I need to invest in a good book to explain it all. Any reccomendations?
The reason you are on Levo is because your body can't produce enough of it's own thyroid hormone and you are hypothyroid.
TSH is a pituitary hormone, the pituitary checks to see if there is enough thyroid hormone, if not it sends a message to the thyroid to produce some. That message is TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone). In this case TSH will be high. If there is enough hormone - and this happens if you take any replacement hormone - then there's no need for the pituitary to send the message to the thyroid so TSH remains low.
So now you are on Levo your pituitary is detecting that there is enough thyroid hormone there (provided by the Levo) so it wont send a signal (TSH) to the thyroid to produce any hence your TSH stays low and your FT4 is showing there's a good amount of thyroxine (T4).
What would complete the puzzle is to find out if the T4 is being converted to T3 and for that you need FT3 tested. My guess is that your conversion is poor, your FT3 is low in it's range (both FT4 and FT3 should be in balance at the upper end of their ranges) and you could do with some T3 added to your Levo. For some reason this information seems to bypass the brains of the doctors who treat us, usually because most endos are diabetes specialists and know diddly squat about hypothyroidism and how to treat it.
Always, always get a print out of your thyroid results, in the UK we are legally entitled to them so ask, and make sure you get the reference ranges too.
If you can't get FT3 tested then we have recommended labs who do home fingerprick tests (or venous blood draw if you can get it done) and many of us use them to do the tests our doctors can't or wont do.
Have you had thyroid antibodies tested? Have you had vitamins and minerals tested? All very important and part of the picture. All can be done with a reasonably priced test from either of our two recommended labs.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Thyroxine 
Thyroxine
Thyroxine 
over medicated on thyroxine
Propanalol and thyroxine 
