Hello all,
Just got my thyroid labs back.
I am taking:
T4 (Actavis levothyroxine) - 125mcg
T3 (Tiromel 25mcg pill split in half) - 12.5mcg
I take them all in the morning.
Had my blood test 3 hours after TAKING the pills in the morning.
Results:
TSH: 0.1
FT4: 19.3
FT3: 6.2
I'm thinking of cutting down the T3 to a quarter pill, is this the correct dosage?
Thanks for your help!
You should have left Levo off for 24 hours and T3 for 12 hours. Your FT4 and FT3 reflect the fact that you had taken them so close to your blood draw, they were probably peaking in the blood at about that time and you've got false highs.
Withour the reference ranges for your results we don't know if they are in range or over range.
I've always taken the test after taking the pills in the morning with my endo and GP for the last 10 years. Have I been doing it wrong this whole time?
Is there no way to get any sort of results from this test?
Like I say, you have false highs for FT4 and FT3, they are measuring the hormone you took 3 hours earlier. But we don't know if they are in range or not, you haven't given the reference ranges. If they are within range there is no need to alter dose. If your FT3 is over range then we still don't know if your dose is correct because it's a false high.
Patient to patient tips always given on the forum:
When booking thyroid tests, always book the very first appointment of the morning, fast overnight (water allowed) and leave off Levo for 24 hours, NDT and T3 should be left off for 12 hours. This gives the highest possible TSH which is needed when looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction. TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. It also lowers after eating. This is a patient to patient tip which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists.
Doctors generally don't know this or tell patients, although we do have one member whose endocrinologist advised her to always leave off Levo for 24 hours.
How do you actually feel? Do you feel overmedicated on your current doses?
Ah I see, that makes a lost of sense. To be honest I always thought it strange that I could have a blood test straight after taking the pills because the half-life of T3 is so quick.
I currently feel great apart from a bit agitated and having difficulty getting to sleep at night. Was literally waiting for the labs to come back elevated. Essentially to my eyes, comparing to my old test, my T3 is right at the top-end of the range and my TSH needs to be nearer 1.0.
Don't worry about your TSH. Taking T3 lowers, even supresses,TSH. The important test is FT3, we should aim to keep that in range.
If your FT3 is now at the top end, but still in range, theoretically that is fine. However, if you feel overmedicated - and feeling a bit agitated and difficulty getting off to sleep might possibly be due to that - then reducing is worth trying.
When doyou take your dose of T3?
Did you move up from 6.25 to 12.5mcg T3? If so, how did you feel on 6.25mcg? Was it enough to make you feel well?
Was this a private test or NHS?
If you're doing private tests, Medichecks Thursday offers are doing a Thyroid Monitoring test for £29 today and that will test TSH, FT4 and FT3. You could buy it today and you have 6 months to use it, so you could repeat the test any time you want.
medichecks.com/thyroid-func...
And if it is a private test, either Medichecks or Blue Horizon, then the range for FT3 is 3.1-6.8 so you're not at the limit, but you still haven't said what the range is.
Ah ok, maybe I should try cutting the does of the T3 down slightly. The range wasn't said to me, got the lab results from my GP just now over the phone.
I normally just follow a range I was originally given by my old private doc which is: T3 - 3.1-6.8 and T4 - 12-22. So same as yours.
The GP surgery said over the phone that my dose was too high and that the doctor will call me on Monday.
I get my T4 from the NHS and T3 from abroad so its all a bit of a confusing situation when it comes to getting the right dosage advice.
I ran out of T3 end of last year because the NHS stopped giving it to me so I was on T4 only for a while and felt like all sorts of hell. Around December I got hold of some T3 again so i jumped straight on to 6.25 T3, still felt tired after a week so then upped to 12.5. To be honest it was a quick change so I don't really know what 6.25 felt like.
Compared to T4 only to now, I feel 100 times better so I don't want to adjust my dose too drastically.
Your GP range will most likely be different from the private tests, they usually are. My surgery is 3.5-6.5 so not much difference but enough for a result to be at the very top of one or just over the other. If you contact your surgery you can ask for the range, it should be with your results. Better still, get a print out and you'll know no mistakes have been made.
You should give dose changes longer than a week, if just starting out with T3 you can increase from 6.25 to 12.5 after a couple of weeks but as 25mcg T3 is equal to between 75-100mcg Levo it's best to then slow it down and increase slowly by 1/4 tablet at a time.
Ah I see.
I'll wait to see what the doctor says and get the results back and most likely then order another test from MediChecks with the correct procedure beforehand. Then I can really see what adjustments I need to make.
Thanks for you help!
As you have had time just had on levo, your vitamin levels may have dropped too. (Very common when T3 is withdrawn inappropriately)
Ask GP to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12.
Definitely insist these are done if GP wants to reduce dose of Levo or T3
What dose NHS T3 and Levo did you used to take?
Is Levo dose same now
My endo always said to me - make sure not to take Levo in 24 hours before test. And T3 twelve hours ideally
If you normally take on waking, just delay until after test. If you normally take at bedtime night before, delay until after test
Tests should be done as early in morning as possible and fasting. This also helps push TSH as high as possible
I currently take Vit D and a complex advanced nutrition Multivit everyday that was prescribed by my previous private doc. I have run out of the VitD though so that could also be a cause.
Haven't had an NHS Levo+T3 dose for a while as I was private before but it was 100mcg t4 and 20mcg t3 (10mcg in the morning and 10mcg midday) about 3/4 years ago.
My private doc had me on a mixture of Nature-throid and Levo and it was working perfectly but he retired.
Thanks for the advice, I'm going to get a test redone.
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