Thank you in advance for your help.
I think that I am over medicated - should I reduce my thyroxine or am I okay?
Results:
Serum TSH - 0.04 (0.27 - 4.2)
Serum Free T4 - 25.2 (12 - 22)
I haven’t been feeling great but don’t feel over medicated - don’t want to risk under medicating.
Thanks
I have TSH -0.029 (0.27 -4.2) and T4 24.1 ( 12-22) but T3 only 5.04 (3.10-6.80). Take 125 Levo and have decided to take 100 one day and 125 the next to see if this will help my Afib as well.
D
marshmallow1
I used to have results like that. I was still feeling unwell, my GP used to allow increases in dose of Levo. I eventually got FT4 up to 30 (11.8-24.6) when GP panicked and lowered my dose, but I still felt unwell. GP hadn't got a clue. I had to help myself and eventually found that I wasn't converting T4 to T3 well enough, my FT3 was only half way through range with an over range FT4.
With your results, I'd be want to do TSH, FT4 and FT3 at the same time to see how well I was converting. I'd also test Vit D, B12, Folate and Ferritin because they all need to be at optimal levels (not just within range) for thyroid hormone to work properly.
You were on Levo plus T3 a year ago, are you still taking prescribed T3? If so your FT3 should be tested automatically.
You didn't answer any of the questions in reply to your last post
If you were taking zero medication and your blood tests produced these same results, your doctor would diagnose you with hyperthyroidism.
When our TSH is elevated, even slightly above range, but our Free T4 is within range, we are often considered to have subclinical hypothyroidism. Not until your Free T4 dips below the range, along with an elevated TSH is someone diagnosed with overt hypothyroidism.
With a TSH, totally suppressed and a Free T4 level, clearly above the range, I cannot imagine a responsible healthcare provider suggesting these results reflect anything other than overmedication.
This might be the only venue on earth at which you would receive a single ambivalent response to your inquiry.
Without knowing the details of your "not feeling great", I will say that my first mistake was not recognizing the signs of overmedication. I thought they were limited to sweating and tremors. Hint: they aren't.
I thought muscle weakness and a feeling of heaviness in the limbs was attributable to undermedication. It's not. In fact, so many of the symptoms of over vs. under medication are either similar or downright identical that I think we misinterpret them.
People on this site often suggest that a suppressed TSH is irrelevant; that free hormone levels are what matter. That belies an understanding of the fact that TSH suppression is only the body's first line of defense against too much thyroid hormone. In "Healing Hashimoto's: A Savvy Patient's Guide", Dr. Alan Christianson writes about 'dumping'-the process, via bladder and kidneys, by which the body rids itself of excess hormone. He says it explains why patients experience feeling better, temporarily, after a dose increase, only to feel worse again, soon afterwards. He describes scenarios in which patients taking supraphysiologic doses of thyroid hormone improve greatly by reducing their doses.
In my own experience, one of the most surprising outcomes of reducing my dose was a clearheadedness that I didn't know I had been missing for so long!
I wish you well and much improved, quickly.
I am sorry it has taken me so long to post. I have been very unwell - depressed, suicidal - ended up in hospital. Feel as if I am getting nowhere with my doctor. I saw her today and she said that all my bloods were perfect and just where she would want them. Nothing there that could be causing my current health issues. I have just had a look and I don’t know if I am worrying unnecessarily. Can anyone help?
TSH - 0.02 (0.27 - 4.2)
T3 - 5.7 (3.2 - 6.8)
T4 - 18.2 (12 -22)
Vit D 71.2 - no range on this one
B12 - 420 (180 - 700)
I think they look okay apart from TSH could that be contributing to how ill I feel or is it as the the doctor thinks all in my head?
Am I over medicated?
over medicated on thyroxine
Over medicated symptoms
Over medicated
Am I over-medicated?
