TSH level

[Juju201]

Hello, I am new here and would really appreciate some advice

I was diagnosed with UAT last year and after experimenting with levothyroxin settled at 100mg I am finding conflicting ideas depending on the GP I see at my practice and I am a little confused.

My latest test results are T4–17.3 (normal range 10-20)

TSH- 0.03 (normal range 0.35-5.5) I am looking at my results online and it says abnormal.

Is it a good thing that the TSH is very low? I had to see a different GP for the previous results and he said I should amend the meds to 75mg and 100mg on alternate days.

My usual GP has told me she doesn’t agree as the T4 level was fine.

I will of course make an appointment to discuss the latest results, but Would be interested in your experiences.

Also, would taking HRT affect the results of taking Levothyroxin ? I have read some conflicting views on this.

Many thanks

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Juju201

My usual GP has told me she doesn’t agree as the T4 level was fine.

Kudos to your usual GP, she knows that it's FT4 that's important and not to alter dose of Levo based on TSH.

If you would like an expert view on this, Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, states in Pulse Magazine (the magazine for doctors):

"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l. In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance. But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l. This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l).*"

*He recently confirmed, during a public meeting, that this applies to Free T3 as well as Total T3. You can obtain a copy of the article by emailing Dionne at

[e-mail]

Study about HRT and Levo here which says taking HRT may increase the dosage requirement of thyroid hormone replacement

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/151...

[Juju201 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you