Results With 88 Mcg Synthroid. Cholesterol Still High

[Lucas22]

Hello.

Male, 75 kg, 41 years, taking 88 mcg of Synthroid.

After 6 weeks with this dose these are my blood results:

TSH: 1,86 Ref: 0,35 – 4,94

Free T4: 0,92 ng/dl Ref: 0,70 – 1,48 ng/dl

Total Cholesterol: 285 mg/dl

HDL: 66 mg/dl

My symptoms don’t improve whit 88 mcg. I still have fatigue, hair loss, loss of other eyebrows, joint pain on my knees, brain fog, low body temperature, and dementia symptoms. Whiteout Synthroid my Cholesterol goes to 400!!

Whit these results should I ask for the 100 mcg Synthroid dose?

Or these symptoms are not thyroid related?

I can’t tolerate T3.

Also, I have high prolactin and high ferritin.

[humanbean]

Your TSH is far too high for someone who is being treated for hypothyroidism, so you are under-medicated. Hypothyroid people generally feel at their best when their TSH is 1 or under, possibly even under the range. It will reduce when you are treated with a higher dose of Levothyroxine. (Synthroid is just Levo with a very good marketing budget.)

Your Free T4 is only 28% of the way through the range. Most people with hypothyroidism feel at their best when their Free T4 is roughly 60% - 80% of the way through the range. (We are all different so your sweet spot is something you have to find out for yourself.)

So, yes you should ask for a higher dose of Synthroid. You should take 100mcg per day for six weeks then get another test. Depending on your symptoms and test results at that time you might need another raise in dose. Your current dose of 88mcg Levo is a low dose and wouldn't be enough for most people with hypothyroidism. Try and get Free T3 tested along with TSH and Free T4. It is a better indicator of how well you are dosed than either TSH or Free T4.

With a higher dose of Levo your cholesterol level should reduce. Don't agree to go on statins unless you have already had a heart attack, and even then they don't do much of any use.

On the subject of cholesterol, you might find this link of interest :

spacedoc.com/articles/50-fa...

And a thread from a diabetic forum with all sorts of sources on statins :

diabetes.co.uk/forum/thread...

There are lots of links on the first post then more are scattered throughout the thread.

...

Regarding your ferritin, which you say is high...

It really depends on how high you mean on what the possible causes are - and this list is far from complete :

1) You may eat a diet which contains lots of iron in it - this would be an unusual cause of high ferritin (I think).

2) Inflammation or infection : irondisorders.org/anemia-of...

3) Hemochromatosis : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFE_h...

In order to distinguish possible causes of high ferritin you would need to know more about your iron levels generally, not just ferritin.

This is an example of a full iron panel from the UK :

medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...

You would need to get something similar done wherever you live. (I'm assuming you don't live in the UK.)

If you create a new post with more of your iron info, once you have it, someone may be able to suggest a possible cause of your high ferritin - but now, it would simply be a random guess of no value because we have no actual information.

...

Prolactin - sorry, I know nothing about it.

Please note, I'm not a doctor and have no medical training at all.

[Lucas22 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you very much!