I have been on carbimazole for 7 weeks now. These bloods were taken at 6weeks and there has been no improvement.
I have been taking 5mg carbimazole. When the endo seen the results he increased me to 10mg a day. I have been taking this dose now for over a week and feel worse than on the 5mg dose. Is this normal? Does it take time to adjust to a higher dose and go back to feeling crappy again. I was feeling good on the 5mg dose. But my bloods didnt reflect this.
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wavingordrowning
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i have nil experience of overactive and the associated meds, but those bloods dont look bad to me. i wonder if your endo is looking at your TSH which is slightly under range. I'm sure someone else will advise in a bit, so don't take anything I say as fact.
Your results are fine and I don't think there was a reason for increasing your dose of carbimazole. I would guess that your doctor raised your dose because your TSH was below range.
Your TSH will be low precisely because you developed hyperthyroidism. Depending on how long you had it for, your TSH might or might not recover up to euthyroid (healthy thyroid) levels i.e. the levels you had before developing hyperthyroidism. Instead it might stay low permanently. Your Free T4 and Free T3 are within range, so I can't see a problem.
Can you halve your pills and go back to 5mg per day? I would suggest trying it, using either a scalpel, hobby knife or pill cutter, but keep accurate records of the dose you take and your symptoms. It is a good idea to score your symptoms out of 10 as well, so if you get frequent headaches (for example) you can say that they caused you pain at a 4 out of 10 level one day (or one week) and got worse because of a change in dose to be at a level of 6 out of 10. Perhaps do this monitoring once a week - it depends how variable they are.
It would also be worth taking your basal temperature every morning, the instant you wake up and before getting out of bed. And you could also take your blood pressure (if you have a monitor) and pulse rate soon after getting up.
Your doctor would probably expect a fast heart rate, high blood pressure, and a higher than normal body temperature in someone who was under-dosed on carbimazole. Proving that you don't have those problems should give you ammunition in terms of getting prescribed the dose you want. Alternatively, keep splitting the tablets. Doctors can't force pills into your mouth (under normal circumstances).
For a list of the commonest symptoms in hyperthyroidism :
Obviously you can add your own symptoms to the list. If you do decide to halve your pills you could raise your dose again if you started feeling hyperthyroid.
Thanks humanbean i am going to try and see my gp tomorrow and tell her how im feeling. Doubt i will be able to get an appointment at this time of year though, thats why i thought i would ask the question here so thanks for the advice ☺️
Your blood results seem ok to me ... I would reduce back to 5mg
I took PTU but my Consultant didn't monitor me properly and I ended up bedridden and with a TSH of 9. Your T3 is a little high but your T4 is the right level and do not take any notice of the TSH that always lags behind and is pituitary hormone not a thyroid hormone but Doctors insist on using it as an indication of how your thyroid is functioning. My TSH is 0.70 and I think my T4 and T3 will be slightly high because I feel hyper but my Doctor thinks it is normal and has N/A written on my results.
To be honest I have no idea ... I have been both overactive and underactive and I do prefer being overactive because I am not lying in bed all day feeling shite ... sorry about the swear word but I am still annoyed about my referral letter.
Reading through yours previous posts it doesn’t seem you were ever over range for T4 & T3 (or Total T4)
Was the test on 1st October then you were 1st prescribed Carbimazole?
TSH <0.01 (0.27 - 4.20)
T4 17 (12.0 - 22)
Total? T3 2.1 (1.3 - 3.1) different range?
The 5mg starter dose was the endo going by TSH alone.
You could ask for TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase) and/or Tg (Thyroglobulin) antibodies which are the antibodies for Hashimoto's. This often starts with an "overactive" period.
Your Endo has tested Thyroid receptor antibodies (Trab) ;0<0.30 (0 - 0.80) and excluded Graves, therefore diagnosed functioning nodule.
1st October
TSH <0.01 (0.27 - 4.20)
T4 17 (12.0 - 22)
Total? T3 2.1 (1.3 - 3.1) different range?
21st October
TSH 0.05 (0.27 - 4)
t4 18.2 (12 - 22)
t3 6.5 (3.1 - 6.8)
9th December
Tsh 0.05 (0.27 4.20)
Free T4 19.6 (12 - 22)
Free T3 6.1 (3.1 - 6.8)
It’s hard to interpret what change 5mg dose has had as the ranges between your blood test differ. That said it does appear that your FT4 has risen whilst the FT3 has decreased by a tiny amount. As you TSH remains low, This is most likely why an increase in dose was deemed necessary by your doctor. Most importantly has the medication helped your symptoms at all?
Edit: Carbimazole works by stopping iodine being converted to a usable form for the thyroid to make new T4 & T3 but the body must use up the hormones already produced. This process takes 3 - 8 weeks, hence testing 6 weekly is standard to assess full impact of medication, especially when adjusting carbimazole doses. In your previous thread I commented that doubling your dose may be too much and to monitor carefully to ensure your levels don’t drop too much.
It took less than 6 weeks for my TSH to rise to 9 and I felt really ill . When my consultant told me it was all under control now I just burst into tears so he offered me counselling ... I then said I don't feel well I feel very ill and walked out of his clinic never to return. These tablets are very powerful and I took both carbimazole and PTU. I have to disagree with you the tablets stop your thyroid from working and can have horrible side effects.
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