After 7 weeks totally off armour cold turkey I had my private blood tests. Below are my results with zero medication in my system. Vitamins tested too – iron, ferritin and Vit D all normal. In 7 weeks TSH had increased from 0.18 to 2.44 but the T4 and T3 remained low. During this time I did not feel particularly fatigued or brain foggy which in the past have been troublesome issues but I did have extremely dry skin my fingernail beds were dry and sore and I had a hoarse voice in the evenings. My joints were achy.
So I am going back on medication for good. This time I am going to start with just levothyroxine – T4 alone as I have never tried this route before. I plan to start at a full dose 100mcg. I can then monitor and increase if needed. I can get private tests done every few weeks to check my levels. My results are below & I am posting so others can learn from my experience. I am glad I was able to try for a short time and did not let his get too far. Thank you for all your suggestions and advice that I continue reading & will keep updates going on my progress
APRIL 2021 - zero medication for 7 weeks
TSH 2.44 (range 0.40-4.50)
T4 Total 5.6 (range 4.5-12.0)
T4 Free 0.8 (range 0.8 – 1.8)
T3 Total 89 (range 76-181)
T3 Free 2.6 (range 2.3 – 4.2)
My previous results from Jan 7 2021 – on 60mg of Armour
TSH 0.18 (range 0.40-4.50)
T4 Free 0.9 (range 0.8 – 1.8)
T3 Free 2.6 (range 2.3 – 4.2)
Antibodies for both Jan 2021 and April 2021 were at 1. They have always been at this number.
Below is copy of my post from 2 months ago
Could I stop my medication?
ukap
ukap•
2 months ago•8 Replies
I have been on thyroid medication since 2013. My Dr. gave me a "trial" of armour 30mg based on symptoms (no bloodwork for trial) At this time I also started menopause & was juggling with HRT dosage too. I have stayed on armour with various doses currently 60mg. I always used Armour - have never tried levothyroxine by itself. Self medicated in the past when I had no medical insurance. Moved a couple of times & now have new Dr. who refilled my prescription this time but wants my TSH to not be suppressed so we are monitoring closely.
Looking back I wonder if I was too hasty in starting thyroid medication at all. Regular blood tests since 2013 show suppressed TSH. I have no antibodies. T3 and T4 are normal, maybe slightly on the low side. Looking at annual blood work 15 years ago when I felt fantastic & healthy my T3 & T4 have always been on the lowish side so this appears to be my base.
Have I made myself hypothyroid because I took medication & the meds have taken over the job my thyroid could have done on its own?
I would like to stop. The medication doesn't make me feel bad but doesn't make me feel great either. It always needs adjusting. In fact this past week I have not taken my Armour to see how I would do. It has been OK but today - day 7 of withdrawal - I feel fatigued.
If I keep going without will I go through a rough patch and come out feeling better when my own thyroid kicks in?
Anyone else tried this so I know what to expect. It is bearable as long as I know it will be temporary. Under lockdown for a while longer so now is as good a time as any to test this out.
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ukap
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My previous results from Jan 7 2021 – on 60mg of Armour
TSH 0.18 (range 0.40-4.50)
T4 Free 0.9 (range 0.8 – 1.8)10% of the way through the range
T3 Free 2.6 (range 2.3 – 4.2) 16% of the way through the range
I don't know who is determining your dose of thyroid hormones, but you were clearly very under-medicated on 60mg of Armour. That is a really tiny dose. It is not unusual for people to need 2, 3, 4, or 5 times that amount, or possibly even more.
On this forum it is often suggested that for optimal feelings of well being people need to have a Free T4 which is 60% - 80% of the way through the range, and for Free T3 to be 50% - 70% of the way through the range. But these numbers are very elastic - if you feel good with both at 80% or both at 50% then that is fine too. If you were to take T3 only you might end up with a Free T4 which is 2% of the way through the range and a Free T3 which is over the range. Since the desired end result is for you to feel well, that should be all that matters.
If you are going to start taking 100mcg Levo you will already be taking about a third more thyroid hormones than you were before. This isn't a problem if you can tolerate it, but you might want to consider starting at 75mcg and working up from there.
...
Have I made myself hypothyroid because I took medication & the meds have taken over the job my thyroid could have done on its own?
No.
One thing to bear in mind is that taking thyroid hormones doesn't "top-up" your own thyroid hormone levels. It replaces your thyroid hormones. If you were to stop taking thyroid hormones altogether then your own thyroid would kick in after a while ( a few weeks?) and would produce as much thyroid hormone as it was capable of doing.
If you have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (the commonest cause of hypothyroidism in many parts of the world - in other parts of the world the commonest cause is iodine deficiency) then your thyroid is being attacked by your immune system. It will continue to be attacked while you are taking thyroid hormones so if you stop the thyroid hormones your thyroid may be in worse condition than it was before you started treatment.
Another thing to bear in mind... If you are hypothyroid, and the condition crept up on you over, say, three - five years, you and your body would adapt to being hypothyroid and to some extent would be used to it even if you don't feel well. If you then start taking thyroid hormones you will adapt to having more hormones available. If you then stop taking the hormones again you have to learn all over again how to cope with untreated hypothyroidism. That is tough, and for many of us is intolerable. It doesn't mean that we did anything wrong by taking thyroid hormones when our own output was too low.
Good luck.
P.S. Regarding TSH and it being under the range...
TSH is a hormone produced by the pituitary, not the thyroid. You accept that you have low levels of thyroid hormones. But have you considered that your pituitary may not be capable of producing sufficient TSH? I'm not saying this is relevant to you, but it is something to think about.
Doctors insist that TSH needs to be in range all the time, and as a result they leave millions of people with thyroid disease ill all the time. But patients have found out the most important result is Free T3, not TSH. Free T3 has far better correlation with symptoms than either TSH or Free T4. Once people start on treatment for thyroid disease the connection between thyroid hormones levels and TSH is broken, and TSH really doesn't tell you much that you need to know. So, forget your TSH (as much as possible), and worry about your Free T3.
TSH is helpful in most, but not all, cases before treatment for thyroid disease has ever started. But once treatment has started TSH is almost useless as a test of anything.
THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES My levels have always been 1 or <1 never higher. I don't get these tested every time but I do get them tested approx every 6 months. My last test was recent - April 2021. Below are the ranges
Reference Range: < or = 1 IU/mL THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES
No, I have not had this test. I've only had bloodwork tested. Living in the USA I doubt that my Dr. will order this test and insurance probably won't cover it anyway.
I had a thyroid USS in 2014 (was looking a little swollen - a hairdresser could actually see the outline of it in the mirror!), the consultant doing the scan said: "Your thyroid is really quite small, you must be struggling" - err, yes! At some point I was kind of 'blamed' (for using Armour via Dr S + NHS and T3 via Dr P) - implying that I'd shrunk my own thyroid. Only taking hormones from 2010... and ill for 7 yrs prior...
That takes patient blaming to a whole new level! Poor you. I bet it’s not possible to shrink ones thyroid no matter what you take...as if you can give yourself an autoimmune disease. It does not make any sense or live up to scrutiny it’s simply rubbish!
Thanks - I listened to the former wise words of Drs S & P and continued as I had been. In fact, aside from T3, this was GP prescribed Armour - NHS - for 5+ yrs, until an endo [only saw for new symptoms] UN_diagnosed me saying I wasn't and hadn't been hypothyroid... good job I don't listen to them.
Thanks Linda - just trying to follow your timeline here. So your endo said you were not hypothyroid but actually you are? your GP prescribed armour but your endo said you don't need it? Are you on Armour now or something else? What is your dose if you don't mind me asking.
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Yes to what you said - I'm on T3 alone, 50 mcg daily. xox
Is it normal to feel anxious when adding Armour?
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