Suppressed TSH advice

[Ralphie1]

Hi

Wondered if anyone had any advice

I had some recent thyroid tests done, the first one hasn’t realised testing thyroid so had taken medication that day, it was repeated and I didn’t take my T3 medication the evening before because worried about them saying I was over medicated

I take 100mg of T4 and 2 x 5 of T3

GP suggested reducing my t4 down, I said I didn’t want to do this and he said about risk of atrial fibrillation/osteoporosis but agreed to keep me on current dose

I know it’s suggested to go more off the T3 and T4 but did read in another post was ok if TSH was not below 0.04 I think which mine obviously is

Think I was getting some palpitation when I was on 3 x T3 but think this has improved since reduced, I do sometimes find my hearts pounding a bit after going up 2 flights or stairs but not generally when I exercise

Do still struggle with fatigue, feeling weak, sleep difficulties, pain

I’ve read some other posts/articles around it being more around T3 rather than TSH around risks just my mum developed atrial fibrillation am just scared doing damage to myself

Appreciate any advice

Thanks

Kate

[Ralphie1]

This is the first test when had taken meds that morning

[tattybogle]

I use that study showing 'risks for TSH below 0.04' to discuss risk in 'Levo only' patients.. as it was done on patients taking Levo only .. so it is not useful for discussing TSH results when taking any T3.... the T3 will probably have a bigger effect on TSH than the same level of T4 would have... i don't really think its the TSH level itself that causes the risks .. it's more likely the associated levels of T4/3 .. but whatever . you can't compare evidence from that Levo study to your TSH on T3/Levo. So a lower than 0.04 TSH on some T3 is not necessarily a problem , and may be unavoidable.

[tattybogle in reply to tattybogle]

how many hours before this blood test did you take last dose of T3 ?

[Ralphie1 in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks very much for replying, just hard to work sometimes whether your doing the right thing.

I took my last dose of t3 about 24 hours before which I know isn't ideal and should have ideally taken my second dose early evening day before test

Will probably do another private blood test soon and take T3 as I have been taking it

Does anyone now if there's any risk if get pregnant to having suppressed TSH

I was hoping would feel better than I am after adding in T3 at end of December last year but hard to know if still struggle because of my thyroid or other something else

Many thanks

Kate

[tattybogle in reply to tattybogle]

Does your mum take thyroid hormones ? AF will have risk factors unrelated to your level of T4/3 .. but i know the feeling of being scared by the 'risks' .. i got worried about risk of AF , Doctor was concerned as i have over range T4 levels on levo only (my TSH was above 0.04) ... but i realised AF often leads to stroke and my aunty has a nasty stroke , and she took Levo .. there was some suggestion she might not have been keeping Thyroid blood test/dose up to date for several years yrs before the stroke happened.. so i do have to wonder if she might have been on more than was needed as she got older. But at the end of the day we can't ever know for sure...... perhaps it just comes down to active quality of life now on higher dose, versus risk of something that might happen to you anyway even if you reduced dose and a less active and therefore less healthy lifestyle on a lower dose that leaves you feeling naff,

[Ralphie1 in reply to tattybogle]

My mum is sadly not alive, but she had been taking levo for long-time although I imagine she was wasn't on a particularly high dose. I guess AF can develop for other reasons or maybe there was link to thyroid. Yeah I know what you mean about waying up the risks just still don't feel great now which is frustrating not knowing what is causing my symptoms still if it is thyroid or something else

Looks like you have some interesting posts yourself that will have a look at, the T4/T3 ratio post went over my head not really read anything around it before

Thanks for taking the time to message

Kate

[tattybogle in reply to Ralphie1]

a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow re. 'risks' of low TSH.....

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu..... Ignore the fact it say's 'more mature' .... my first reply to this post has some links to other good discussions on the subject including some replies from diogenes if i remember correctly.

[Ralphie1 in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks very much for sending me those link to other discussions

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Looking at previous posts

You have Hashimoto’s

Are you on absolutely strictly gluten free diet?

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking?