Overmedicated?

[Spidercakes]

Hi, Just a quick one - feeling awful. TSH 0.72 and T4 20. Could I be overmedicated?

[tattybogle]

Hi , what is the ref range that came with that fT4 test ?

how many hours after taking last dose levo was this test taken ?

can you give us a bit more info ...are you taking Levothyroxine / or something else ?

what is current dose ?

how long have you been taking current dose , etc

[Spidercakes in reply to tattybogle]

Hi,And thankyou. Reference range was 12 - 22 for t4. I took my levothyroxine 3hours before blood test.

[tattybogle in reply to Spidercakes]

TSH is in range , and fT4 is comfortably in range ( and you have measured fT4 at it's absolute highest 3 hrs after taking levo)

So the results by themselves don't indicate overmedication, but where we need to be in these ranges to feel best is very individual

do you have any symptoms that could be caused by overmedication ?,

can you describe what you mean by ' awful'

or is it just the lowish TSH concerning you/your GP ?

[greygoose]

With that TSH it's doubtful, but, as Tatty said, we need more information.

It's more likely to be thatdespite the good TSH and probably high FT4, you're a poor converter and your FT3 is still low, and that's what's making you feel awful. That's very often the case. So, without an FT3 reading, we can't really tell if you're over-medicated or not, I'm afraid.

[Spidercakes in reply to greygoose]

Thankyou, I wasn't tested for T3 but will look into it.

[greygoose in reply to Spidercakes]

I think that's the best thing to do. If you want to know how well you convert you need to get FT4 and FT3 tested at the same time and compare them.

[andyjs2 in reply to greygoose]

Hi, one thing that I have learned with helping my son for the past 5 years with with his hypo due to poor conversion (he has all 3 bad genes), is that you need to test cortisol EACH each time you test your Free T3 (either blood test for AM cortisol or saliva cortisol). My son is one of those that instead of getting hyper, his cortisol tanks whenever he over medicates on T3. It's like his body tries to compensate for too much T3 by lowering his cortisol so he doesn't get hyper. We have seen this many times as we've raised and lowered his T3-only dose trying to get to his ideal level. And when his cortisol tanks, he feels just as bad as he did when his Free T3 was low. Just a thought for anyone on this site that still feels bad while upping their thyroid meds to what you would normally think is a good level.

[Sofie007 in reply to andyjs2]

Hi Andyjs2, Can I ask about the low cortisol of your son; did he feel tired and sleepy all day when overmedicated with T3 ? thank you

[andyjs2 in reply to Sofie007]

Hi, I’ve since come to believe that high FT3 seems to use up cortisol in the body very quickly leaving you tired. My son is now doing very well on 85mcg T3 only and two doses of 400mg adrenal cortex cortisol supplement twice a day at 9am and 12 noon.

I think it’s important to slowly titrate both your thyroid meds and cortisol at the same time to keep them balanced. But we actually raised his T3 first to get his FT3 to the upper quartile and then added just enough adrenal cortex to keep him from getting tired.

Are you on T4 only, T4 and T3, or T3 only?

Andy

[Sofie007 in reply to andyjs2]

Oh that is very interesting, thank you for the information.

I am on both t4/t3 and am experimenting with it to see what feels best.

[SovietSong]

I do home thyroid blood test via Monitor My Health. They test full panel of TSH, T3 and T4.Only takes few days and there are usually discount codes available.

[Spidercakes]

Thanks - I'm going to pay privately, so that will help.🙂

[TammyAnnMajka]

You also need to check reverse T3. My T4 was very high, my T3 was low and my reverse T3 was high. I'm not converting well. My TSH was 21! I felt Hyper symptoms. Palpitations, anxiety, heat intolerance, hot flashes worse. I'm a mess

[Lalatoot in reply to TammyAnnMajka]

We don't have reverse T3 testing here in the UK.

[greygoose in reply to TammyAnnMajka]

You don't need your rT3 tested because if your FT4 is that high then you know your rT3 is going to be high, too.

Testing rT3 doesn't give you any useful information that you can't get from testing FT4 and FT3 at the same time - and it's far easier to get an FT3 test than an rT3 test. And, it's the low FT3 that causes symptoms, not the rT3 which is inert.

[Maramonro]

well, your brain clearly seems to say that you are taking too much hormones. I am not sure what is your normal TSH and FT3 when you feel your best but if you feel bad that probably means its too much. We are all different and for some people lower T3 or TSH is their normal response which is why TSH range is from 0.5-3.5 on average depending on tests. For me TSH under 1 is always a sign I take too much and its always that low when my T3 gets closer to 3 and above. my symptoms always get worse so I know for sure what is best range for me. I don’t have thyroid and I only depend on tirosint.