Thyroid dosage for elderly Mom

[duffythedoodle]

Hi there, We live in Portland, Oregon, but have followed Health unlocked uk for awhile. My question on behalf of My almost 87 y/o Mom...(whom has had a heck of a last year health wise).

I just rec'd back a note thru her my chart regarding her thyroid dosage..

just a little back story..

had iodine ablation a few years ago, (was hyper).. that led to hypo, and was put on synthroid, i think it started at 50, and went as high as 100 as a dosage... at that time she was also on an anti arrhythmia drug called amiodarone(horrible drug).. that drug messes w/ thyroid(maybe iodine?idk)... long and short, came off it... then after a bit was dropped to 88(which she has been on since July '23), well, she developed a rash this last Summer( after many bouts w/ antibiotics over the last year, hospital, what was thought utis, etc).. dug down deep of what could be causing.. thinking last thing would be her thyroid hormone replacement... i called Her endo, and they offered to switch brands, which then caused me to look at ingredients, and manufacturer, etc of what she had been taking... icky stuff..and noticed mannitol? and other icky , lactose etc.. so she was switched to tirosint 88, i specifically asked if tirosint is pure should she maybe try a less dosage, they said no... ok.. so she started tirosint, and rash magicalky went away... yay.

She just went in had labs drawn last Friday, fasted , before 9 am..

and results..( yes asked about the full panel. they refused)

Tsh- 0.19 (0.33-4.70)ulu/Ml

Free t4-1.32 (.89-1.76)ng/dl

Free t3-3.0 (2.3-4.2) pg/ml

So, my question...

the Dr responded back this am

with " your thyroid low, you can get new prescription for 75, or take 88 6 days a week with 1 day off.. ley me know"

She should take 75 tirosint instead,daily?

Thanks for any advice, appreciate it....😊

Lynn

[greygoose]

She should take 75 tirosint instead,daily

No, she shouldn't. In fact, she should be increased to 100 mcg daily. She's under-medicated with those results:

Free t4-1.32 (.89-1.76)ng/dl 49.43%

Free t3-3.0 (2.3-4.2) pg/ml 36.84%

But, doctor is only looking at the TSH. Which is not 'your thyroid', it's a pituitary hormone and a very bad indicator of thyroid status once it gets below 1. But, they will insist it tell them 'all they need to know'. It most certainly doesn't! But they don't understand the other results so don't bother with them.

A euthyroid ('normal') FT4 would be around 50% through the range, with the FT3 slightly lower. But hypos usually need both levels much higher than that.

[humanbean]

If you search the forum for "amiodarone" there have been quite a lot of posts about it recently.

healthunlocked.com/search/p...

waveylines was put on it a few months ago and has posted about it. Her posts and replies on the subject are helpful reading, and can be found here :

healthunlocked.com/user/wav...

[waveylines]

Hello Im waveylines. I'm still recovering from the nasty Amiodarone. I'm 120 days since it was stopped but I still can't take my normal thyroid dose. I'm on Armour Thyroid. Currently can take about 70% of my usual dose. Funnily enough I've just started with a very red eye that looks like an infection.

Amiodarone has a half life of 140 days and an unknown period of when it totally leaves your body. Ive read 8-12 months but my endo says it's unknown when your free of it totally.

I'm not sure if this helps or not.