My Thyroid tests from today was: TSH: 0.06, Ref: 0.32 - 5.04 --- T4: 13.7 Ref: 9.01 - 19.0 ---T3: 4.9 Ref: 2.6 - 5.8

[dizzylizzyfalldown]

My Hypo tends to swing to Hyper so Doctor will be decreasing my meds from 112 to 100. With above results I am suffering from exhaustion, overheating and sweats and anxiousness. No fast heartbeat or any heart issues.

[greygoose]

HI dizzylizzyfalldown, welcome to the forum.

Having a low TSH does not make you hyper. And if you are hypo, it is physically impossible for your thyroid to regenerate and start producing excess hormone, which is what 'hyper' means.

The TSH is the least important number of the three and should not be used to dose by. The most important number is the FT3, and that looks good, not too high at all.

But, how you feel is just as important as the numbers. So, if you feel good on that dose, refuse to reduce your dose. Remind him that he is there to advise you, not to dictate to you - so many doctors seem to have forgotten that. And, there is no law that says you have to do what he says. Tell him that you understand the 'risks' of a low TSH (there aren't any) and you're prepared to accept them and take full responsibility, but you want your dose to stay the same. Don't let him bully you!

[dizzylizzyfalldown in reply to greygoose]

Thanks, so it's good then, the results. I so don't understand a lot of it and I've been on Synthyroid since 1989. I actually feel better at around 0.50. I tried to run yesterday to catch the bus and felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion. Thanks so much for replying.

[greygoose in reply to dizzylizzyfalldown]

If you feel good, then it is good. But it has nothing to do with the TSH. The TSH is just a rough indication of thyroid status, but not much use once it gets below 1. It doesn't cause symptoms or make you feel anything. It's not even a thyroid hormone, it's a pituitary hormone.

When the pituitary senses that there is not enough thyroid hormone in the blood, it increases production of TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - to stimulate the thyroid to make more thyroid hormone. So, the higher the TSH the more hypo you are.

The problem is that you can have a low TSH without the corresponding high levels of thyroid hormone. Which is the huge mistake that doctors make when they say it tells them 'all they need to know'. It doesn't. It tells them what the pituitary thinks, but the pituitary is biased because it gets served first with any available hormone, whilst the rest of the body can still be severely short on thyroid hormone. Nor can it tell them how much of the available hormone is T4 and how much is T3, which is essential to know.

So, forget the TSH and concentrate on the FT3, the active thyroid hormone needed by every single cell in your body to function correctly. Your FT3 is not over-range so you are not over-medicated.

[dizzylizzyfalldown in reply to greygoose]

I forgot to mention that in 2000 my TSH was 0.06 (t3 and t4 not ordered) and another doctor actually stopped my meds. for a week and I remember really suffering the effects of no thyroid meds. I could barely walk and function.

[greygoose in reply to dizzylizzyfalldown]

The majority of doctors are totally ignorant about thyroid. They just don't learn about it in med school. And they either thing that a below-range TSH means you're over-medicated or that you heve 'gone hyper'. Both ideas are ludicrous, of course, but they won't be told.

No-one on here would doubt that you need your thyroid hormone replacement. We know better. We know how people suffer when doctors do things like that. But they seem totally incapable of learning by experience. It's quite amazing, really - but not in a good way!

[dizzylizzyfalldown]

Not too long ago I had to beg for T3 and T4 as our labs here in BC didn't run those tests because the only test that was important to them was the TSH. And the doctor even told me that was the only number that mattered. So all along I have been misinformed...

This is the message that was included in with the TSH lab results from a few years back. The government since started allowing the T3 and T4 to be tested.

MESSAGE:

TSH: 1.13

0.32-5.04

mU/L

The free T4 order was cancelled. The

BCMA/MSP Protocol recommends no further

testing. However, a specimen will be

stored 4 days.

[greygoose in reply to dizzylizzyfalldown]

Well, you're better off than the people in the UK, then! Because there they will not test FT4 and FT3 - and even if they did, they wouldn't look at them because all they look at is the TSH

Here, in France, it's quite normal to test the FT4, but most doctors will refuse to order the FT3 because - and the admit it it quite freely - they have no idea what it is or what it does. I always say 'well, I know!' And that usually gets them to test it. The whole situation with thyroid treatment is a farce! It ought to be illegal.