So after taking some of the advice on board a good few weeks ago I just got the results of my TFT back...
I reduced my daily levo from 125mg per day (875mg per week) to 4 days at 100mg and 3 days at 125mg (775mg per week). T3 stayed the same at 12.5mg per day (split dose morning and night).
As you can see my TSH has risen further now, even though my FT3 is still reasonably high within the range. My FT4 has dropped due to the reduction in levo, but i'm not sure what to do next...
Surely my TSH should be lower than that and I shouldn't be feeling as rubbish as I have been based on the other numbers. My sinuses have been awful for the last few months since my September TFT!
First thoughts are that I need to increase my levo slightly and reduce myT3?
This is the lowest amount of levo i've been on in a long time, yet previously my TSH was low while my FT3 was in the mid 5's range. It. doesn't make sense to me....
Any suggestions please?
p.s vitamins all good, same testing protocol each time etc.
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Thyroidsam
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TSH rose further due to reduction in Levo .... i can't explain why it's that high with such a decent level of fT3 ( and while you are taking T3), but then i don;t think anyone can , you have a long history of TSH behaving a bit unusually/ unexpectedly .
it does clearly react to your dose changes ( well sometimes anyway) as it went up from o. whatever to 2 ish when you lowered levo from 150 to 125 earlier this year. which is what you would expect .
i sympathise , mine is not always entirely rational either. in fact i sometimes think my TSH is 'answering the question before last ' ( if you remember that Two Ronnie's sketch lol )
my gut feeling is that you should put levo back to 125. the fT4 levels were top end but not over .
TSh is part of the picture , not always reliable , often late to the party ,,, but not totally irrelevant ... it has gone up since you lowered dose . ok , high end fT4 is not ideal , but TSH of 4 is not very clever either , so if it was me i would put the levo back to where it was. and leave everything else alone for 3 months.
maybe you don't need the full 12.5mcg T3 ,....yes that's possible , but my gut feeling is that while your TSH is still so high , perhaps now is not the right time to lower T3 dose .
as for the TSH ... i'm starting to wonder if your TSH is perhaps quick to go up and bloody slow to come down ,ie. it goes up like a shot when you lower dose , but is then taking more like 3 months than 6 weeks to get to wherever it's going to end up ?
might be worth bearing in mind how slow it can be to settle down .. it clearly moves when you lower dose , so it's not entirely wrong ,
i've tried to write sensible reply honest ,,, but something about your results means i keep getting lost in my own logic , have another theory , and then realise some of your earlier results disprove my latest theory and have to rewrite my reply again ... so if it make little sense and contradicts itself at every turn ,and comes to no useful conclusion about what to do next , i apologise .
So i can't explain why 2+2 doesn't =4 (and i doubt anyone else can tbh) ....but you do get '10 out of 10' for good record keeping though
Yeah this is what is puzzling me. This time last year I was on a higher dose of levo, feeling much better, training a lot at the gym etc. and my results reflected lower FT3 than now.
When I reduced my levo 6 weeks or so back, that was based on my FT4 being nearly at the top of range and my FT3 also pretty high - which also wasn't reflected in my TSH. But as you say, it's then gone up with the levo reduction. Maybe my body likes a more stable higher level of FT4, although the FT3 is the active part.
I actually thought the symptoms I was getting initially was from too high (for me) FT3, which collated with it being top of range, but obviously my body thinks it needs more.
The last endo review I had was in the middle of the year when I wasn't too bad, so my next review isn't until mid next year - even then i'm not sure what they would say to the current picture because it doesn't make sense. In the past it's been pretty clear if an increase or decrease has been required - but i've never found a stable level for very long....
Yeah I ended up having to keep good records as I was getting fed up in the past of having to explain each time to an NHS endo...
*edit - i've even started to wonder if it is anything to do with low/high SHBG levels or pituitary gland, because nothing makes sense at the moment...
Hey tattybogle just thought i'd follow up on this for general info...
So I had a general male blood test to check a few things, thyroid was included (although I was going to ignore the result obviously), but it did show that my TSH dropped quickly back to around what it previously was, prior to me reducing my levo slightly. You can see that my FT4 is back over range slightly.
I also found out that my SHGB is high and i've got reasonably low testosterone....hhhmmmm
Hi sam , it might be worth a new post (including any symptoms ~ thyroid related or not) to see if anyone knows if high shbg/ low testosterone has a (pituitary etc ?) connection to 'higher than expected' TSH .
i know nowt much about pituitary , or sex hormones . can just about get my head round thyroid hormones.
So pressure in the front of my head, sinus-like, headaches, glassy eyes, bags under my eyes, aching around my temples/eyes, fatigue, blocked nose (that comes and goes through the day), ache at the back of my neck/base of skull - i've had all these symptoms for well over a month or so on a daily basis.
But on the flip side, i'm sitting here now at my computer and my heart rate is sitting at 74bpm at rest, and although my armpits aren't sweating, they feel hot like I would have felt in the past when my TSH has been lower thab 0.75 and my FT3 pretty high within range - if that makes sense. Also body temp is normal at around 36.5c.
I went to my GP weeks ago to see if it was a sinus infection at first and had various bloods taken including my thyroid which showed my FT3 over range due to the appointment being in the afternoon and me taking my meds in the morning.
Previously (a good couple of years ago) if my TSH had reached 4 i'd be feeling a bit rough but would have the scope to increase levo as my FT3 would be low 5s (ish).
The only other thing to note is that my TPOAb has generally sat below 20 all year (range 0-34) but is just under 34 now.
Thanks for the response, I have had very similar symptoms since early 2022. I have recently managed to get an Endo referall to try and get a T3 trail as I am a poor converter. Conversion rate 5.93. Although there is 35 week wait for an appointment. Over range T4 with T3 3.2 (3.1-6.8), TSH 0.02 but this was due to Dr recommending I reduce my T4. Gone back to the 150mcg. My symptoms initially improved but have got worse since. I thought increasing T3 with a T3 trail might help. I have also looked at other causes such a work stress (recently retired), dental infection whilst adjusting Thyroid meds but nothing is really changing my symptoms. There are so many possible symptoms of Hypothyroidism that it is impossible at times to resolve or even understand if they are symptoms of Hypothyroidism. I am now considering whether the covid vaccine could be responsible as my symptoms which started shortly after my first booster. Not sure that I can offer much help. Adjusting doses since early 2022 has not really improved anything. I will hope that I get a T3 trail and that will help.
Yes, I was the same after having the radioactive iodine treatment, my conversion was non-existent and I was getting nowhere with the NHS. Passed around without getting any real answers or improvements. I then came across this forum and did alot of research myself. Found a private endo and got in a better place than I was - but still, having blips along the way.
I've had some strange symptoms in the past that 3 endos haven't been able to confirm if it's thyroid related - the main one being during my time on block and replace (about 18 months), my tonsils shrunk to the smallest they had ever been, I then came off block and replace and felt 'normal' for 2/3 years but my tonsils gradually got bigger and were then always affected when my thyroid levels changed - and post RAI. Also red eyes and ringing in one ear... strange...
But, i'm adamant i've been worse off since having RAI....
I had radiotherapy for Throat cancer which is the basic cause of my Thyroid issues. Still here though. Good luck I hope you get some answers. It was surprising to hear from someone who had virtually the same symptoms as me.
Hypothyroidism is sooo complicated, in my case made worse by Long Covid…but re. your symptoms concerning your head, have a look at website of osteopath Dr.Perrins…he has an exercises / massages of head/ neck ( not body really as boobs get in the way!) designed to unblock lymph system. I’ve been doing head ones ( ) for c.3 weeks and think sinuses getting clearer….
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