confused

I am hypothyroid, menopausal,  with also a mild case of SLE.  I have not been feeling up to par, sluggish, dry skin, weight gain, generally feeling low thyroid.

Recent blood tests show
Free T4 of 1.23 with a .89-1.76  ng/dl range
TSH 2.27  .34 to 4.82 miu/ml range
T3 of 2.31 with a .6-1.81 ng/ml range
Triglycerides of 290
total cholesterol of 211
I take 125 synthroid and 25 cytomel

I feel better when the tsh is .8 or so but I am confused with the high t3 reading.  Other tests point to hypothyroid though.  Any thoughts?

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

The high T3 reading is due to the high dose of cytomel -- usual cytomel doses are 5mcg 2x/day.  Target TSH is 0.5-2.5.