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Can I stop cytomel and take higher synthroid dose?
Hi everyone, I am 55 yrs old and have central hypo. I take dostinex for the pituitary adenoma and 88 mcg of synthroid and 25mcg of cytomel. My levels are in the low range but tsh is very suppressed which is to be expected. I take generic medication but have no health insurance and would like to stop the cytomel since it it costly. I can't stop the dostinex and that is even more money. I also take hrt and can't stop that, so I am hoping I can save some by taking a higher dose of synthroid and no cytomel. Can this be done? I wish the dr. would get me into the upper range. My weight was at 128 but I have gained 10lbs and I am not happy. My hair falls out and I am tired during the afternoon and sleep poorly at night. I seem a little depressed too. Any thoughts?
Is there a way to better absorb? I take it in the AM on an empty stomach. I tried taking twice a day but nothing changed. I also tried just in the afternoon on an empty stomach. Doesn't seem to change anything.
True it is not a low dose, yet your Free T3 remains low. Perhaps you are not absorbing well. At any rate, dosage is irrelevant, only your clinical response matters.
Typos....25 is not a low dose and I do not have any signs of being over medicated! LOL!
From what I read, it seems that 25 mcg of cytomel is not a low does, yet I am still low on my blood tests. I have to heart palps or any sign that I am over medicated. Is that strange?
I'd say that it is very unlikely that taking a much higher dose of T4 would enable you to get off the T3 med. Eliminating the T3 would require somewhere between 100 and 125 mcg of additional T4. I am very pessimistic that your body would adequately convert all that T4 to T3.
I was using a hair and nail vitamin but it didn't help. my nails peel terribly. I believe it contains the b-12 and I take d3 with my calcium. maybe the ferritin would help. I do take the liothyronine but it is still a pinch when you add up the high cost of the generic dostinex and also my hrt. So much for generics!!! So taking a higher dose of synthroid won't take care of getting me off cytomel??
From those results it is easy to see why you would still have hypo symptoms. Both your Free T3 and Free T4 are rock bottom of the range. Since the range is far too broad to be functional for many hypo patients, due to the erroneous way the ranges are established, many hypo patients say that symptom relief for them required Free T3 in the upper part of its range and Free T4 around the middle of its range. So, you need to increase meds as necessary to relieve symptoms.
There are several possibilities for you to consider to decrease your cost of meds. One is to use a generic T3, rather than Cytomel. Perhaps an even better one would be to switch to an NDT type like Armour Thyroid or Nature Throid. A grain (60 mg ) contains about 39 mcg of T4, and 9 mcg of T3. So, a switch to 3 grains would provide about 117 total mcg of T4 and 27 mcg of T3. That would also give you the increase you appear to need. If in later testing you found that you were not adequately converting enough of the increased T4 to T3, then a small dose of T3 could be added as necessary to raise your Free T3 adequately. Overall that should give you the needed increase in med and also a lower cost. Sorry, I can't give you an estimate of lower cost, but you can ask your pharmacist about that and then discuss with your doctor to get approval for the switch.
One more thought is that hair loss can sometimes be associated with low ferritin (iron). Since hypo patients frequently find they are too low in Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, I suggest that you should also have those tested. Vitamin D should be around the middle of its range and B12 in the upper part of its range and ferritin should be around 70-80, for women.
There are several possibilities for you to consider to decrease your cost of meds. One is to use a generic T3, rather than Cytomel. Perhaps an even better one would be to switch to an NDT type like Armour Thyroid or Nature Throid. A grain (60 mg ) contains about 39 mcg of T4, and 9 mcg of T3. So, a switch to 3 grains would provide about 117 total mcg of T4 and 27 mcg of T3. That would also give you the increase you appear to need. If in later testing you found that you were not adequately converting enough of the increased T4 to T3, then a small dose of T3 could be added as necessary to raise your Free T3 adequately. Overall that should give you the needed increase in med and also a lower cost. Sorry, I can't give you an estimate of lower cost, but you can ask your pharmacist about that and then discuss with your doctor to get approval for the switch.
One more thought is that hair loss can sometimes be associated with low ferritin (iron). Since hypo patients frequently find they are too low in Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, I suggest that you should also have those tested. Vitamin D should be around the middle of its range and B12 in the upper part of its range and ferritin should be around 70-80, for women.
Tsh-.006 range - .270-4.200
Free t4-.96 range - .93-1.70
Free t3-1.9 range - .1.8-4.6
Free t4-.96 range - .93-1.70
Free t3-1.9 range - .1.8-4.6
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