Hypothyroid

[juell]

I am in my mid thirties and have hypothyroid decease.  9 weeks ago my doctor raised my medication from 0.075 to 0.150, which is double my usual dose. She stated my thyroid was crashing. I just got retested and my levels have not stabled. what is the highest dose of medication normally given to patients and is there anything I can do to help gain control.

[azqtpies]

have they tested your thyroid antibodies?

[juell]

I don't know.  I usually go for blood work every year. This time when I went, I told her something wasn't right.  I didn't feel good at all.  Apparently my blood test came back extremely low.  She said it was almost as if my thyroid was crashing.  At that point she doubled my meds to gain control.  When I went back last week, her nurse told me that my levels are still low.  My doc is away this week so I need to wait til she is back next week to know more. All I do know, is I shouldn't be sleeping 12 hours a day and be dragging my body to work like I am. Not to mention the other side effects I'm feeling. I need someone..........doctor.......personal advice........something to help give me a step to take. I can't live like this.

[juell]

My doctors nurse called to tell me my T4 level was 19, and they are scheduling me another appointment in 2 weeks. I don't understand the numbers.  I looked online but can't find a website that I can understand or that has information on levels.

[Barb135]

I can't answer your questions specifically either, but I know there are others that can; however, I'm sure they are going to ask what tests were run, along with results and ranges.  AR-10 is good with that - maybe he'll catch your post later on and chime in.  

[blksapphire]

Did they just test for your TSH and T4?
If you have a copy of all your results, post them here.
Is this the first set of tests and if not post the prveious numbers as well.
To understand what is going on, all numbers are needed.

[Cynnieb4]

That is a big jump. I would have your levels checked asap. You could be dragging if your having to much medication too.

[juell]

Unfortunately I cannot get in to see my doctor until the end of this month. Im not sure what she tested for or what the results were. Until now, i've never concerned myself with any of it. She has always done the blood work and told me good news. This is the first time i've dealt with this. I went to the emergency room last nite and was told that im "depressed" and I am having anxiety attacks.  The basically told me I am nuts and refused to do any tests to do with my thyroid. When I go to see my doctor I am planning to ask for the past two test results so I can see the fluctuation that caused her to raise my meds so drastically. Until then, I am very nervous. All I do is sleep, and when I am awake, I feel as if my heart is going to explode from the palpations.

[juell]

TEST RESULTS!!!  Ok i'm not sure i really understand this, but i will post some results.  if i'm missing any please let me know.

January 2008
TSH 3.37

November 2008
TSH 10.29
Free T4 15
Free Triiodothyronine???  4.0

January 2009
TSH 0.05
Free T4 19

I don't understand what these mean.  Can someone help clarify??

[AR-10]

It would help a lot if you could post the lab limts on the report. The ranges vary on the T4 and T3 tests, and a result without the range included is hard to comment on.

The Free Triiodothyronine is a Free T3 test.

Your TSH was fairly high in November. It showed that your dose of medication was not high enough. Doubling it was a little overboard.

Your TSH now shows that you are slightly overmedicated. Fairly hyper, actually.

Your doctor should correct your dosage, maybe by lowering it to 100mcg or something like that.

That's just a bunch of guesses based on your TSH. The Free T4 and Free T3 tests may say different.

Your TSH should be somewhere between 0.8 and 1.8, although some people feel better a little higher or lower. But 0.05 is too low.

[juell]

I'm not sure what "lab limits" are, but i will try to guess.  My test pages are 2 and 3 pages long, with a bunch of results and a test information section.  I'm hoping this test information is the limits your talking about.  I'm so confused.  It says that FreeT4 is added when TSH is >10.0 MIU/L.
TSH says MIU/L = 0.35-5.00
Free T4 says PMOL/L = 9-23
Free T3 says PMOL/L = 3.5-6.5