help with thyroid

[kelj79]

My mother in law started treatment for underactive thyroids 5 years ago, she was taking 150mcg of levothroxine until about 3 months, this changed when thyroid symptoms started and she became realy unwell we took her to hospital because after a few visits to the doctors and getting no where  her quality of life was getting worse the hospital suggested it could be because her TSH levels were realy low 0.01 and this might be why she felt so unwell,
she had gone from hypo to hyper because she was over medicated.

We went back to her doctors and he took her totaly off the levothryoxine and said he would do more tests in a couple of months

Is this safe to do !!!

Since not taking levothyroxine from jan 12  she started to fell a bit better around the beggining of Feb then yesterday she started to feel realy unwell again but her bloods aren't being done again until the beggining of March.

We have no idea what to do.
Any help would be great

[goolarra]

When you get the results of her bloodwork, you have to get the ranges along with them.  Ranges are specific to the lab so have to come from her own lab report.  It's best to get a printed copy of the lab report to avoid mistakes when people read them to you and because ranges are on the printed report.  Different labs use different ranges, different units of measurement, and this is a global site, so there's no guessing.

The "18" doesn't mean anything without the range.

If your MIL is otherwise in good health, the drop shouldn't be "dangerous" as long as it doesn't go on for too long, but it's sure going to be very uncomfortable for her.  As her levels go down, she is going to keep feeling worse and worse, and then she's going to have to build those levels up again (which can take months), and she won't feel well during that process, either.  All her symptoms are saying she's hypo and needs meds.

"True" readings?  Does he mean unmedicated readings?  This is ridiculous.  If she were feeling fine, then it might be time for "true" readings, but she's not, which indicates she needs the meds.  He should have told her to come in sooner if she started having hypo symptoms.  I just have to stress that the sooner she has bloodwork, the better.  Call her doctor and tell him how sick she's feeling.  He made a big mistake in taking her off meds completely.

[kelj79]

At the hospital I only got a quick look at her results and they only pointed out the tsh level but I don't know if this makes any sense to you, i'm not sure which one the ft3 free or the ft4  were 18 I can't remember which it was , but I am going to ask the doctor for the full results.
If here levels drop to fast can this be dangerous??
She's feeling realy unwell, no energy,  she can't concentrate, restless legs, can't sleep even though she's tired
the doctor said there is no point in doing tests until march as they won't show true readings but are the symptoms a better indication
Do you know the ranges for the ft3 and ft4 so we can get on top of it a bit we have no idea on any of this because until the last few weeks it hasn't been a problem

[goolarra]

In my opinion (not a doctor, etc.) your MIL should never have been taken completely off of levo.  When her TSH got so low, did anyone test her free T3 and free T4?  These are the actual thyroid hormones, and they are much more important than TSH (a pituitary hormone).  It sounds like she was overmedicated, but dose adjustments have to be made in small increments (25 mcg at most) to avoid swings from hyper to hypo.

If I were you, I'd have her labwork done right away.  She must be now getting very hypo since she is on no meds at all and is used to taking 150 mcg.  She will just keep feeling worse and worse as her levels drop.  Be sure they include FT3 and FT4 in the labwork.  

What were her symptoms when her TSH was 0.01?  Are her symptoms different now?