Thyroid blood test different then I feel

[Mysadie2]

Have no thyroid or para-thyroid due to cancer in 1972.  Never had a problem taking my 150mg for 38 years. Now they say it's high, TSH 0.01 T4 14.3. So they lowered to 137mg and TSH stayed the same T4 went ton16.7, lowered again to 125mg. Now it is TSH 0.02 and my T4 is 14.2. Not much different.  Feel low even though it says high.  Can there be something wrong with my pituitary gland or anything else causing this.  I felt the best on 150mg.  Slept great, no problems with heart, no high symptoms at all.  Thank you


This discussion is related to Thyroid medication.

[gimel]

If you wil read through this link several times, enough to pick out the most important parts, you will find evidence that TSH suppression frequently occurs when taking adequate doses of thyroid meds to become clinically euthyroid (free of symptoms).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1366242

You can use this info with your doctor to have a discussion about why you need the higher dose to feel well.  Also ask him what the TSH is supposed to show.  Isn't its main value to show your thyroid status?  If so, why use a pituitary hormone that cannot be shown to correlate well with either Free T4 or Free T3, much less correlate well with symptoms, which should be the main concern?  Why not go by the actual, biologically active thyroid hormones, and your symptoms?

[Mysadie2]

Thanks  so much for your reply.  Not sure what the bottom range is for T4 but the max is around 12.5.  This is the total T4.  Since I have no parathyroid I take a prescription  vitamin D, which last checked was around 59.  I felt better when I was on 50,000 units of vitamin D, was on that for 38 years until a doctor told me it was to high, 232, never had any problems at all.  My doctor that got me through the cancer told me to Never get off the high dose, to save my life, gave me a letter to show, but you can't get any doctor to listen.

[Mysadie2]

Thanks  so much for your reply.  Not sure what the bottom range is for T4 but the max is around 12.5.  This is the total T4.  Since I have no parathyroid I take a prescription  vitamin D, which last checked was around 59.  I felt better when I was on 50,000 units of vitamin D, was on that for 38 years until a doctor told me it was to high, 232, never had any problems at all.  My doctor that got me through the cancer told me to Never get off the high dose, to save my life, gave me a letter to show, but you can't get any doctor to listen.

[gimel]

There is a pervasive misunderstanding that a suppressed TSH automatically means you have become hyperthyroid.  I say misunderstand because there are numerous scientific studies that concluded that frequently symptom relief did not occur until the TSH was suppressed enough to allow the biologically active thyroid hormones Free T3 and Free T4 to rise adequately.  Doctors also like to tell us about all the potential problems with a suppressed TSH.  Again, there is not scientific evidence of any great concern with that.  My own TSH has been about .05 or less for well over 30 years, with never a hyper symptom.  And I am not the only member with similar experience.  

So, no it is not a problem with your pituitary gland.  If is a frequent occurrence with hypo patients taking thyroid doses adequate to relieve hypo symptoms.  

Is tht T4 test you listed, a Free T4, or a Total T4?  Also, what is the reference range listed on the lab report?  Have you ever been tested for Free T3?  Ever tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin?  If so, please post those, with ranges also.