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Latest test results
Free T4 - .9 range .8 - 1.5 ng/dL
TSH - .88 range .35 - 4.00 mcIU/mL
T3 - 89 range 58 - 159 ng/dL
Free T3 Tracer Dialysis - 167 range 210 - 440
Blood drawn on October 15, 2013, 3:00pm; approx 6-8 hrs after morning meds of 112 T4 mcg and 5 mcg T3. Knowing the short half life of T3, knew this could be a problem. As soon as I received FT4, T3, and TSH results, I up'd my T4 .56 and added 5 mcg of T3 at night. I suspected that my T3 would still be very low so did it any way. I am more sick, very tired and experiencing some unusual symtoms; lots of depression (in bed), crying all the time, and quite delirious. Had to demand the Free T3 results today of my doctors office. Received the rest last week. Put in a call to endo for some answers as to why I was under prescribed T3, the RX said 5 mcg daily. Took your advice on splitting that low dose but as you can see, it did next to nothing. August 23, I was hyper/hypo now hypo/hypo. Please send me your thoughts.
Hoping that these results are not indicative of another syndrome called Low T4 syndrome which has nothing to do with Thyroid. Does anyone know about this??
Thanks in advance for your posts on my results.
Best Answer
Oops, I meant Low T3 Syndrome, sorry.
My endo up'd my T3 to 5 mcg BID. Kept my T4 the same, so will have to cut back to former dosage. Its only .56 mcg/weekly but just with that adjustment i went from 1.5 to .9.
I was not aware of such short half life for T3. I'm still learning new things everyday. I get very confused when I have a Rx for T3 and it says take one daily. How can that work? If not for the advice of ths forum, I would have never known to split it. Even splitting doesn't hold levels if they peak at about 4 hours. Doesn't that mean the half life is 8 hours? What about the rest of the day/night?
My symptoms are wacked out. I have been sick for a long time now. Very depressed, hair falling out, dryness is an understatement, dizzy, blurred vision, and irritable. I don't want to do anything; kind of frozen in time. My husband is so concerned that he stopped working (a very early retirement) to care for me. He is so angry at the system; he wants to sue. I am happy that after years, I have managed to get my endo to respond slowly. I have been encouraged by this forum to leave my current insurance carrier and seek an endo that understands what we all are going through. They are right but the last 3 months have been horrific and I dont believe things can move any faster then they are now.
In just a month since my first RX of Cytomel, the price quadrupled! Healthcare is going crazy making it difficult to make a decision on where to go so I figured best to keep pushing my endo and maybe the addition of T3 will change my life for the better as it has for many here.
Thank you so much for your response. I have made many good changes to my health with diet, some forced exercise, and vitamin supplement. Please feel free to continue to comment and advise me. I truly appreciate the connection as I have been very disconnected mentally most recently.
My endo up'd my T3 to 5 mcg BID. Kept my T4 the same, so will have to cut back to former dosage. Its only .56 mcg/weekly but just with that adjustment i went from 1.5 to .9.
I was not aware of such short half life for T3. I'm still learning new things everyday. I get very confused when I have a Rx for T3 and it says take one daily. How can that work? If not for the advice of ths forum, I would have never known to split it. Even splitting doesn't hold levels if they peak at about 4 hours. Doesn't that mean the half life is 8 hours? What about the rest of the day/night?
My symptoms are wacked out. I have been sick for a long time now. Very depressed, hair falling out, dryness is an understatement, dizzy, blurred vision, and irritable. I don't want to do anything; kind of frozen in time. My husband is so concerned that he stopped working (a very early retirement) to care for me. He is so angry at the system; he wants to sue. I am happy that after years, I have managed to get my endo to respond slowly. I have been encouraged by this forum to leave my current insurance carrier and seek an endo that understands what we all are going through. They are right but the last 3 months have been horrific and I dont believe things can move any faster then they are now.
In just a month since my first RX of Cytomel, the price quadrupled! Healthcare is going crazy making it difficult to make a decision on where to go so I figured best to keep pushing my endo and maybe the addition of T3 will change my life for the better as it has for many here.
Thank you so much for your response. I have made many good changes to my health with diet, some forced exercise, and vitamin supplement. Please feel free to continue to comment and advise me. I truly appreciate the connection as I have been very disconnected mentally most recently.
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you never said how your are feeling or what symptoms you are having. But I assume you are still feeling hypo. And if that is the case you may simply be undermedicated.
I have never heard of "low T4 syndrome". But typically a "syndrome" is a made up name for a collecton of symptoms that are otherwise not explained. But I've still never heard of it. And I've never really seen where taking T4 medication didn't raise the FT4 level. Or maybe an unusually low FT4 level may result if your pituitary is messed up and doesn't tell your thyroid to produce hormone. But in either case T4 medication should reflet increasing the FT4 levels.