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Hypo - new labs with high T3 - opinions?
I was hypo and felt horrible for months. Currently on 120mg Armour and feeling MUCH better overall, but still have some symptoms including weight gain. Is it safe to increase the dosage of Armour? My Dr felt it was ok as the T3 was close to the range and says T3 can fluctuate quite a bit. The blood was drawn just about 2 hours after taking my 120 mg Armour.
Current labs - 45 days on Armour
TSH .39
Reference .36 - 3.74
Free T3 4.6
Reference 1.8 - 4.2
Free T4 .71
Reference .6 - 1.5
History
First labs Dec
TSH 1.82
Reference .35 - 4.94
Free T3 2.79
Reference 1.71 - 3.71
Free T4 .65
Reference .70 - 1.48
30 day retest Jan
TSH 4.77
Reference .4 - 5.5
Free T3 not tested (believe it or not the specialist told me T3 is not important)
Free T4 .9
Reference .70 - 1.8
3rd set 30 days on levothyroxine Feb
TSH 2.26
Reference .4 - 5.5
Free T3 not tested (again I was told T3 not important so I changed Doctors)
Free T4 .8
Reference .70 - 1.8
Current labs - 45 days on Armour
TSH .39
Reference .36 - 3.74
Free T3 4.6
Reference 1.8 - 4.2
Free T4 .71
Reference .6 - 1.5
History
First labs Dec
TSH 1.82
Reference .35 - 4.94
Free T3 2.79
Reference 1.71 - 3.71
Free T4 .65
Reference .70 - 1.48
30 day retest Jan
TSH 4.77
Reference .4 - 5.5
Free T3 not tested (believe it or not the specialist told me T3 is not important)
Free T4 .9
Reference .70 - 1.8
3rd set 30 days on levothyroxine Feb
TSH 2.26
Reference .4 - 5.5
Free T3 not tested (again I was told T3 not important so I changed Doctors)
Free T4 .8
Reference .70 - 1.8
you have to wait at least 12h after taking your thyroid meds.. because you will do your bloodwork when the meds have a peak in your blood.. = "false" results.. You have plenty of room to up your dose more..in fT4.. especially if you have symptoms.. and YES.. the fT3 is fluctating.. i have that too with my NDT (Acella).. when i up my dose too fast.. the fT3 is high first, aroung 100%.. if i hold my dose the fT3 will drop because your body get used to it.. watch out for labs and symptoms.. go your way, listen to your body
It was always my understanding you should either get blood labs in the morning *before* taking anything with T3 (Armour, NatureThroid, Efra, Cytomel if one does the levo/Cytomel combo like I do) or wait 4 hours (or a bit more) after taking anything with T3 after it hits it's peak as to not skew the FT3 results because it will increase your FT3 while it's still circulating in your system and not show what your actual FT3 level really is. I'm not sure how entirely true this is, but I always do my labs in the a.m. before taking my Cytomel just to make sure any T3 labs I get aren't a result of being temporarily ramped up by taking the T3 med just to be on the safe side.
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I think it's okay to increase your dose. I agree with your doctor...your FT3 was close to range, and it's inflated. Another thing you might consider after your next labs if symptoms persist is adding a little synthetic T4 to your Armour to nudge your FT4 up just a little bit.