Free T4

[Jo_Stafford]

Hi

I have a hypo-thyroid and have just received my blood tests which revealed I have low FT4 (9) ref ranges (11+).  My Endo has increased my T4 medication from 50mg to 75mg - I just want to know if increasing the T4 meds will get my FT4 to an optimal level or do I have problems with uptaking the meds to my cells?   My TSH is 0.8 and my FT3 is also 9 but is over the reference range so he has decreased my T3 from 20mg to 12.5mg split into 2 doses per day.

Many thanks

Jo

[Jo_Stafford]

I have probelms converting T4 into T3 this is why my endo put me on 20mg of T3 and 50mg T4.  I felt absolutely terrible so he changed the dosage to 12.5mg T3 and 75mg T4.   I am going to try taking 5mg x 2 T3 and 75mg T4 like you have advised and get my bloods tested again in a couple of months time.  My endo never explained the T4/T3 ratio but thinking about it now, the 20mg of T3 used to make me shake and I had huge dark circles round my eyes.  

I am really grateful to this site and the support I have had from it's readers.   It makes such a difference to talk to someone about my problems as none of my friends suffer with this disease.

Best wishes

Jo

Jo

[laura1967]

Yes I absolutely agree that you are too high of a dosage of T3 medicine and need more T4 med. Usual dosage of cytomel or T3 med is 5 mcg once or twice a day.
The way he split the dosage, you are actually on more t3 med now.  I would ask to be cut back on T3 and definately increase on the T4 med....you should be mid range on T4 at least.

[Smilerdeb]

The T3 med you are on is causing you the hyper symptoms.....and with taking the T4 med, it is converting to T3 pretty fast.
Have you been on just T4 med alone and no T3 med?
This may be the answer to getting your TSH up a bit and your FT4 up too.
Obviously the T3 med dosage is too high.
He has you on a high dosage in comparison to the T4 med.
usually on a .75mcg of T4 med, you would be on roughly 5mg of T3 med (10mg at most)
Any reason for that?

Food for thought.....

[Jo_Stafford]

Hi.   I live in the UK and I think we use different metrics to other countries.  The reference range for free T4 is (11-35 pmol/L) and mine is at 9.    Thank you for letting me know about the T3 suppressing the TSH levels, that's why it got right down to 0.8 but I still didn't feel well.   Thank goodness my Endo measures my "free" levels or I could have been left feeling unwell and untreated for a long time.

Best wishes

Jo

[laura1967]

Your T3 medication will supress your TSH, so it will look low.
From Quest I have a free t4 reference range of 0.8-1.8....are you sure you had a free t4 test done?
The reference range for free t3 is 230-420.
Could you give us the complete ranges on your lab sheets?