General Thyroid/Hashi's Question

[coldthyroid]

I have diagnosed Hashi's.  I'm a male 44 years old.  Have had this condition about 4 years.  Have taking Synthroid or the generic brand since.  I'm on 112mcg dosage.  Today got my lab results.
TSH = 2.93 (.4-4.5)
FT3 = 2.5 (2.3-4.2)
FT4 = .89 (0.8-1.8)

I've been to Mayo several times.  My head is in a fog.  My ears ring and I'm a bit dizzy.  They tell me it has nothing to do with my thyroid.  Seems back around Thanksgiving I started feeling this way.  Some days are better than others.  I take my meds at 9:00PM each night on empty stomach.  I used to take in the morning but researched that it might be better to switch to evenings so I did.  5 weeks ago my TSH was 5.62 at Mayo Clinic.  I'm comptemplating on switching to Armour.  Any thoughts?  I know in my mind and heart, the way I am feeling is because of my thyroid.  

[coldthyroid]

Yes, sorry, but I do not have them.  I live in Alaska, and we just don't have the greatest docs up here.  Meaning, they only tested TSH, nothing else.  So, over my own learning, anytime I get labs, I get Ft3, FT4, and TSH.  If I didn't mention it in an earlier post, I do have diagnosed known Hashi's.  Never knew I had it.  But apparently I do.  I have the antibodies.  Don't know if that is the cause of a lot of my symptoms.  I truly feel I'm a bit undermedicated too.  I have the Armour now, but am going to hold off on taking it for a while...if ever.  I'd rather not change my meds if I don't have too.  

[goolarra]

"But I don't want to go to far."  Absolutely, move very slowly.  When I was increasing when first on meds, I think I hit every split and/or combination of tablets I could come up with to get very small increases.  

What you really have to start looking at is your FT3 and FT4 rather than your TSH.  What were those last summer when you had the hyper symptoms?  That might be a real clue to what's going on now.  If you were on 175 then, it could be really interesting to see how your FT3 and FT4 balanced out on that.

The key to adjusting thyroid meds is to do it slowly.  Cutting from 175 to 88 is way too big a cut.  25 mcg at a time at most...less if you tend to be very sensitive to meds in general.

There's a big difference between depression caused by chemical imbalance in the brain and depression for a reason.  We all get depressed, and certainly not feeling well for a long time will do that to you.  Not long ago, I was sitting in my doctor.s exam room waiting for him to come in.  There was a poster on the wall, but I'd hung my jacket over the title of the poster and couldn't see that.  The symptoms were thyroid symptoms, pure and simple, and I got really excited about the fact that they were publicizing thyroid symptoms...until I moved my jacket...the poster was for depression.  

If you have labs from last summer, please post them.  

[coldthyroid]

Yeah, I'm beginning to feel that way.  I know I haven't felt normal for like a full year.  I'm doing better it seems each day.  But back around Halloween, maybe just before Thanksgiving, I got really sick.  My head was rocking, ears blaring, massive headaches, fast heartrate, shaky, insomnia, no appetite, rapid weight loss.  I thought something was really wrong with me, like cancer or something.  I felt like a hypochondriac.  I've had to battle through this entirely on my own.  I mean I have support at home but when you don't feel well, and you feel it daily, and your doctors tell you nothing is wrong, you go bananas.  I did.  I had some low times there for about two months.  I am increasing my T4, Synthorid.  I'm on 112s now and I've been taking one half of one of those pills extra, once a week.  I have to say, it is making a difference.  But I don't want to go to far.  This time last summer, I had a lot of these very same symptoms and turned out my TSH was at .03!  I was on 175's at that time.  I started cutting that dosage in half to 88's.  And I took that dosage up until Halloween.  I think  must have become very hypo.  But I sure didn't feel tired....I was complete opposite.  Had doctors prescribing me Ambien, Xanax, Ativan!  Crazy....I knew I didn't have aniexity, was depressed, etc.  If anything I was depressed about my condition.  

[goolarra]

I'd still just increase T4 before either adding T3 or switching to Armour.  With an FT4 level of 9% of range, there's absolutely no indication yet that conversion is even a problem.  T4-meds haven't been given a fighting chance.  Get that FT4 up and see what happens...

[Brucergoldberg]

The endo told him that the ear ringing has nothing to do with his medication or thyroid.  Funny, i was told the same thing as well as 4 other people i know.   Id still add t3 before switching to armour.  

[goolarra]

Doctors get some wild ideas.

Why in the world would someone have noticed the problem.? Thyroid testing is seldom part of regular screening.  When it is, TSH is usually the only thing tested.  The only way to determine conversion is the compare FT4 and FT3 levels.  

But, just for the sake of argument, suppose that's true.  Is the implication that you should continue to feel like crap just because you've had the problem all your life?

Sorry, but your endos are both full of baloney.