How long for full recovery?

[gryscle]

Hello,

I have been suffering from muscle pains due to my hypothyroidism, along with some other symptoms, but that's the most severe one. Been suffering for about a year and a half.

My last blood work was (with 100 mg eltroxin):
TSH - 0.21 (range 0.55 - 4.78)
Free T4 - 16.31 (range 10.3 - 19.7)
Free T3 - 5.09 (range 3.5 - 6.5)
Total T3 - 1.2 (range 0.92 - 2.79)

I have been experiencing improvements with the pain about once a month ever since I began taking 100 mg eltroxin (6 months ago). But it is definitely still there. Overall i'd say I improved some 50-60%.

If there is this constant (but painfully slow) improvement, should I just keep waiting?
I'm afraid that it would take forever to disappear, or that i'm supposed to take NDT instead of eltroxin and that's why i'm not recovering. Are these fears unfounded?

Thank you.

[ryanjack08]

Recovering does take some time. I had primary muscle issues like you are describing and it took me 3-6 months on T4 meds to get to a point where I'm comfortable. Be patient and listen to your body. I read all the hype about dessicated and tried that and it did not work as I always have had great T3 levels. I am on 112 mcg of Synhroid and it does help a lot. I'm still not back to where I want to be physically, but it's going to take time. You can read my past posts and see we're in the same boat.

[gryscle]

Ok, thank you. I'll continue waiting as long as there's improvement. I've got to admit, the months long wait is very challenging.

[goolarra]

Okay, so there were a few bumps in the road, so it would probably be worthwhile to give the symptoms a little more time to improve (especially since they have be continuing to do so).  Not too much to hope for at all...as long as you keep seeing some improvement.

I think there's a basis for the notion that the longer you were hypo, the longer it takes to heal.  Those of us who were hypo for a long time piled symptoms on top of symptoms, and all that has to reverse.  Except in extremely rare cases, it's all reversible, but it makes logical sense to me that you recover more quickly from punishing your body for a couple of months than you do punishing it for a couple of years.

It might be time to sit back for a while and see how you feel before making any changes.  Another thing I forgot to mention is that FT3 can continue to go up a bit, even after FT4 level has been stable for quite a while.  As I said, while "I" think your FT3 level is nothing to worry about, there are other respected members of this forum that would disagree with me and advise you that FT3 should be more like 67% of range.  As long as you continue to see improvement, I'd take a wait and see approach.    

[gryscle]

Thanks for the quick reply. I took too much eltroxin (800 mg instead of 700 mg per week) for 2 months, until 2 months ago. So the levels were a bit high. Before that, I took 525 mg per week, which was too low.
But even with the too-high dosage, I was still improving once a month.
So you can say my levels have been adequate for 2-4 months now. Depends on how you judge it.
In any case, I had some improvement with the pain a week ago. Also a month ago. So there's still room for optimism isnt there? It's also encourging to know that i'm converting well enough.

Is there a basis to the notion that the longer you experienced symptoms, the longer it may take to recover?

Thanks again

[goolarra]

Your FT4 is a little on the high side.  It's 64% of range, and the rule of thumb for FT4 is 50%.  FT3 is 53% of range, and the rule here is 50+%.  "I" think both levels are perfectly adequate, but I know there are others who would disagree with me.  Obviously, you convert fairly well, or your FT3 would be much lower.  I don't think you need desiccated, which has a very high T3 content, because your FT3 is, at most, only a "little off".  It could be worthwhile to add in a little (very little) T3 (Cytomel) to see if raising your FT3 level a little would help your symptoms.

If your levels have been good for six months (have they, or have they been improving along the way), I wouldn't expect a lot more symptom relief at this point without changing meds somewhat.