TSH 3.69 & low FT4, why?

[fragrance850]

Hi, all.

(-)I take 75 mcg of T4 for about 1 month, and have hormones tested. (The basal temp I tested is 36.64 C using Barnes Temperature Test method) Results are following:

FT3 3.25 (2.5-3.9)
FT4 0.74 (0.58-1.64)
TSH 3.69 (0.34-5.60)

For the abnormal percentage of FT4, I suspect that could be due to 3 reasons,

1. I walked for several minutes and travelled on bus for an hour to have blood work, and I had fasted T4 for 25 hours before testing. I used up the T4 in my body.

2. The bioavailability of T4 I am taking is not very good, perhaps I could try other brands to keep the T4 level longer in the blood.

3. I was overmedicated for 3 weeks, and then off the medicine for 2 weeks. But this period was 8 weeks ago, I have been re-built the hormone for another 7 weeks. Could it be one of the reason?

Confused at what caused my T4 is so low, because it was almost at the same percentage of T3 since medicated except for the recent two blood works.

(=)Following is the sex hormones I have tested through blood, not sure about the DHEAS will reveal the adrenal fatigue or not?

DHEAS 332.2 (18-391)
PRL 8.67 (3.34-26.71)
E2 53.00 (24-114)
Testo 0.48 (0.40-0.80)
FSH 7.25 (3.85-8.78)
hLH 4.45(2.12-10.9)

Thanks very much, Any comments are appreciated!

[laura1967]

No, cortisol is the one that goes all over the place with stress.
With hypo we can also get very irritated at times as well.  lol  Your not alone. :)

[fragrance850]

Hi, laura, thanks for your reply :-)

I have to add something. Before I took the blood test, I argued with the nurses due to the missed schedule they had made. I ever suspected that would affect my blood work especially the DHEAS and make it inaccurate for reference. Would it rise when emotion swings? Because I was irritated at that time (You know I am still easy to irritate for small things in daily life perhaps because I am still undermedicated with T4 hormone.)

[laura1967]

My endo use to have me alternate dosages at times....75 mcg every other day and 88mcg on the others. As long as you get that TSH down....whatever works right? Just remember that it takes 6 weeks not 4 to get true results. Hang in there...it is definately not a quick fix it takes patience and time.
PS- DHEA is only one of the hormones made by the adrenals...the other is cortisol. You need to have cortisol done as well. Your dhea level is very good, so that is not the fatigue issue.

[fragrance850]

I was on 75 mcg for 4 weeks, and got this result. I now up the dose to 81.25 mcg of LT4, but don't know if the incremental dose is too small or not, 12.5 mcg will be easier to make.

[laura1967]

It looks like you are still undermedicated. If you have Hashimoto's, your TSH should be supressed to between a .50-1.0. Otherwise most feel best between 1.0-2.0 approx. So, you have a little ways to go yet....plus it takes a full 6 weeks on one dosage to get a true reading. 4 weeks on synthetic is too soon to test. What dosage were you at before you were lowered this time?

[fragrance850]

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