is TSH too low?

[blondee028]

Got my results today its been 6 weeks on the new medication..Yes cytomel lowers your cholesterol .  Now remember my cholesterol was 255, I have not changed my diet. Total cholesterol 224  range 100-199
triglycerides 76 before they were 88 range 0-149
FT3 2.9 before 2.4 range 2.0-4.4
FT4 1.58 before 1.44 range 0.82-1.77
TSH 0.090 low before 0.424 range 0.450-4.500
my question is should I lower the levothroxine to 75 and increase cytomel to 2 5mcg a day.  The reason I am wondering if I should lower levo from 88 to 75 is because of severely low tsh or does it matter?

[Barb135]

Yes, the next dose down is 75 mcg.  It's recommended to decrease T4 med by 25 mcg for every 5 mcg of T3 added, but we often find that's too much of a drop.

[blondee028]

I guess the next lower dose would be 75 mcg levothroxine am I right?

[Barb135]

I think you need to decrease your levo, whether you increase the cytomel or not because it's higher in the range than it should be.  As I noted it's at 80% and most of feel best with it at around 50%.  

You do have plenty of room to increase the cytomel, too.  Your T3 is only at 37.5% of its range and most of us feel best with it in the upper half to upper third of its range.

If you add more cytomel, you should split it into multiple doses - most of have better luck taking T3 med in 2 doses... for instance I'm on 100 mcg of Levoxyl and 10 mcg generic T3, so I take my Levoxyl and 5 mcg of T3 when I get up in the morning, then I take the 5 mcg T3, when I eat lunch.  Unlike T4 meds, cytomel doesn't have to be taken on an empty stomach or away from foods.

I'm not sure what stories you've heard about TSH - I know there are people who really think they can "feel" their TSH, but they can't.  It's the thyroid hormones they're feeling.

If your hypo symptoms are gone (shortness of breath can actually be a hypo symptom), that means you're very close to being optimal.  All you need now is tweaking.

Hashimoto's has a tendency to throw our bodies into turmoil.

[blondee028]

I wasn't fulling awake when I started to answer you..needed more coffee.  I don't think I have any hypo symptoms.  My weight is 110 I am 5'4'' so its not a weight thing...Thats why I never really understood the cholesterol thing.  It was always normal till the hashimotos kicked in then my whole body went wacko.

[blondee028]

5mcg cytomel taking it all at once about 9am two hours after levo

[blondee028]

I am on 5 mcg of cytomel and it seems to be working on the cholesterol quite well considering no diet change. I want to add another 2.5 but I think I would need to lower my levothrixine from 88 to 75. ( Just to tweak it)  Hopefully that might be just the boost I need to get cholesterol normal. My vitamin d level is 81.2  range 30-100 so I know thats good. I have felt pretty good, yesterday I got a little short of breath for the first time. I am finally sleeping great but I have read stories about the TSH. I know it's  irrelevant but for some reason I always panic when I see it down to nothing. I am finally growing my hair back and I don't want it to  break off and fall out again. I put a call out to my doctor and I know they have the results but no one seems to be calling me back.. i get more answers here.

[Barb135]

TSH is a diagnostic tool, at best and for most of us it becomes irrelevant once we get on thyroid meds, so I wouldn't lower my levo dosage because of that, but you might consider lowering it, simply because it's quite high in the range - 80%, whereas rule of thumb is for FT4 to be approximately 50% of the range.

TSH neither causes, nor alleviates symptoms.

How much cytomel are you on, now and how are you taking it?

Your cholesterol is coming down nicely, but it's probably not just the cytomel that's affecting it.  I wish mine reacted that well.

Do you still have symptoms of being hypo, other than the cholesterol?