Aa
scared
I recently had started treatment on levothyroxine 25mcg.s eleven weeks ago. My tsh at the time was 94. In two weeks it dropped to 32 and the low ft4 was normal again. Every time they try to raise my dose very minimal such as 12.5 or boosting once a week, I get hyper and have to drop back to 25. This is suppose to be a started dose and is affecting me quickly. I am having waves of depression and panic attacks as well. Does anyone have any idea why such a low dose would be working so quickly. I feel like a freak. Everyone takes these high doses and I am on a baby dose that is working fast. Pituitary is fine. What is going on?
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I know you are right. I know this was too soon but just wanted to see what happens when you decrease for a couple weeks. This proved my theaory that staying just on 25 is not enough and that this increase is warranted.so if I go slow and add another 25mcg once a week do you think that will help any?
I swear after I took that increase saturday I felt like my tsh was over 100 but it wasn't so that tells me it is the body adjusting... also, what do you think about my dizzy situation?
I swear after I took that increase saturday I felt like my tsh was over 100 but it wasn't so that tells me it is the body adjusting... also, what do you think about my dizzy situation?
I didn't have any anxiety or depression issues when I first started meds, but we hear it from people here all the time. It's a common reaction to starting meds. When I was overmedicated or tried to increase too fast, I felt very antsy...I don't think it was real anxiety...I just felt like I couldn't sit still.
PMs (personal messages) are what we use, rather than email. Just put your cursor over my name, click "send message" in the box and type away.
When the ranges change from lab to lab, you have to figure them out as a percentage of range. I did the math for you. Last labs, your FT3 was 2.5 (1.8-4.6), which is 25% of range. This time, FT3 was 2.7 (2.2-4.0), and that's 28% of range. So, your FT3 actually went up a little.
FT4 was 1.3 (0.7-1.8) and is now 1.06 (0.76-1.46). It went down from 55% to 43%.
Remember, FT3 is most closely related to symptoms, and that actually went up a little.
I really don't think we can tell a lot yet...except we do know your labs haven't tanked.
If you listen to nothing else I say, please listen to this: You are going to drive yourself absolutely crazy if you keep analyzing your symptoms on a day-to-day basis and keep having lab work every two weeks. This disease just doesn't work that way. You have to look at symptoms and how they improve over a much longer period of time than a day. You increase your meds, stay on the increase for 4 weeks, then have labs done. At that point, your FT4 level is stable enough to base meds adjusttments on. You keep doing that until your symptoms go away. There is no way around it. I know it's hard at first, but you have to have patience, patience and more patience.
PMs (personal messages) are what we use, rather than email. Just put your cursor over my name, click "send message" in the box and type away.
When the ranges change from lab to lab, you have to figure them out as a percentage of range. I did the math for you. Last labs, your FT3 was 2.5 (1.8-4.6), which is 25% of range. This time, FT3 was 2.7 (2.2-4.0), and that's 28% of range. So, your FT3 actually went up a little.
FT4 was 1.3 (0.7-1.8) and is now 1.06 (0.76-1.46). It went down from 55% to 43%.
Remember, FT3 is most closely related to symptoms, and that actually went up a little.
I really don't think we can tell a lot yet...except we do know your labs haven't tanked.
If you listen to nothing else I say, please listen to this: You are going to drive yourself absolutely crazy if you keep analyzing your symptoms on a day-to-day basis and keep having lab work every two weeks. This disease just doesn't work that way. You have to look at symptoms and how they improve over a much longer period of time than a day. You increase your meds, stay on the increase for 4 weeks, then have labs done. At that point, your FT4 level is stable enough to base meds adjusttments on. You keep doing that until your symptoms go away. There is no way around it. I know it's hard at first, but you have to have patience, patience and more patience.
STAT got the labs back. Now remember this is only two weeks after I reduced the dose. I am a little confused because it is a different hospital and different lab values than the other. Here it goes though. tsh still hanging at 17.90. That one I got, Free t3 2.7 lab ranges 2.2- 4.0 I think this is lower which is not good... Can you figure it out from the other ranges I gave you above? Free t41.06 lab ranges 0.76- 1.46. I think that one is doing good...............
How do I email someone such as you on this board?
Thanks,
Mary
Thanks,
Mary
i know this is wierd but I asked my primary to draw labs today. I know I have to wait six weeks since I just started an increase, but It has been two weeks since I lowered my dose and mentally it helps to know where I am at.. She drew a tsh, free t3 and free t4. After two weeks of a drug decrease, whould this be able to give us some indication of what is going on?
I wanted to ask did you have any anxiety or depression issues in the first several months when you started treatment?
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Your pituitary controls your thyroid. It does that by producing TSH, which is nothing but a messenger from your pituitary to your thyroid telling your thyroid that your FT3 and FT4 levels are too low.
Someone might correct me here, but low thyroid hormones are treated the same way regardless of WHY the levels are low. They're treated with replacement hormones.
So, when your TSH is high, it's because your pituitary keeps "calling" your thyroid and asking it for more hormone. If your FT4 is low, it's because your thyroid is diseased or dysfunctional and CAN'T produce enough hormone to keep your pituitary happy.
However, there are a number of things that can go wrong in that process, some of which do not show up in blood work. Sometimes the pituitary misjudges blood thyroid hormone levels and doesn't send out enough TSH. If the thyroid doesn't get TSH, it can't produce hormones. This isn't your problem, I'm just giving you an example. This is characterized by both low TSH AND low FT4.
Another thing that can happen is that your pituitary misjudges FT3 and FT4 levels and thinks there isn't enough, when, in fact, there is. In that case, your TSH will remain high even though your FT3 and FT4 levels are fine (and you are symptom free). This is called pituitary resistance to thyroid hormone (PRTH). I have that, and my TSH stays around 20.0 all the time even though I feel well. My doctors just about killed me trying to get my TSH to go down, which it won't. This is characterized by high TSH AND normal to high FT4.
So, you are early in treatment. It's hard to draw any conclusions at this point. However, I see myself in what you've posted. I struggled through every increase. You have to give it all some time to stabilize. Your FT4 at 1.3 (0.7-1.8) looks vey good right now. FT3 is still a little low, but many of us found that it took FT3 a while to stabilize and that it kept rising even after FT4 was stable for a while. With you FT4 just above midrange, I'd expect your TSH to have gotten closer to "normal" than it is. Once again, though, it's early, and it may just not have "caught yup" yet.