why is my TSH too low when on cytomel

[myalliecat]

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease four years ago.  I have been on and off synthroid and cytomel because my labs are always abnormal and I still have symptoms.

Can you have a false positive thyroid antibody test

my T3 is always low no matter how much synthroid I take - T3 was low before synthroid too
my T3 is only within norm range if I take at least 30mg of cytomel throughout the day

my TSH is always 0.01-0.03 no matter now much synthroid I am on
my T4 level is only normal range on at least .125 mg of synthroid

tried to take just cytomel and no synthroid and my T4 was below norm range
tried to take just synthroid and no cytomel and my T3 levels would not get into norm range

My endorinologist is stumped.  She is trying to ignore my TSH levels since they are always suppressed on synthroid and instead going by my T3 and T4 levels.

If I don't take any cytomel or synthroid my TSH is elevated outside of norm range so my doc seems to think my thyroid is functional.

Any ideas?

[goolarra]

Did they test FREE T3 and FREE T4 as well?  If so, please post with reference ranges (have to come from YOUR lab report).

What was your doctor trying to accomplish by having you take your meds at 3 am?

What symptoms do you have?

400 mcg is a very large dose.  Your TSH is suppressed.  Are you feeling hyper?

[Amdudek]

I'm worried because currently I am on 400 mcg of syntheoid and my lab for TSH was 0.007. They had me take it at 3am with no other meds until 7am, the endo has no idea what do you think?

[stella5349]

Well you could have exhausted your choices on taking Synthroid and Cytomel - yet that mixture should be an endless tweek. There is always room to adjust I would assume.

Would your doctor consider Armour thyroid? It has both T4 and T3 built into the med so a consistant level of both hormones are flowing through the system. You take Armour pretty similiar as your Cytomel. Throughout the day is best - so you are administering both T4 and T3 throughout the day.

Maybe going on something like that will stabilize you better. T4 is a slow release while T3 is pretty much direct in Armour.

That may assist conversion of the T4 off the Armour and stabilize that level while taking the direct T3 may increase the low level you are at now and splitting your dosages of this med may keep things more at an even keel.

What your thoughts on considering Armour thyroid medication?

[myalliecat]

went off meds and my TSH went to 15.8.  I usually wait 6-8 weeks between tests.  My endo is totally stumped but has not tested me for any other autoimmune disorders.  Any ideas?  thanks.

[stella5349]

Anything can happen with a lab report - but to be consistant is unlikely an error has occured.

If what you say is true then I am stumped also. At first I thought Cytomel as a direct T3 was your issue - but seeing you went on and off the med and still had abnormal levels can't be a problem.

How fast are you dosage changing in between labs? You could be testing too soon after a change ... maybe?

What did your endo suggest? Maybe going off meds to see what happens?