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1139187 tn?1355706647

Free t4 and splitting meds

If free t4  ranges  .8  to 1.8  and you are 1.5  is that on the hyper side?   I'm at 1.4, feeling hypo but if i remember correctly i was hyper on 1.5

also  have you guys heard of someone splitting t4 taking 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night?
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1139187 tn?1355706647
thanks to both of you.   i think the t3 definitely has made me feel better,  and even with the higher results i seem to feel better.

I'm thinking that adding t3 despite my high results will yield more results than adding more t4, do you agree?

also,  I've been dosing the t3 in small amounts around the clock.  I guess this is going to be how life is,  but i notice the crashes aren't as hard, but they are still there.  

also, today my doctor gave me a RT3 lab slip.   good idea or waste of time?  either way ill have it done.  

Thank you for all your help.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
testing variability.

Well first off you were on the same dose, but did you have the blood drawn in similar situation.  That is did you have the blood drawn about the same time of the day?  Was it fasting or did you have similar type of Breakfast etc?  Did you take your T4 prior to the test the same way both times?  etc etc.

We all know that TSH can vary as much as 70% within the day. So you can just throw TSH out in my opinion so the difference between 4.5 and 2.5 means almost nothing.  And even if it did mean anything, most Dr's want the TSH to be between 1 and 2 and at 2.5 it was still exceeding that so called "magic" zone between 1 and 2.

There is some variability in the test themselves.  That is if you ran the tests twice from the same blood draw with separate vials of blood taken within seconds of each other, you would get different results to some degree. I'm not sure what that variability is. But in both the FT4 and FT3 your results taken weeks apart "only" had a 0.2 to 0.6 change over that time.  How much of this difference was related to test variability, time of day, stress you were under, food you ate etc etc.

You report not feeling a surge after trying to take the T3. But you also clearly stated that you felt better!  To heck with the "surge" or some sort of immediate sunlight from heaven and angle singing revelation. What you ultimately care about is how you felt over the better part of the day. And you clearly reported feeling better in the general sense.

I tend to think your best option as Barb stated is to change ONLY one thing. And I personally think that should be the addition of the smallest dose of T3 you can take no less than twice a day.  AND I would suggest that you stay on that protocol for a few weeks before trying anything different.  And then I would not change dosage, I would recommend changing the timing of taking the T3 to see what may work out.  But again each change it is important to make ONLY ONE change and no faster than about every few weeks.  it is the only way to really evaluate what it is doing to you.

Just my thoughts for your consideration.
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
Yes, it's very possible you're still adjusting to the med; you've always been way too impatient, even though we've been telling you for years that it takes time.  Your FT3 is at 47% of the range vs 32% 2 weeks ago.

The high FT4 could have you feeling a bit hyper.  I still think you're going to need a bit of T3, though.

Once again, you're going to have to settle on a dosage(s) and stick with it; don't start changing a bunch of things all at once or you're going to be in big trouble again.
Helpful - 0
1139187 tn?1355706647
this is crazy.   so on june 12 i had the following results on 125 synthroid, felt horrible

ft4    1.4    ranges .8  to 1.8
ft3     2.9   ranges 2.3  to 4.2
tsh  4.1     rages .45  to 4.5

I kept feeling worse and worse and i took my emergency lab slip and had my labs run on june 24  (2 days ago) 12 days later on 125  and got this:

ft4   1.6     ranges  .8  to 1.8
ft3   3.2    ranges 2.3  to 4.2
tsh  2.5

I didnt change anything, in fact this was like 14 weeks 125   whereas the other labs were 12 weeks 125.  only a 2 week difference.   Now the doctor is telling me to CUT down a little.    how could 2 weeks make such a huge difference?  could it be that I'm still adjusting after 14 weeks and maybe thats why i feel overwhelmed with crappyness lately is that i need to CUT not increase?   TMI -  i havent had a solid "you know what"  in a month


Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
Bruce, we all have to experiment and find what works best for us.  You should only EVER make one adjustment at a time... NEVER change both T4 and T3 doses at the same time, because now you won't know which change might change your symptoms.  You have to give each one a chance to work before changing the other and that means more than a few hours or days.

Your surgeon wanting a TSH of 1-2 is clearly thinking of nothing else and if *I* followed her instructions, I'd be off all my meds and sicker than you can imagine.  

Anxiety, agitation, depression are all hypo symptoms due to the low FT3.  You can try taking some of the T3 at night, or wake up in the middle of the night to take a small dose and see if that helps.  Make sure you give each dose enough time to take effect before you take another one and remember, we don't all get that "jolt" every time we take T3, so don't sit there and wait for it, then say the med isn't working when it doesn't come.  But don't forget that we can also cause these symptoms to be worse, simply by worrying about them, too.
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
I guess I didn't say it clearly enough when I said "you won't get that "jolt", but it will build until one day, you won't feel like crap until noon".  

The half life of T3 is approximately a day to a day and a half; some put it up to 2.5 days.

Helpful - 0
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