In diagnosing and treating a hypothyroid patient Symptoms are far more important than blood test results. The whole objective of treatment is to get your thyroid hormone levels high enough to relieve hypo symptoms, but not getting your FT4 and FT3 levels high enough to cause hyper symptoms. That "sweet spot" between hypo and hyper is called euthyroidism. That is where you want to be. So please tell us about all symptoms that you still have.
Also, did you take your thyroid med in the morning before the blood draw for those tests?
The same questions regarding med dosage and blood draw, plus symptoms, apply to your friend. Looking only at her test results, her FT4 is at 34% of its range, and her FT3 is only at 21% of its range, which are somewhat lower than many of us have found to be needed for hypo symptom relief. You know well what her doctor is like, so why not send her on to a good thyroid doctor?
If your friend is willing to forego insurance coverage, there may be several places for her to go for diagnosis and treatment.
What about the questions I had for you?
Renkat:
I think you are very close to good, if not already there with your thyroid meds and you should be very cautious about increasing. The following are the reasons that I say that.
1. Your FT3, which is the most important hormone, is at 63% of the reference range, which I think is a good place. The FT4 looks lowish, but like I said, it is FT3 that is most important. Your RT3 is not high, which is good.
2. You say you have lost 10 pounds. To me that is quite significant because it indicates that your metabolism has increased, which is what the thyroid hormone is supposed to do.
3. You do not seem to have a long list of hypothyroid symptoms now, like you have had in the past. You need to be the judge of this - you have definitely been hypo in the past - you know what it feels like to be hypo - do you feel a lot better now?
If it was me I'd stick at 120 mg NP for now and see how you feel, and see what happens on the next labs. In the meantime try hard to resolve any other problem that you may have.
If you do increase, you should add the smallest amount possible. The smallest NP Thyroid pill size is 15 mg. so you could go from 120 to 135 mg.
120 mg NP contains 76 mcg T4 and 18 mcg T3
135 mg NP contains 86 mcg T4 and 20 mcg T3
Symptoms are more important than test results when trying to titrate med dosage. So I would still like to know your answers to the previous questions.
So please tell us about all symptoms that you still have.
Also, did you take your thyroid med in the morning before the blood draw for those tests? IF so what time was it for each?
It is not clear that you are at your "sweet spot" quite yet, but I have no issue with Telus's recommendation that you either hold off on any increase for a while and see how you feel, or consider only a small increase.
What was your latest test result for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin? Are you currently supplementing for any of those? If so, how much daily?
All 3 of those are important for you. At first opportunity you need to get all three tested to determine your levels. D should be at least 50 ng/mL, B12 in the upper end of the range, and ferritin should be at least 100.
D3 is a good supplement, you just need to make sure of your level. B12 is important to help prevent fatigue. Ferritin is a storage form of iron that is readily available for use by your body. An excellent supplement for iron is Vitron C, with which each tablet contains 65 mg of iron and some Vitamin C to help with absorption and help avoid stomach distress from the iron.
Strange, listing on the forum list shows the last entry to be July 8. However the post above shows RenKat last response as July 2nd.
Why am I missing or seem to be missing posts? This is not the only thread on the thyroid disorder page and other pages that I have experienced this problem.
Is anyone else having this issue?