It's been awhile, but I've been taking 12.5 mcg every other day and feeling OK. I'm thinking of adding another half tablet during the week. Wish me luck. I also have been reading about thyroid and the endocrine system. I wanted to run something by you "experts". The book said that when someone is super sensitive to even low doses of thyroid meds., sometimes it's because the adrenals aren't functioning well. Too little or much cortisol can be the problem. Does any of this sound familiar?
Nah....I bluff my way through life lol (joke).
But good to know at least YOU read my posts ....I may have high TSH and theres nothing between both ears according to the brain scan (no brain lol) but I still know my thyroid stuff and some medical stuff lol.
Isnt it funny how we give people advice then dont follow our own and put it on hold for a few months? lol
I couldve had this pit. gland out 3 months ago but...sat on it.
Aww well....chit happens :o)
too funny.... you got alot on your mind Deb... still you have excellence in your posts!
oops..meant goolarra..soz goolarra :o)
did Tamra post here? - I must have missed it.
Yes - the TSH can swing all over the place. It is related to stress levels amoungst other things - sometimes diet and supplement related too.
FT3 - or free T3 is the same very up and down... The FT4 - or free T4 is the hormone you find that is more consistant in many cases but the lab has very small bullet points of change so on an average on the reference could be .8-1.5 and you may test at a 1.2 one time - then a while later test as a 1.3. It doesn't look big - but is certainly is a big change in that conversion hormone.
on the FT3 test that has more room and increases are quite noticable on lab work. again the hormones dip and rise often.
Tamra is right.
I can take an extra 12.5mcg WEEKLY and go med induced hyper.
It all depends on your sensitivity to the meds and your body breaking the T4 med down (converting).
My TSH has been at 7.0 before and then 2 weeks later down to 2.3 so yes , it is possible for it to fluctuate like that even on low doses of meds.
TSH can vary considerably even intraday, which is why they recommend having blood drawn and tested at about the same time every time you have labwork. 12.5 mcg every other day is a very low dose, but how it affects you will depend on how far from your personal reference range your FT3 and FT4 were before starting. TSH is a very poor diagnostic for the very reason you cite. Meds decisions should be made on the basis of FT3 and FT4.
About a year ago, I had been doing fine on 75 mcg levo. My new (at the time) endo wanted to nudge me up a bit in the range. He suggested 88 mcg. I'm very sensitive to increases, so I said "no, how about 81.5 (75/88 alternation)". He agreed. Within a couple of weeks, that extra 6.5 mcg per day had put me over the edge into hyper. I know you're just starting out, but small adjustments can have big effects if you're close to where you need to be.
Do you have FT3 and FT4 results and ranges?