My hair also fell out quickly and excessively while my thyroid levels were within range. I tried "biosil " from the vitamin shoppe for six months. My hair stopped falling and began growing again. I was able to throw my wigs away. I stopped taking biosil and within two months my hair started falling again. I went back to the vitamin shoppe for more biosil and once again my hair stopped falling and began growing again. Now I make sure I keep two bottles on hair so I don't run out. I hope this helps.

That's a lot of changes. The stress the body goes through from the surgery, along with any drugs they used, plus the dramatic change in girlie hormones.

Thyroid hormone and estrogen compete for the same binding sites, so I would expect the need for dose changes now, until it all stabilizes.

FT4 and FT3 just within the reference range is not good enough. Most of us will be either too hyper or too hypo within the reference range. So get paper copies of the lab results, and we can help you figure out what's going on. Most likely a small tweak of your dose of MMI will be a huge help. 10 mg is a pretty big dose to be on considering you started in April.

Thank you Pam and Pam! I will look into Biosil. My multivitamin has 500mcg biotin but I think I could take more.
Here are my labs let me know what you think please:
Pre medication: FT3 20.4 (2.2-4.0)
FT4 3.3. (0.8-1.5)
TSH. .007 (.35-5.0)
Endo prescribed 30 mcg but I took 20mg Methimazole
June 8. FT3. 5.8
FT4. 1.4
TSH. .007
Went to 15mcg Methimazole
July 20. FT3. 2.7
FT4. 0.8
TSH. .007
Went to 10 mcg
Hysterectomy August 20
Sept 12. FT3. 3.9
FT4. 1.1
TSH. .010
Endo says stay on 10 mcg
I see her end of November.
Thank you for your help!

It sounds like you're on the right track with taking less MMI to help the FT4 come back up a little. Whether or not taking the 10 mg is fine, who knows? Labbing every four to six weeks might be a great idea, with maybe getting labs done the last week of October would help to see if on track with things.

Would it be possible to try to get that FT3 done every time to see how it's going for you?

Hopefully the multivitamin you take does not have Iodine in it. If it does, it'll make it more difficult to keep thyroid nice and steady. We get enough Iodine in our diet without needing to take a multi with high doses on top of that.

Don't worry about the TSH numbers since it will be skewed by the thyroid antibodies.

{{{hugs}}}

Oh, we did that didn't we.. two Pams. LOL

I see exactly here the hair loss started.July 20th. Your FT4 started bottoming out. FT4. 0.8 (0.8-1.5) This was a BIG change from June 8. FT4. 1.4 .

I went through this cycle a couple times, so I can tell you the hair loss has a slight delay starting and takes awhile going through the process of getting back to normal.

With the low test being July 20th, I would expect the hair loss to start about Sept 3rd. Next you need to get back to better thyroid levels for you, to start the process of healing. You then had the extra stress on the body of the surgery.

Starting when you arrive at normal for you thyroid levels, it takes three months for the whole falling out / growing new hair process to stabilize. If we were to start counting at about Sept first, to keep it simple, that puts you at no more hair all over the house and pretty new hairs all over you head on about December 1st. Hey... if you can keep your thyroid levels reasonably steady, that means you'll look good in the Christmas pictures. :)
More importantly you will feel so much better and the holidays can be fun, instead of ugg..more extra work.

I did have other small swings in thyroid levels, with resulting hair loss problems, but those were never so dramatic. .

Thanks for adding the labs with enough history this is easy to figure out, and including the reference range.

Your current levels don't look too bad. It seems your FT3 is being a little brat. If this continues and you develop hypo symptoms with a lower FT4, some folks find adding a small dose of Propranolol ( the beta blocker) holds the FT3 down a little better, allowing the MMI dose to be lowered and the FT4 to come up a bit. but I'm not seeing that now, from what your saying. Your FT3 will most likely settle now that all this stress is over.

Looks like you have a pretty good handle on working with the lab results. Good job ! Now it will be interesting to see how things chance, or don't change with the new female hormone levels.

And from a post menopause woman, I say, Welcome to no more monthly issues. :) It's so nice !

p.s.
What's the date of the first pre-medication lab results ?

Thanks

Oh now I see all those Free T3. It definitely looks like when the FT4 dips too low, the FT3 rises. Hopefully you won't be yo yoing up and down too much.

{{{hugs}}}

Thank you so much for your encouraging upbeat words! It has been a very stressful couple months. One issue after another.
The first date of labs was April 24, but I didn't start meds til May.
I guess what you are saying is to stick with the 10mcg methimazole and maybe recheck in October? The endo wanted me to reduce the atenolol to every other day but my gp and I decided to stay on every day through the surgery. Next week I get my blood pressure checked and may change then if it's good.
I think what you are also saying is my hair loss should slow down as the FT 4 came up and there is a delay. That is great to know, I was wondering if I would go bald! Very concerning.
Mmz, my vitamin does have potassium iodide! Thanks for saying so, I will look for biotin elsewhere now.
thank you again for your prompt help.

Good guess on the iodine in the vitamin Linda !

For most people in developed nations, it is very difficult to not get enough iodine in their diet alone, especially now that our food is not entirely local. That takes care of places where the soil is deficient. There are still third world countries where lack of iodine is a huge problem, and pregnant mothers are advised to take pre-natal vitamins with iodine, so the developing fetus can develop properly.

Our ATDs work largely by blocking iodine absorption , thus slowing production of excess thyroid hormone. Adding iodine with iodine containing vitamins or high iodine foods ( seafood / kelp, etc for example) creates a need for a higher dose of the ATD.

Stress happens, and there's no avoiding it. We can only work towards better ways to get through it. It seems to me, with your steady levels..your doing a great job of managing difficult circumstances .

It's not unusual for us to once in awhile react to stress.... allergies, holiday stress, the flu or a flu shot, medical problems...and temporary need a slightly higher dose of our ATDs. If your surgery had cased a need to slightly raise the MMI for a short time, that would have been perfectly okay, but you got through it just fine.

Plus, your not terribly low on thyroid hormone, which prevents healing. This is all good. :)

Now that we have more pieces of the story, the 10 mg makes perfect sense. And the same for your FT3 being up there towards the top. Only a little more time will tell for sure.

I bet now as you heal from the surgery, plus find a vitamin without iodine, the next labs will show it's time to drop down on the dose.

Also, the hair problem.

I boo-hooed over and over to my bald endo. He just didn't understand. LOL

It will grow back, just never as soon as we want it too. Your hair loss destiny was set as soon as you made that flying leap down to hypo territory. So now..out with the bad, old ,damaged hair, and in time, new healthier hair.

I highly recommend cute hats and excellent drain screens.

Yes I know how you feel I also have graves disease and and had a total hysterectomy started to lose my hair but it will get better over time, hang in there. Biotin does really work, also you can try something Tail and Mane shampoo.

Yes I know how you feel I also have graves disease and and had a total hysterectomy started to lose my hair but it will get better over time, hang in there. Biotin does really work, also you can try some Tail and Mane shampoo.

thank you island girl, I will def look into Biotin and Tail and Mane shampoo. Does Biotin come in its own pill form? I sure am tired of the "fallout". Praying it ends soon.