Sounds good. Are your Free Ts in the 'right' places where you feel great there at too...?

{{{hugs}}} :-)

Both free 3 and 4 are within range. I have the results at work where they faxed them to me. He did overdose me a bit and the one (Free 3 I think) was below the range. He adjusted and that's what I've been on since October of 2010. 5mg in the morning and 5 extra on Wednesday and Sunday night.

You know, yesterday morning I couldnt remember if I took my 1/2 pill. I felt fine. Slept fine. I just wonder what would happen if I chucked them all and just took the Metropolol

Also - Won't the beta blocker bring down my Free T3?
All my liver stuff is way within range. I think one was 18 on a 0 - 40 scale. The other one was at a 9 with almost the same range. Does that sound right? Asgot or al- something. AST?
Thanks for your reply!

You will want to keep the Free T3 at mid ranges, at least. Yes, the Metoprolol will lower the FT3 down.

Otherwise everything sounds great for you.

{{{hugs}}} :-)

I'm having blood work again in July. I'll make sure I check the box for Free T3 which the Endo never seems to do.
If the beta blocker brings the T3 down, how do I handle this? I'm not going to self medicate with the methimazole. I have another appointment with him in September. I have a feeling he'll say TSH is fine so you're fine too. To give him credit he adjusted mmi for the lower T3 number. I think it was .82 on a range that started at .92 .

I have felt fine with each of the the dosage adjustments. I had heart palps/racey heart a few times over the past 6 months but it seems those nasty hot dogs and I found bacon makes this happen. It was too much of a coincidence after eating these things. Too much sodium I suspect.

It's hard to pinpoint where I feel the best because I have felt 100% better than when all this stuff started. I can look on the blood results and read the numbers, but really do feel better. So dosage adjustments, no high-test coffee, less sodium do help.

I know the cons of diagnosing by TSH only. I know I don't produce enough when it's low which makes me more Hyperthyroidish. I would say it's even low at .93 as the range goes up to 4.5. But again, I'm feeling fine.
That's what make me so confused. I've gone through racey heart, palpatations, going crazy, not focusing and many more symptoms with the TSH at .007. When that came up, I'm fine.

Linda, I know your standard (and I'm not picking here ) answer to many about the TSH. I'm not fully grasping your statement. Yes, my Endo starts with TSH but then goes down the line with the White blood count, red, liver counts, T3's and T4's, etc.

Maybe I can't grasp this because of my T4's!

Thanks

The MMI works with the FT4 not the FT3.

Okay, the reason why the TSH cannot be relied on when one has a thyroid problem it is because of the thyroid antibodies being positive. When the antibodies are positive, the TSH stays low.

TSH also cannot be relied on because the reading lags six weeks behind the current Free T3 and Free T4 results.

TSH cannot also be relied on as it is a Pituitary hormone.

Read at our thyroid expert Elaine Moore's site. She has some great articles about the TSH and thyroid antibodies.

http://www.elaine-moore.com

{{{hugs}}} :-)

P.S. Have you tried eating the uncured hot dogs? There's a brand called Applegate farms that I want to try to eat.

Regular hot dogs contain MSG, Soy, Nitrates, etc. in them.

Have you had a bone scan lately? I ended up with osteoporosis at the age of 49+ after having gone through menopause & having a slightly overactive thyroid gland. My TSH had been almost non-existent for at least 18 years. I did have a total thyroidectomy Dec of 2006 & have been struggling with an imbalance for the last 3+ years. I deeply regret having a total thyroidectomy now. The endo thought I could have cancer, but did not. I had multinodular goiter on both lobes.

Tug,
I fell in February 2010 on ice and hit my right knee hard. Cracked the end of my femur at the knee and sent a spiral fracture up my femur. The orthopedic surgeon said he saw a very small amount of bone loss but also added being 58 at the time, it was normal.
Funny about the TSH thing. I never knew i had anything related to the thyroid until this break. During menopause, I had a few hot flashes and then palpatations. I thought this just went with them. About a year before the break, I was having really bad palpatations and very fast heartrate. Scared the bejabbers out of me and I tried to just wish this away. In the hospital before femur surgery, my hear rate was 155. They did the stress test (nuclear) and an echo. Heart was fine so they sent in the Endos.
I feel badly for you that your can't get everything in order after having your thyroid removed. That is exactly what scares me. I'm not going to have my gland killed by radiation or surgery. I'll keep taking the MMI as it really does work. I never heard of TSH, Free t's or anything relating to thyroid before the day I met the Endo in the hospital. Were you tested for this all your life? I worry about not having a thyroid and the doctor not getting my levels in order either. I asked the Endo the other day that since I have 3 nodules, just have the needle aspiration. Why would I need the uptake and scan when they can suck some stuff out of the nodules and test it. Seems like a waste of insurance money to me. If they saw hot or cold ones, they would aspirate anyway.
It's all so confusing. I read everything I can and then forget everything when I defend my thyroid at the Endocrinologist.
I talked to my family doctor but she's not familiar with the MMI so she said she really can't treat me. I'm going to see her about this blood pressure stuff in a few weeks and will talk with her again.
You never know until you ask!

And Linda! What's a thyroid antibody? See how much I thought I knew? The TSH lags 6 weeks behind... My one blood test showed .92 tsh and 2 1/2 months later it was .94. This was after the initial .007 Thanks! ;)

I don't remember having the option of taking methimazole. I did have a needle biopsy back in 1983 & an endo telling me at that time the only reason for surgery was cosmetic. I had a goiter that seemed to enlarge with each pregnancy (3). I do know that I had a nonexistent TSH for at least 18 years before my surgery in Dec of 2006. I had another needle biopsy that showed I could have cancer but I had my doubts since I knew about the nodules for at least 20 years & I was still alive! I did know that estrogen depletion & overactive thyroid could deplete my bones & it did. I opted for surgery thinking that taking a thyroid replacement med would be no big deal. Such a big mistake, I have suffered horribly for the last 3+ years & so wish I would have just had a nodule or 2 removed!

You must have had a very large goiter? My aunt had one and her doctor (this was in the 60's) told her to just leave it alone. It went away on its own and she never took anything for it. Amazing.

Did you look for another doctor? Maybe there's one out there just for you! I hope so!! There just has to be a way that you can level out and start feeling better. Do certain foods bother you? I would think with your thyroid out you have more hypo symptoms. My Endo is hell bent on doing something. I'm waiting it out. I wish you could have had that option.

I worry right now about levels dropping with the beta blocker I'm taking for blood pressure. I so don't want to go through the nasty symptoms of any thyroid stuff.

Thyroid antibodies are blood tests to determine which thyroid disease is currently active for the person.

For Graves' Disease, the TSI (Thyroid Stimulating Immunoglobulins) and the TRAb (Thyroid Receptors Antibodies) are checked.

For Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hypOthyroidism) it is usually checking the TgAb (Thyroglobulin antibodies) and the TPOab (Thyroid Peroxidase antibodies) to see if one has this.

I have antibodies for both GD and Hashi's. Right now GD is more active for me. I used to be undiagnosed hypO for 20+ years before GD became active for me in the past 10+ years.

{{{hugs}}}