Hypothyroidism Support Group
Hypothyroidism is the disease state caused by insufficient production of thyrohormone by the thyroid gland. There are several distinct causes for chronic hypothyroidism, the most common being Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hypothyroidism following radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. Advanced hypothyroidism may cause severe complications, the most serious one of which is...
6-15
Free T4
Range:0.820 -1.770
Result: 1.720
Percent of range: 94.74%
Free T3
Range:2.000 -4.400
Result: 2.700
Percent of range: 29.17%
As you can see, your Free T4 is hovering right over the top of the range, but your Free T3 is quite low. Unfortunately, if you add more armour, your Free T4 will bump up as well. Being slightly (emphasis on slightly) over the range is sometimes not a problem for some people, but I don't recommend going waaay over the range.
If you're already feeling "hyper" (chipmunk on crack) you might want to 'wear' these ranges for a while and see if your body adjusts. In theory, if Free T4 is at the top of the range, Free T3 bumps up all on its own. IN THEORY.
Remember: The ranges we have today, are the ranges we will feel in a few weeks (3-4) when it comes to Free T4.
If wearing the ranges for a while (four-six weeks) isn't an option, you may have to do what I had to do (since you're not on levoxyl and cytomel which can be adjusted independantly) - and that's:
Lower your Free T4 meds (levoxy) while increasing your armour. Why? Because you don't want your free T4 to bounce way out of the range each time you increase your armour.
From the armour website:
For every grain (60mg) armour has 38mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3 (which is four times more powerful).
So you're on this dosage - I'm gonna hit you with some math:
90 mg of armour (1 1/2 grains or 1.5)
38 mcg of T4 x 1.5= 57
9 mcg of T3 x 1.5= 13.5
And your levoxyl = 62.5
So total is:
Free T4 = 119.5 mcg
Free T3 = 13.5 mcg which is four times more powerful (54 mcg)
So, if it were me...after wearing your ranges for a while, if they didn't improve, I would lower the levoxyl to 50 mcg and increase the armour to 120 mcg(2 grains). If you do that, your breakdown will be:
Free T4= Armour(38 x 2= 76) and levoxy= 50 so, 126 mcg
Free T3= 18mcg (four times more powerful) =72 mcg
So, you'll have a bit of an adjustment period - and if that doesn't work, perhaps you should try lowering the levoxyl and upping the armour. I had to do this because my doctor wasn't familiar with cytomel, so we work with what we've go, ya know?
Good luck!
PS: There's one other thing you might want to check, and I'm not familiar enough with it to talk a great deal about it, however JeepGirl is, but try testing your Reverse T3 and see what it says.
Response: For Free T3 - absolutely! While it's more powerful, it's also absorbed within hour(s). So, if you take it the same day - your result will be very different than if you skip taking it just before labs (and take it after).
Free T4 can be SLIGHTLY skewed if you take it the same day...but Free T3 is the real stickler for meds taken the same day vs not taken until after the labs.