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...

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vannillabear 03/21/2012

So I had my doc appointment and got my lab results. The frusterating part is that they don't have a protocol for Hashimotos, they just watch it more closely (about every 3 months) and they didn't order the free T4+T3. Urgg. Next time they will just for me. But they did give me alittle more freedom with my med. She asked me how I was feeling and she said that because I started having some more symptoms again and there was alittle room to go up alittle, she said I can pick a day where I can take an extra pill. But basically what I am doing is Taking my 30mg Armour every day and then every 2 days I can add another 15 mg. She was ok with it, because If I take the extra all at once say on a monday, by the end of the week I would be completely exhausted again, so we broke it up to spread out. She pretty much said if there is a day I need a boost I can take an extra one. But I do NOT recommend this to everyone, make sure you talk to your doctor and they approve something like this. She only approved it for me because I have Hashimotos and she said that we tend to fluctuate alot more than the norm hypothyroid, and I was definately experiencing ups and downs too often, I will let you guys know how it works out. But I was so happy when she asked how I was feeling and she even said that we tend to feel better when we are in the higher range of what is considered normal.
Thyroid labs
TSH 2.7 (normal: 0.45-4.50)
T3 uptake 22.0 (normal: 23.4-42.7)
T4 9.6 (normal: 4.5-12.5)
T7 index 2.1 (normal: 1.2-4.3)

cd3764 03/21/2012

I'm happy to hear that you are making progress.

It's amazing to me that you feel good on the days you take the lower dose.

Anyone taking any form of T3 usually needs a steady daily dose since T3 wears off each day.

I think you know your TSH is way too high for someone taking Armour.

The prescribing information for Armour indicates that people who are optimally medicated will have suppressed (below-range) TSH.

I hope your doctor continues to support dose increases for you.

Congrats on getting the right labs run next time!

(for whatever it's worth, my doctor has me get labs every 4-6 wks. to stay on top of things.....your doctor should really be doing the same for you - at least until you've stabilized at your optimal levels)

vannillabear 03/21/2012

I know, that's another frusterating thing, they won't do them any sooner than 3 months unless I something else comes up and then they will check them. I still think I need a consistant increase, but she didn't, but she thought it would be ok to increase it 2 days a week. I definately feel when the T3 wears off. I feel that I am still at a very low dose, so I don't know. Like I said, I'm happy she is willing to give me the freedom to test the waters, but at the same time, I wish she was more proactive about it. So I'll give it a couple of weeks, if I still feel tired and wake up during the night more, then I will be calling them to see what else I can do. but she did tell me to start taking vitamin D and B12, she says it will help with the energy issue, I hope she is right.

vannillabear 03/21/2012

I just did some research on some of the other tests that she ordered and quite frankly I'm a little worried now, she didn't explain these ones to me and she didn't tell me what she was looking for, so as I looked over all my labs today I noticed some out of range so I looked them up, because I didn't understand the medical lingo. Basically she ordered a WBC mine was 3.5 (normal: 4.0-11.0) From what I read this tells you if your immune disease is getting better or worse. As you can see mine is low than normal. Then a Urea Nitrogen 6 (normal: 8-25) I guess this is looking for kidney function or damage, and ALT 76 (normal: 2-46) this is for liver function and damage. So I guess I am going to be calling my doctor to see if they are concerned or what is going on.

cd3764 03/21/2012

Since you're still not feeling well, I see no reason why you can't use that as the impetus for labs sooner than 3 months.

Here's a link to the prescribing information from the Armour website:

http://www.frx.com/pi/armourthyroid_pi.pdf

You can check the dosage information section - it says that 15mg increases can be done every 2-3 wks. but, labs need to be done every 4 wks.

It also says that 60-120mg are the most common doses so, you can see just how low your dose is.

Your doctor is delaying your healing.

And, quite frankly, those other "off" levels you shared could very well be a product of your undertreated hypothyroidism.

I sure hope you can convince your doctor to do things a bit differently.

vannillabear 03/21/2012

Me too, I called and left a message, usually the MA will talk to the doctor and then call me back, or if the doctor needs to talk to me, she will call me herself, so I'm just waiting to hear what they say, but I'm pretty sure they will just say they are monitoring me right now, but I agree with you, I feel that they are just delaying everything and taking it too slow.

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