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...
The nurse just called and said to reduce my Armour 30mg a day. Which now leaves me at 60mg of Amour a day. My question is, at such a low dose, am I not causing the "loop around" effect? Should I slowly wean myself off of Armour completely until I can find a doctor who does not go by TSH?
Dec.2014 90mg Armour
TSH- 0.20 (0.27-4.2)
FT3- 3.7 (2.0-4.4)
FT4- 1.26 (0.93-1.70)
Feb. 2, 2015 90mg Armour
TSH- 0.017 (0.450-4.500)
FT3- 3.9 (2.0-4.4)
FT4- 1.23 (.082-1.77)
Reverse T3- 16.0 (9.2-24.1)
Just when I was starting to feel better, WHAM!
Dec.2014 90mg Armour
TSH- 0.20 (0.27-4.2)
FT3- 3.7 (2.0-4.4)
FT4- 1.26 (0.93-1.70)
Feb. 2, 2015 90mg Armour
TSH- 0.017 (0.450-4.500)
FT3- 3.9 (2.0-4.4)
FT4- 1.23 (.082-1.77)
Reverse T3- 16.0 (9.2-24.1)
Just when I was starting to feel better, WHAM!
Thank you for your reply. I am going to call the doctor tomorrow and put up a fight. His reasoning was that my TSH is at 0.017. But it was at 0.015 at one point and he didn't seem to have a problem with it then. CD was gracious enough to give me the name of a new doctor to try.
Isn't it all about how we feel?
(I do suggest you find a more cooperative doctor, however, but my suggestion might work in the meantime)
Your labs indicate the need for some T4....
And, please, please, please, do not consider going off meds - there's no reason for you to be a guinea pig. You need thyroid hormone replacement. If you stop, you'll have to go through titration hell all over again and, even worse, risk the development of hypothyroidism-related health issues.
CD- How can I increase my T4? What med.? mg?
doctors are idiots, morons, ego maniacs. Unfortunately that is all we have except for this forum!!!
You probably know that Armour is made from desiccated porcine thyroid.
Well, porcine thyroid contains a larger proportion of T3 than T4 compared to human thyroid.
Therefore, many people taking meds like Armour will have labs just like yours: FT3 proportionately higher in the range than the FT4 level.
Many people are fine with this....others still have symptoms.
In the latter case, the addition of T4 (Synthroid, Levoxyl or their generic levothyroxine) can help.
Remember - the key is to optimize BOTH the FT3 and FT4 levels.
Since your FT3 level is already optimized, increasing your Armour could very well send it too high.....and then you'd be dealing with a mixture of hyper symptoms (ala too-high FT3 level) along with the hypo symptoms you currently have due to your too-low FT4 level.
Based upon how low your FT4 level is, I'd be asking the doctor for the most common T4 starting dose: 25mcg
I don't know how far you'll get with your current doctor but, Dr. Condren in Somerset prescribes Armour and T4.
Well that is what I believe anyway.