Re: Another BRT question-Elaine, anyone?

[Guest guest]

Hi Elaine,

I forgot to ask my real qustion--should I cut my synthroid dose in

half? Just take half a pill a day? Or is the PTU the culprit?

I'm glad your here.

Thanks, Donna

> Hello,

>

> I've been on synthroid for 2 weeks as well as PTU{50mg, 3 times

> daily}. Have been on the PTU since July 29th of this yr, same dose.

>

> I was feeling pretty good until over the weekend. I was very

> depressed, but had no hyper/hypo symptoms and just thought I was

> letting the life stuff get me down.

>

> I felt ok yesterday, just alittle tired and today it fell apart big

> time. I cried at work and went home eary. Had a complete

irrational

> reaction to a very samll problem and felt cloudy, aggitated and

> totally out of control. This used to go on quite often, but ceased

> since starting the PTU only.

>

> My doc is only available on Tues. mornings. County hospitals are

not

> very accomodating if you have a problem. He did tell me to stop

both

> meds if I experience any adverse reations.

>

> I feel very hyper, the way I felt before meds, and I am wondering

if

> it may have been premature to start the BRT, or is this just normal

> until your body adjusts to the drug? I do know I need to talk to my

> doc, but until I can, need help. I did read the articles you

> recommended to me in an earlier post. Sometimes I have a hard time

> understanding, even tho I read and read on this.

>

> If this helps--my FT3 and 4 have always been normal

> TSH was very low- did not receive results of new

> TSI was 390-normal value-125

> TED

>

> Thank you for everything!

[Guest guest]

Hi,

One of the earliest symptoms of hypoT is depression. If your thyroid hormone

levels were normal and you just had subclinical hyperT, most docs would have

not used ATDs because this could cause your levels to fall too low.

You can develop temporary hyper symptoms when adding thyroid replacement

hormone but these only last a few days unless you have become hyper. You might

want to take a close look at what your thryoid hormone levels have been running

since you started meds. If your levels have been too low, you may have had

symptoms of hypo and not realized it. Hypo symptoms include palpitations, hair

loss, depression, sleep disturbances...sort of an excitable insomnia, joint

pain,

etc. TSH will always be low when TSI is high and shouldn't be used to monitor

ATD therapy. And most people do best with thyroid hormone levels at at least

midrange or higher. Like with a range of 0.8-1.8 most people need an FT4 of at

least 1.4. Take care, Elaine

[Guest guest]

Hi Donna,

You could cut the synthroid but I suspect the PTU is the culprit. With normal

thyroid hormone levels, patients are rarely put on more than 50-100 mg PTU or

their thryoid hormone levels fall too low. If you've been on 150 mg since the

start I would suspect your levels are lower than you want them. Adding the

Synthroid would help raise them and you could notice some temporary hyper

symptoms as your body adjusts to the change. But it would be good to know your

exact

thyroid hormone values. On ATDs and with a high TSI, you could be hypothyroid

and still have a low TSH. A low TSH just means that your hypothalamus via

your pituitary recognizes that TSH isn't needed to regulate your thyroid hormone

levels. That's because TSI act in place of TSH. It doesn't mean that you're

hyperthyroid. Some doctors think the goal is to have TSH rise when they should

be keeping a closer eye on thryoid hormone levels. Even if these levels are

normal, these levels can be too low for you. Best, Elaine

[Guest guest]

Hypo symptoms include

> palpitations, hair

> loss, depression, sleep disturbances...sort of an excitable

> insomnia, joint pain,

> etc.

Some of these sound familiar ;-( But if I am hypo, it's still a lot

gentler a descent to do it this way than RAI.

.. And most people do best with thyroid hormone levels at

> at least

> midrange or higher. Like with a range of 0.8-1.8 most people need an

> FT4 of at

> least 1.4.

Do you have studies for this? For the first 2 years off ATDs my numbers

were very stable - TSH of 0.7 and FT4 of 1.2. Now a physical showed that

my TSH is 0.3, my FT4 is 0.9, and my FT3 is midrange (don't have the

numbers downstairs with me). I'm seeing my endo (#4) this week, armed

with the suggestions from the group when I shared my numbers a few weeks

ago. I was impressed with the very brief exchanges we've had so far but

all he was doing until now was monitoring me while in remission. (I went

into remission with little thanks to incompetent endos #2 and 3,

Tweedledum and Tweedledumber.)

Take care, Fay

________________________________________________________________

The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!

Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!

Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!