New labs--need dosage change?

[Guest guest]

I've just gotten new labs done and wonder if I need a change in

thyroid hormone dosage. I had RAI in Feb., 2000 and have had severe

TED (5 decompressions, 3 strabismus surgeries, and more to go).

Currently I take 1 1/2 grains Nature-Throid, which is like Armour. I

also take estrogen and progesterone (Estratest HS and Prometrium). I

also take Fosamax because I have problems with bone density.

My new lab results are:

Free T4 is 1.12 with normal range of 0.89-1.76

Free T3 is 4.20 with normal range of 2.3-4.2

Total T3 is 128 with normal range of 80-180

Total T4 is 5.69 with normal range of 4.5-12.0

TSH is less than 0.02 with normal range of 0.32-5.0

TSI is 10.0 with range of less than or equal to 1.3 as normal,

1.4-2.0 as borderline and greater than 2.0 as positive

My endo suggests subtracting some of the Nature-Throid and adding

some Levoxyl. But how much? And is the Free T3 of 4.2 really too

high?

Thanks for your help. I can't imagine what we would do without this

board.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

You could probably just add T4 if you took your meds the morning of the test.

This could make your FT3 appear at its highest point if you're taking a once

daily dose. Products with T3 need to be divided.

If you do cut your dose you'd probably need at least 0.05 of levothyroxine.

Having higher thyroid hormone levels will help suppress thyroid antibody

production. Your high TSI suggests that your eye disease is still in an active

stage.

Take care, Elaine

[Guest guest]

Thanks very much for these comments, Elaine. I wonder if it would

make a difference to know that I took the 1 1/2 grains of Nature-

Throid at about 6:30 a.m. and the test was done at about 3 in the

afternoon. So, probably the T3 would have been even higher if it had

been taken in the morning.

If I cut the dosage to 1 grain, do you think that adding 50 mcg of

Levoxyl would be about right? I've also considering just cutting it

to 1 1/4 grains and adding 50 mcg of Levoxyl. I do worry about not

having enough thyroid hormone and making my eyes even worse!

Thanks, again, Elaine, for your help.

---

In graves_support , daisyelaine@a... wrote:

> Hi,

> You could probably just add T4 if you took your meds the morning of

the test.

> This could make your FT3 appear at its highest point if you're

taking a once

> daily dose. Products with T3 need to be divided.

> If you do cut your dose you'd probably need at least 0.05 of

levothyroxine.

> Having higher thyroid hormone levels will help suppress thyroid

antibody

> production. Your high TSI suggests that your eye disease is still

in an active

> stage.

> Take care, Elaine

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi,

If you mean 10 on the TSI results, you can't compare it to the %activity

results except to say moderately high or high. The method in questions measures

TSI directly whereas methods that measure %activity measure how much of change

in thyroid hormone production is caused to a reagent containing thyroid cells

when your serum is added. As long as the same test is always used it doesn't

matter, but when different reference labs are used, the results are confusing.

Take care, Elaine