How long between when your dose has been raised and when you should expect to see that reflected in bloodwork?

(Since upping the dose is correlating positively with pain reduction (within 2-3 days of the dose raising, subjectively), I'm not wanting to wait the 6 weeks out to adjust again - but I don't want to be labeled hysterical by calling every 2 weeks to get bloodwork done. I'm currently in 'normal' range at 2.6TSH (pre last dose adjustment))

They usually wait 6-8 weeks before retesting because it takes that long to reflect changes. T4 has a half life of a week, IIRC. So the T4 in your blood is going to be increasing during that time even without increasing your dose.

Hmm.. Trying to figure out how long to wait.. I guess once my energy starts diving again I'll see if they'll test again. Last time they upped me I felt decent for around a week and then I slowly went back to suck again.

Well, they probably won't retest before 4 weeks at the minimum.

Oh, just a suggestion. Take your meds right before bedtime, they seem to be absorbed much better at night. If you're like me, you'll notice quite a ramp up in their power.

Hmm! I usually take it in the middle of the night now (I wake up around 3 hours into sleeping to use the bathroom, so I pop it on the way).

Kinda worried about it clashing with whatever I've eaten, as sometimes it hasn't been 3+ hours since I've eaten before going to sleep - do you think taking it 'empty' makes a difference at all?

Hasn't made a difference to me.

Thanks Nancy, I tried it last night before bed - we'll see if it seems to make any difference for me =) Thank you for your help!

At 125 mcg now and taking it before bed.

1/8/2010 TSH 2.69 FT4 1.1
2/9/2010 TSH 0.811 FT4 1.2 FT3 2.3

But the 2 days before my 2/9 draw I was taking around 25mg of Iodine (and feeling awesome - it's the only thing so far that I have done/taken that has made a very swift difference in my pain/other symptoms).

I'll continue to take around 6mg of the iodine along with 200mcg of selenium and make sure I put it on my supplement list next time I see the endo.

It concerns me that it makes such a swift and dramatic difference because

1. it could just be placebo, and I like to be more critical than that. (though my PT's I think are impatient with me, because if a treatment isn't working to alleviate pain or inflammation I flat out tell them so and don't just shrug and go along with it.)

2. if it's not placebo, I have to be very careful since 1/2 my thyroid is now gone and the studies show that it can be bad(TM) to take if you have only a partial or missing thyroid.

3. If it's not placebo I could be the statistical anomaly that has trouble converting T4 to usable T3, and I'm tired of being the 1%. I want to be the easily treatable 99%.

what are your ranges for these tests?

My copy says:

TSH 0.400-4.2 mcU/ML
FT4 0.6-1.5 ng/dL
T3 Free 1.5-3.5 pg/mL



Changed my mind and decided to go with just my base supplements (which is basically just vit D and magnesium every so often) for a while and concentrate on stress relief while my body sorts itself out. No use in blocking up the metabolic channels in the liver with a bunch of stuff that may or may not be doing me much good.

FT4 should be around halfway through the range, you are a bit higher than that (about 2/3 high)
FT3 should be at 3/4 up to the top of the range and you are sitting at about 40% and it is the T3 that makes you feel ultimately better.
Synthroid only provides T4, your body has to then convert that to T3.

I'm wondering if you have a RT3 problem. You are certainly getting enough T4 but not sure if you are converting it well. Would your doctor do the RT3 test? (note it has to be done at the same time as the FT3)
You may also want to get a 4x Dirunal Cortisol test done to see where your Adrenals are at.

btw, the thyroid/synthroid is not really a supplement, if your body needs thyroid then it really needs the hormone and the absence will make you feel very much worse; no supplement or detox will change that.

forgot to ask earlier, do you have Hasimotos?

I don't know if she would - I'm kind of thinking that if I can beat back a little more of my pain issues (which may be as I adjust to this dose) that the conversion may go smoother.

But, so far she's been pretty happy to run whatever bloodwork I like that she can order (shes pretty much a T4-prescribing only kind of doc, but I may be T4 only kind of patient too =) ).

I'll see what they say when I have my appointment, thanks for the recommendation =)

I am still taking my synthroid - I would not stop it without something to take as a replacement treatment for my hypothyroidism.



I'm assuming if my adrenals were a problem than coffee would no longer energize me and I'd thud asleep when I drink it? I still get a lift from it, though I have to back off sometimes as drinking over 4-5 cups of coffee/day 'seems to' cause my body to hang on to water for dear life. It does wonders for pain issues though.

My pulse is low and my bp is low - and I get a bit dizzy from going from laying down to standing, but I would expect to at my low pulse rate. I don't think I have a problem with my adrenal glands, but I could be wrong.



I have no idea, I don't think they ran the test for it. That would be a TPO? I don't see that listed on my spreadsheet I keep of bloodwork records.

They did run the TPO (not the other one) right after my surgery, the ref range was 0.0-3.0 and I was at <0.3

Today I went to see the NP and they said that they'd consider lowering my dose to help the mental foggyiness, moodiness and other symptoms that seems to be staying the same or increasing in intensity as my dose increases, but they won't increase it.

Decreasing it will bring back my pain issues in full intensity, so I'll plug away on Iodine and look for another doc locally. They said they would be open to trying me on Cytomel, but in the wrong T3/T4 ratio.

I gots other options, just gotta pull on my boots and get crackin' with finding them!

Nancy - I am currently taking Levoxyl 0.75 mgs for general hypothyroid. I have no problems that I know of taking the pill in the morning on an empty stomach but would you describe the benefits of taking it at night and why it is absorbed better? Do you have an article that may shed some light on this? Thanks!