I'm in the process of working with my Dr. (she's kinda letting me make the decisions) to increase my Armour thyroid.

How long do you usually wait before your next lab tests? She's telling me 4 weeks, but I have enough meds to go another week or two.

I started on 30mg with a TSH over 5, and now I'm on 60mg. I would love to know what it feels like to be at 1 -- have never been there before.

Just wondering on the timing.

I'd wait 3 weeks at least. 4 weeks to be safe. T3 is faster acting than T4 but I've noticed it definitely builds up slowly too.

For instance, I cut myself back to 90mg because 120mg was too much but then after a few weeks I kind of bottomed out. So I switched back to 120mg and took that for 2-3 weeks, thinking it isn't enough, I really need more. Then one day I woke up and realized I didn't need more. It just takes awhile for it to completely kick in.

I also tested once shortly after increasing a dose, then a month later, and I had much higher levels a month later.

So waiting is good.

T4 takes 4-6 weeks to work in your system, T3 has a half life of 24 hours or so. Usual testing is 4-6 weeks after a dose change to, as Nancy said, give the body time to build the reserves. If you want to see how your body is reacting to the build up test 12 hours after a dose (fasting); if you want to see whether you need more T3 take 1/2 your dose and test between 4-4.5 hours after the dose. the 4-5 hour mark is the peak of the T3 in your system.

Also when you raise a dose of Armour or any other type of NDT they suggest raising 1/4 at a time and I believe STTM suggests doing that raise every 2 weeks until you get to your optimal dose. I will note I have also read others suggest raising the 1/4 every 4 weeks, you should check with your doctor on that.

When you take your Armour are you splitting that dose? 30mg in the AM and another 30 5-7 hours after that?

Even though T3 has a short half life, it still can build up over time.

On 7/20 my FT3 was 3.1: 2.0 - 4.4 (Only on it for a week or so)
On 8/25 my FT3 was 5.9: 2.0 - 4.4 (On it for about 5 weeks)

Same dose.