THYROID MED. - I've been taking 200 mcgs of synthroid for about 2 yrs. Recently, My lab results showed my thy
thyroid level to be at .08 (instead of somewhere around 5.50). Question is, instead of increasing the 200 mcgs. of synthroid, I was told to take half the tablet - less instead of more. I still don't understand the reasoning....Can a dr. or pharmacist explain this to me? Thank you!
User Comments
- What they're measuring isn't a thyroid hormone. It's thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). This comes from the pituitary gland. It's part of the regulating system. When you need thyroid hormone, your hypothalamus tells your pituitary, which sends a message in the form of TSH to your thyroid gland telling it to get busy. When you have enough thyroid hormone, the TSH level is lower, telling your thyroid to chill out some. So when your TSH level is low, that's a sign that you have more than enough thyroid hormones, and thus the recommendation to cut back on the dose. We used to measure the thyroid hormones themselves, but measuring TSH seems to work out better, which sounds counter-intuitive, but it's so.
- This is nothing to fool around with. I hope the Doctor you have been seeing is a Endocrinologist. If not find one. My Mom has been suffering with hers. Once her symptoms increased on the meds. her primary physician referred her to see a specialist. (Endocrinologist). Your Pharmacist should be able to explain to you. But, you really should ask your Doctor to explain to you. That's what your paying him for. Good Luck.
- You don't say which hormone your doctor is testing (T3, T4, or TSH). Each hormone has a different acceptable range. If your results changed, as it sounds from your question, your doctor needed to adjust your medicine but since there doesn't appear to be a dosage that fits your needs exactly, your doctor told you to halve the current tablet you take. I had the same situation. If you don't want to cut it, you could find a pharmacy in your area that mixes the drugs in their office instead of receiving them pre-made from the manufacturer but they will be a little more expensive. Your doctor should be able to suggest one of these pharmacies as well as explain your results to you.
FYI, there are little pill cutters that you can purchase so you don't have to cut them with a knife. The cutters have a blade in them and give you a perfect half.
- I assume what you mean by throid level is TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone), it is produced by your pituitary to tell the thyroid to produce more hormones.
So a low TSH means you have too much thyroid hormones (different than TSH).
I am not a Dr, or a pharmacist but a patient also on synthroid. If I had a blood test like this, I would expect my doctor to lower my dose to 188 mcgs, and give me a blood test 6 weeks later to see the results.
- TSH levels are opposite then what they appear. If it is low, that actually means you have high thyroid, and if it is high, that means you have low thyroid. You have high thyroid, and so, you need to decrease the amount of synthroid. Normally, doctors like to decrease/increase the dosage by no more than 25 mcg.
You need to be aware of low thyroid symptoms. If you feel tired, lethargic, weight gain, you need to contact your doctor immediately. You should get your thyroid levels retested in 3 months.
- Your TSH is in the hyper range and that's why the decrease in dosage. The higher the TSH, the more you are leaning towards hypothyroid. Your TSH of 0.08 is on the hyper side......meaning you are getting too much medication. I don't know why your doctor lowered it by so much. Instead of going to 100mcg's I would have thought he would have gone some where in between the 100mcg's and the 200's mcg
- pharmacy student