24th March 2007
Bev, so sorry to hear your story. Unfortunately all too familiar.
First you should call your Doctors office, and request them to fax your test results to you (or copy them so you can pick them up). You do not need to ASK, because you have the legal right, they know this, and do this every day for people. Let us know what the TSH is. I am guessing it will well above currently accepted limits.
Secondly, you need to have the actual thyroid hormones tested ( Free T3 and Free T4). You can ask your Doctor to just humor you and run the tests. Most will do that. If not, there are a number of on-line testing companies that we all use here, that can do this for you. The TSH, FT3, FT4 test is about $85.
Some thoughts about the numbers: My Endocrinologist (who is one of the rare ones, who knows what she is doing), uses a starting calculation of:
Body weight in pounds X 0.67 = mcg of T4 medication.
Your 185 pounds would equal 125 mcg of Levoxyl (or Unitrhoid, Synthroid, etc.). If this formula fits your body, then it seems likely you are under medicated at this time. Of course we use the labs and symptoms together as indicators, not just a formula.
You can get that 125 mcg of T4 as either T4-only med, or as a combination of T4 and T3. Most people do better on some combination, because the thyroid gland normally secretes T3 in addition to T4. This combination can be had by either something like Armour or Thyrolar, or by taking one of those in addition to a T4 med.
Again, using the above formula, and calculating out the T4 and T3 to reach a T4 equivalency of 125 mcg, your probable medication might be one of the following:
125 mcg T4 med (Levoxyl, Unithroid, Synthroid, etc.)
1 and 3/4 grains natural thyroid med (Armour, Thyrolar, etc.)
Combination of the two, such as 75 mcg T4 med plus 3/4 grain Armour. (This combination would be my suggestion)
Again, your labs might prove otherwise, and you'll want to work with your Doctor, not anything someone like me might type into a forum. But these are my predictions, based on your symptoms and body weight.
In the end, none of this comes down to an exact science. But I use the calculations to put a sanity check on it, since you are usually having to convince the Doctors, who are generally just ok with you putting your life on hold. ..... and of course, I'm anal, so , ah, yeah.
First you should call your Doctors office, and request them to fax your test results to you (or copy them so you can pick them up). You do not need to ASK, because you have the legal right, they know this, and do this every day for people. Let us know what the TSH is. I am guessing it will well above currently accepted limits.
Secondly, you need to have the actual thyroid hormones tested ( Free T3 and Free T4). You can ask your Doctor to just humor you and run the tests. Most will do that. If not, there are a number of on-line testing companies that we all use here, that can do this for you. The TSH, FT3, FT4 test is about $85.
Some thoughts about the numbers: My Endocrinologist (who is one of the rare ones, who knows what she is doing), uses a starting calculation of:
Body weight in pounds X 0.67 = mcg of T4 medication.
Your 185 pounds would equal 125 mcg of Levoxyl (or Unitrhoid, Synthroid, etc.). If this formula fits your body, then it seems likely you are under medicated at this time. Of course we use the labs and symptoms together as indicators, not just a formula.
You can get that 125 mcg of T4 as either T4-only med, or as a combination of T4 and T3. Most people do better on some combination, because the thyroid gland normally secretes T3 in addition to T4. This combination can be had by either something like Armour or Thyrolar, or by taking one of those in addition to a T4 med.
Again, using the above formula, and calculating out the T4 and T3 to reach a T4 equivalency of 125 mcg, your probable medication might be one of the following:
125 mcg T4 med (Levoxyl, Unithroid, Synthroid, etc.)
1 and 3/4 grains natural thyroid med (Armour, Thyrolar, etc.)
Combination of the two, such as 75 mcg T4 med plus 3/4 grain Armour. (This combination would be my suggestion)
Again, your labs might prove otherwise, and you'll want to work with your Doctor, not anything someone like me might type into a forum. But these are my predictions, based on your symptoms and body weight.
In the end, none of this comes down to an exact science. But I use the calculations to put a sanity check on it, since you are usually having to convince the Doctors, who are generally just ok with you putting your life on hold. ..... and of course, I'm anal, so , ah, yeah.