“Thyroid level question?”
I was wondering if you could possibly help explain thyroid levels to me. On March 29, my T4 Free was 1.0, T3 I can't find, but the doc said it was normal and my TSH was 4.97. She put me on a thyroid medication that made me super weak, and tired, now my menstrual cycle has extended and is completely out of character. I went in for labs this week and my T4 free is still 1.0, T3 free 4.0 and TSH is now 9.83. So I'm being put on a higher dose of Levothyroxine; however, in March it was said that I was subclinical hypo and they usually only treat if symptomatic. How did I go from that to full-out hypothyroidism?
Female | 36 years old
Complaint duration: 3 months
Medications: Levothyroxine
Conditions: Hypothyroidism
3 Answers
I disagree with your provider. TSH is from the pituitary gland and is stimulating the thyroid to release T4. T4 is then converted to T3 which is what is used by the body. Your T3 level is perfect. Reason TSH went up is because you are on a thyroid supplement. Most important is how you are feeling. I encourage providers to not treat lab tests but rather treat patients and how they feel.
Depends. You may have autoimmune thyroiditis progressing. Also, you need to take Thyroid replacement on an empty stomach. Yes, I usually treat symptomatic compensated thyroid failure.
Your hypothyroidism has not been adequately treated and this may be part of the reason you were feeling weak. You will need further treatment.
