Levothyroxine t3 t4
Common Questions and Answers about Levothyroxine t3 t4
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I have never had normal levels of T3 or T4 on Levothyroxine. Which I think is why I have been so sluggish, with a bad case of brain fog. Real bad! At 47, I feel worse than my 87 yr old mother in law? In the past I lost hair on my scalp when my Tsh is high, and T3 is low. Now, I have been losing hair when Tsh is low, as well as low T4. So, it must be from both too high, or too low? Is acne associated with low Tsh? All of a sudden I have acne everywhere as well. Very strange.
LOL - you're quite welcome... there's a lot more you'll need to learn, but you'll get it as you go along.
First off, there are 2 antibody tests for Hashimoto's, so make sure they did them both in order to determine that you don't have it. The tests are Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb).
My last labs were on 07/10 and my free t4 was 1.76 ( range .82-1.77); free t3 was 3.2 (2.0 - 4.4), TSH 2.54. I wil have been on levothyroxine for 8 weeks on this visit. My doctor takes labs on that visit as the lab is in house and will have results the next day. This is my concern is it normal to have a free t4 that high when starting levothyroxine? Is it possible that it will have dropped?
Total T4 (thyroxine) and total T3 (triiodothyronine) are considered obsolete tests. They tell the total amount of T4 and T3 in your blood, but much of that is unavailable to cells. FREE T4 and FREE T3 tell what's available. You should request them next time.
That being said, your T4 is on the high side. 50% of range is the rule of thumb for T4, and yours is at 78%. On the other hand, T3 is below range.
Are you talking about a regular head ache? or some other type of pain?
I've been on a T3 med for several years and have never had any type of pain from it.
Just to make sure I understand you correctly......... you're on only T3 medication? With no added T4? That's extremely unusual. Why are you being treated with only T3? What's your condition?
Here in the US, we have available some combo T4/T3 types and then there is also the option of taking a T3 med, like Cytomel, along with T4 meds.
T3 containing meds have a half life of less than a day, compared to about 7 days for T4. So typically it is recommended to split the daily dose of T3 meds in half and take in morning and early afternoon. That helps even out the effect of the T3 and also helps prevent any difficulties with going to sleep at night.
What's the reference range for the T3 and T4? And are they Free or Total? If they haven't been tested since Feb, I'd say it's time to test them again.
Even though your results may be within the range on the lab report, they might not be right for you; it's also possible that you aren't converting the T4 to T3 properly. That's why it's so important to test Free T3 and Free T4 every time you have TSH tested.
From Levothyroxine i am absorbing enough T4 at 88 mcg. But still felt maybe i need some T3.
At 90 mcg of Armour I get more than i need T 3(still in range) but almost no T4. Will 3 grains of armour give me too much T3. Would I be ok with that much T3? People that are on 2 or 3 grains of armour dont have any heart problems because of too much T3?
How to know what is better?
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