Can you tell if I was too high in T3, T4 or both?
 

I recently had hyperthyroid symptoms. I cut my armour dosage back 30%. I also take 50 mcg of cytomel/day. Things are back to normal. Can you tell if I was too high in T3, T4 or both?

These are evening measurements 8 hours after my last thyroid medication and about 4 hours after eating.

Tues: temp 99.6 heartrate 96
Wed: temp 98.5 heartrate 96
Thurs: temp 98.3 heartrate 80
Fri: temp 98.1 heartrate 76

I am peri-menopausal. When my hormones change drastically it affects my thyroid levels.
Thanks

Guessing from your temps and heart rate, I'd guess you are.

It helps to know what time of the day the temps were taken. Morning and evening will be lower by .5 pt or so.

Also, if you've ovulated your temperature is up .5 degree until your period starts (or something like that).

I can always tell by how I feel. I get a little anxious, insomniac, heart palps, and so on.

I took the measurements around 10 pm, when my thyroids been good my temp is around 98.0 then.

I actually had 5 symptoms of hyper the first day: short of breath when I walked, pounding heart, and shaky hands after I took cytomel. Of course I was really hungry and gained a few pounds as well.

I was confused because I take armour and cytomel. I wasn't sure which one I should cut.

Do you think if the symptoms come on very fast like that did it means T3 is too high? Or cutting the armour to cut both back is a better choice.

I'm doing fine now though.

If it comes on fast it's T3. It takes along time for the T4 to build up in your blood -- also being hyper from T4 can take a long time to come down from.

That definitely sounds hyper-ish to me.

What are your free T3 and Free T4 test results and lab ranges? Why such a big dose of Cytomel? I know we are all different but I have had a thyroidectomy and my Cytomel dosage is not that large. You need test results not temperature readings for a true picture of what's going on with your levels. ;)

Hey Lisa,
I didn't know I was on a high dose cytomel. I'll try to explain from what I know. I haven't had a thyroid test in 14 months, my doctor prefers to go by how you feel, and traditional hypo/hyper feelings. During my quarterly appointments she spends an entire hour with me. The last thyroid test I had showed high reverse T3 so shes been flipping me onto cytomel and off of armour. Shes going really slow because I have a heart problem. I think the high reverse T3 keeps me from absorbing the T3 completely.

I haven't wanted to continue going off armour because the perimenopause is all the change I can handle right now.

That is a little skewed IMHO-you can't go by how you feel on thyroid meds especially with a heart condition-you do this by testing and you should be getting tested regularly. Your doc has no idea what is going on with your thyroid levels. That is a huge cytomel dose with a heart condition-and usually if you have reverse T3 issues you don't take T4 at all only T3. Check out these websites for more info. :)

http://www.holtorfmed.com/handouts.html

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

I've been doing great the last 4 days, I guess just needed a little tweaking. Perimenopause is rough sometimes. Its hard when the hormones cross react.

Its a different type of medicine, I think its somewhat geographic. When I lived in the midwest I never found a doctor that gave a dang about me feeling good with my thyroid. My experience in so cal is that there are drs that want their patients to be able to function too.

I love my dr, since shes heavily booked, doesn't take insurance, and is pretty pricey I'm guessing a lot of other folks do too.

50mg is not a huge T3 dose on its own. However, combined with armour it might be. How much armour are you on?

Good docs go by how you feel AND bloods also.

You have been taking 3 grains of Armour along with 50 mcg of Cytomel and those are big doses without the proper blood testing. Please check out Pam's advice to you. Glad you are feeling better. :)

That is a big dose of armour. I'm on 90mg of armour and sometimes that feels like too much. 120mg was way too much.

The T3 would be to combat the high RT3, like Scarlet said.

Who is your doctor? I like the ND I'm seeing but he could stand to be a little more aggressive about treating me. I have to push to get him to look at things.

How is your adrenal function? It was low before I know. Did you take herbs or HC?

I do think maybe cutting down on some of the T3 would be an idea. Anyone I know who takes NTH and T3 together takes about 3 grains and adds up to 20-25 T3. More than that combined with NTH seems like it would be unpleasant. To say the least!

I'm really not that into the cytomel. When I switched off synthroid to cytomel it was great. But switching from armour to cytomel didn't have the same positive result so far.

I last took adrenal rebuilder for the adrenals. My temperature completely stabilized.

I saw my dr in june. Shes been really understanding about my finances.

I started taking 2 grains armour/50mcg cytomel felt very hypo again. So I switched to 2.5 grains armour/50mcg cytomel so far so good.