Do you think because you lost a lot of weight that could change the amount of thyroid that your body needs?

I bet it plays in to it. And maybe it's hard getting me adjusted because I keep losing weight. Kind of a nice problem if the palpitations weren't involved LOL

I just want to thank everyone for your ideas and support. Even though I still feel very on edge, it's not manifesting as full out anxiety and I think your posts really helped. I'm also doing a lot more reading on thyroid than I've ever bothered to do. I'm finding it's interesting how much it can affect things in your body.

Ah! That's a good point, Nancy.

Kharma, when I was hyperthyroid with Graves Disease my personality totally changed! I was extremely emotional, anxious. I would fly into a rage if anyone crossed me up. I just thought that was me. It really surprised me after I had my thyroid nuked how my personality changed. In fact, when I went hypothyroid I became blissed out, serene, unflappable, forgetful. Of course, lethargy and sleepiness went along with that.

Since then I've become a firm believer that a lot of our personality is due to the hormonal cocktail coursing through our bodies.

Kharma I don't know if your doctor would go for this but I took propranolol when I had the heart palpitations. I've seen it described as an antidote to too much thyroid and it helps with palps. It is a heart drug so.....

They gave me that too, Nancy. Its a beta blocker isn't it?

Yes it is.

I decided to go without meds today, and lasted all of 4 hours. Not that anything bad was happening, but I haven't missed taking a dose in 7-8 years and mentally I couldn't stand it LOL.

I did only take 60mg though instead of 90mg. I still had 30's left, so took 2 of them. I have to say I noticed a definite reduction in palpitations today. I've had more this evening than earlier, but they're also milder, not as forceful. I think you guys are on to something! I have an appt. with my Dr. Friday to discuss going to 30 or 60 instead of 90.

Thats such great news Kharma. My dr. told me people usually don't get better with thyroid, I wonder if what happened to you is unusual?

The only thing I can think of is quitting smoking somehow triggered something? but I quit almost 2 years ago... so who knows. Maybe it's Atkins LOL

Did you get diagnosed with anything like Hashimoto's? I think that can sort come and go, but gets worse with time.

You know, looking at your numbers again, I'm kind of puzzled. Your T3 and FT4 went down and your TSH went down and your palps got worse. That's weird.

I've never been tested for antibodies that I can recall.

In the time where I was .079 TSH and now where I'm .097 (range .540-5.700) they did get better initially. Within a week after I dropped the dose from 135 to 120mg I noticed a difference. It got better for a couple weeks, then yes, they were worse again. The only way I can explain that is I still must be overdosed and while lowering the armor initially helped, I'm still getting too much overall? Plus if my weight is still changing along with muscle mass (from working out) I suppose it creates a constant need for less (I'm totally guessing here, nothing to base on fact).

I called the pharmacy today. The last dose of Synthroid I had was 125mcg which is about 60-90mg Armor. This was the dose I was on when I first saw this Dr.after I quit smoking. When we tested my TSH was like 28 or 29 (normally mine was 4-5). So in the past year and a half we've been increasing the armor to get my numbers down, but at some point I started getting too much I think.

He was testing my numbers about every 6 weeks while tring to bring the TSH and other numbers in line, I wasn't going long stints without being checked but from May to July that TSH really took a nosedive (went from .272 to .079).

At least I hope it's the armor. Because if it's not, then it'll suck trying to figure out what else is going on

Visited the Dr. today.

I had done another TSH Tuesday even though I had taken one the week before. This appt. had been set up in May and I figured what the heck, go in and see what's up after being on 90mg almost a week. Plus I'd get my T3 and Free T4, which were not taken last week. I was dissapointed though, because for some reason they did not so a Free T4 & T3. He made sure those are scheduled for next time though.

The Dr. showed me today that in less than a week my TSH went from .097 to .385 (range .540-5.700). I know it takes weeks for the TSH to stabilize in your system, but that was pretty amazing right there.

He asked if I was still having palpitations. I explained to him on Wed. this week I started taking 60mg instead of 90mg and while they had improved a lot the past couple of days, they were still there. He suggested we go down to 30mg as of now, then retest in 5 weeks again.

I'd LOVE to go to 30mg, but part of me is wondering if that's going to be not enough? Either way, I think I'll try it and see what happens. He also had me go to the lab to check for antibodies today (thank you for bringing that up Nancy LC!) and I have a treadmill stress test set up for next Friday since the heart palpitations are making me freak out about exercising. The lab person said the antibodies test will be back in about 10 days.

Things are looking up, I'm feeling a lot better already. The heart palpitations feel like gerbils now instead of a big floppy fish. Much less scary! Again, thank you so much for all of your suggestions and input. You were my sanity last week. I also had typed up some of the thoughts from this thread to bring with me and he was impressed by some of the things discussed. I have a good Dr

Well, there's one sure way to find out. Try it! If you start feeling tired and yucky, then its not for you. For instance, I have been feeling like my dose is a bit high. I cut it back to 2g and today I'm feeling a little too pokey and slow and sleepy. I might keep at it for another day and see how I do. But really, you're the one who ultimately needs to be the one to decide where you feel good. So try it and see!

And be assured, nothing bad will happen if you find it isn't high enough. Just bump it back up again. The half-life of the T3 is very short, like 2 days I think. So if you go too low, you'll be back and feeling much better the next dose you take.

I wanted to thank you for the link to the health forum. I started a thread there on Monday.

Short version, saw a new Dr. Monday, and internal medicine guy. He did a lot of tests and called back today. Tomorrow I start on .112 Synthroid and .5mg Cytomel. The Dr. said now I don't have enough TSH and the free t4 is very low. I forgot to ask for ranges on that, he said Free T4 was .57. He's still waiting for T3 tests but he thinks it'll show I was getting too much T3 from the armour but not enough T4.

I've not read a lot on Cytomel, but he said he's had good luck with it for his patients.

Let us know how it works out!