Anna, yes my TSH is usually within range on the T4-T3 combo, never suppressed. In fact it's usually a bit higher than my Endocrinologst would like, but at this age I feel better with a slightly higher TSH than is usually considered optimal. As mentioned before, that was not the case in younger years - I needed my TSH to be close to suppressed before perimenopause.
I've just found out my latest TSH is actually raised, i.e. above ref range & I now have to increase my thyroid meds to bring it down. That can only be because my Oestradiol (patch) dose was increased a few months ago - this is the first TFT since then. Frustratingly, I've consistently found that taking even transdermal oestradiol affects my requirements for thyroid replacement. Conventional wisdom has it that only oral oestrogen increases thyroid binding globulin & consequently need for thyroid hormone. My feeling is, as with so much relating to hypothyroidism, they need to rewrite the text books!!
My T3 is always below bottom of ref range, despite taking it as part of my thyroid replacement meds, the latest T3 result being quite a bit below range. That's because my Endocrinologist's instructions are no meds before testing, so my last dose is always 24+ hours before bloods are done & as we know, T3 has a short half life. Yes, my T3 dose is also tiny, so there is little to show at time of testing, but it does show lowish-mid range if tested within 3-4 hours of taking T3. Really I need to take another dose or two every day as most patients on T3 do, but can't currently seem to manage this with a broken thermostat & homoeostasis so badly compromised by menopause! Now a good few years postmenopause my HRT is still a work in progress.
I have lost count of all the doctors who tried to force me off NDT and back on levo. Doctors with no knowledge of thyroid disease whatsoever, but who go by the TSH only and tend to freak out when it´s below 0...they start saying I risk a heart attack or osteoporosis.
I'm so sorry Anna, the widespread resistance towards the use of T3 & NDT is a tragedy for those patients who are unwell on Thyroxine alone. Like you, I was repeatedly warned that osteoporosis & heart disease would likely result if I continued to take the T3 bloods always show I can't make enough of for myself. What less enlightened medics often don't take into consideration is that the consequences of being on inadequate thyroid replacement are also serious. It makes me both angry & very upset that the needs of this significant minority of patients are widely disregarded.
Also seems sadly ironic that medical opinion seems to be open to the evidence that there is a very big range of responses to infection with COVID-19, from asymptomatic individuals, through respiratory & renal failure, stroke, cardiac complications etc . . . to death. And yet hypothyroid patients must all fit the mould of having classic symptoms of underactivity & respond well to Thyroxine alone. Judging by what's reported on here, many doctors seem to think that any woman not having flushes can't be menopausal either. The cynic in me wonders whether the difference in taking note has anything to do with the fact that COVID seems to have worse effects in men than women & many more women than men become hypothyroid (& menopausal!) I'm not a classic hypothyroid patient, I'm underweight & lie awake at night in a raging inferno, yet according to my latest TSH I still need to increase my thyroid medication, which will only burn off more calories . . . raising body temperature in the process. It's all so complex & I know so well the sense of isolation that results when we can't get the validation or medical help we need to recover & get on with our lives.
One doctor (a GP) said to me: "I would feel more comfortable if you would go back on levo so that your TSH could normalise". Then I heard myself say: "Well, the problem is that YOU are not the one supposed to feel more comfortable, I am!"
How may other diseases are treated that way...that is, that the patient´s wellbeing and treatment response do not matter, but the only thing that does is the TSH.
I absolutely hear you Anna & share your frustration. I nearly missed your last post & sometimes go weeks without following the forum. I hate to think of any hypothyroid patient struggling alone with worries, especially at such a horrendous time as menopause, so if you want to chat about anything & there's no-one around, please send me a PM. I try to check for those if I'm not reading the forum regularly, but strangely they don't always come through to email.
Wx
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Topic: Estrogen dominance in menopause? (Read 10380 times)