# Test results after lowering my dose from 30-10mg (and finding a new endo!)



## slivola (Jun 27, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I wanted to give an update on my quest to lower my dosage while my former endo insisted on keeping it high. Without the support and resources from all of you in this forum, I would still be taking a 30mg/day dose of methimazole since June 11th and would be very hypo! Instead, I lowered it to 10mg at the end of July and just retested yesterday and I am not even close to being hyper. However, my Free T4 is now no longer at the higher end of the range and I'm starting to feel some soreness when I touch my thryoid area and have been chilly at night like I was when I needed to lower from 30 to 10mg. So it's definitely time to reduce to 5mg for today and then I will see what my new endo thinks when I meet him on Wednesday. Here are my labs, and if any of you have any suggestions, you know I always appreciate them!

Thank you!

T4 FREE (range 0.8-1.5 ng/dL)
6/7/2012: 3.08
7/30/2012: 1.3
9/1/2012: 1.1

T3 (range: 58-159 ng/dL)
6/7/2012: 341
7/30/12 : 118
9/1/12: 96

TSH (range: 0.35 - 4.00 uIU/mL)
6/7/2012: <0.01
7/30/12 : <0.01
9/1/12: .01

TSI 6/11/12: 345 (range <125)
TPOAB 6/7/12: 79.3(range <5.6ml)


----------



## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

I like your 7/30 labs better than your most recent.

You are probably right and a decrease in your meds is indicated.

Be careful how you position your dose reductions with your new endo - like telling him you did it on your own - to avoid being labeled as a non compliant patient.

Instead interview the endo to see if they are willing to treat you on how you feel in addition to your labs.

Be sure your new endo agrees to test your FT-4 and FT-3 every time. TSH lags or is non existent due to antibodies.

You probably will need to be tested every 4 weeks at this point to see how you do. I tested every 4 weeks for almost 4.5 years on ATD's and adjusted monthly. I hope you have better luck than I did.


----------



## slivola (Jun 27, 2012)

Lovlkn said:


> I like your 7/30 labs better than your most recent.
> 
> You are probably right and a decrease in your meds is indicated.
> 
> ...


I liked my 7/30 labs better, too! I'm so grateful I didn't listen to my former endo and stay on the 30mg. I would have been seriously hypo by now!

Thank you for your very helpful suggestions with how to position the history of how I changed my own dose on my own, and the types of questions to ask. This appointment on Wednesday is actually considered a "consult" so I it will definitely be more like an interview. I want to ask him about how he interprets TSH results (making sure he doesn't thing the TSH is the tell all, end all test). Good point about asking if he's willing to treat me based on my labs AND how I feel. Unfortunately, my health plan doesn't offer Free T3, but I will still ask his opinion about it since there's a nearby lab where I can get it done. I agree with you about not wanting the new endo to think I'm a non compliant patient, and I have been thinking about this as well. I was planning on saying that I consulted privately with a scientist specializing in graves (which I did with Elaine Moore) to help me decide on my new dosages while waiting for this new consultation. This new endo was referred to me from someone on this board who said this doctor is very conservative with dosages- he usually starts his patients off at 5mg, so I'm hopeful we will be a much better fit.

Thank you again for your very helpful post!


----------

