Lower T3?

[Guest guest]

Hi, Val,

My latest labs (taken about 10 days ago, when I had been completely

off Armour for 3 days, and on 87.5mcg Cytomel), were:

TSH: <.004 (.35-5.5)

Free T4: .86 (.61-1.76)

Free T3: 6.7 (2.3-4.2)

I wrote to you when I got these results, and you recommended I not

increase my T3 any further, until my T4 and Rt3/receptors cleared.

I'm wondering, though, if I should actually DECREASE my Cytomel dose a

bit...I have a fast pulse these days...have since January (when I was

still on and increasing Armour), but there are definitely days when

it's faster than others (like today it's been an average of 122 all

day)...and once this week I woke up at 3am with a racing heart...pulse

was 143. I imagine, now that I'm completely off all T4 meds, my

receptors are starting to clear, and that might explain these high-

pulse incidents... My Free T3 is so high, though...I probably could

afford to reduce my Cytomel dose, especially since my TSH is also

completely suppressed, so I don't think I'd run the risk of starting

to make my own T4 if I reduced the Cytomel. I only consider lowering

the Cytomel to minimize the effects of the continued clearing of my

receptors/the thyroid dump I expect to get when the receptors fully

clear.

However, I do think the labs will be an important guide here in how

I'm doing/if my receptors are clearing, if the T3 is getting into my

cells, so I don't want to screw anything up by reducing the Cytomel

dosage, either. What do you think? I'm only at 87.5mcg right

now...yesterday and today I actually reduced by 10mcg because of the

two incidents with fast pulse rates...what would you recommend doing?

Stay at the 87.5mcg so I have an apples-to-apples comparison of labs

(I'm having new labs done in 3 weeks for my next appt. with the DO,

including RT3 this time), or reduce the dosage a bit to minimize the

thyroid dump?

And, if you do recommend reducing the dose, how much would you

recommend decreasing by? I have both 25mcg and 5mcg pills.

Thanks much,

Teressa