Guest guest Posted November 18, 2008 Report Share Posted November 18, 2008 How could ANY doctor not give you a diagnosis with a TSH of 9.0 and FT3 and FT4 so VERY low. This really is unbelievable. Your French laboratory readings are VERY much better. For anybody taking natural thyroid extract, their FT3 is expected to be pretty much at the top of the reference range and the FT4 should be in the upper third. I think this is because you are not on a high enough dose of Armour yet and this will improve as you take in more of the T4. Sorry, but French doctor is incorrect. You need to increase your dose of Armour by half a grain every four weeks until the symptoms have gone and you are left feeling very well. Again, this is another doctor who is treating you to get your blood results where blood results would be for anybody taking synthetic thyroxine - and if he continues to recommend this, you will be left taking little thyroid hormone replacement. You have to decide whether you are going to be guided by this doctor or whether you are to be guided by Dr P? Answers to your questions: No 1. The short answer is yes, it would reduce your FT3 and it would reduce your FT4 and after a while, would increase your TSH. No 2. I don't know the answer to this, but I doubt taking Escort and DHEA would have the effect you mention. The effect they would have is giving your Armour better absorption. No. 3. I would be reluctant at this stage to add a small dose of levothyroxine. I believe a raise in Armour would improve your FT4 reading. However, I do take 25 mcgs T4 with my Armour, but that was for physical reasons. I never quite got rid of all my pain on Armour, and the 25 mcgs managed to do it. I firmly believe in dosing via symptoms and not by blood results. Others may have more input - these are just my personal feelings. Luv - Sheila My questions are: 1. Would reducing to 1.5 grains reduce the T3, raise the T4 and the TSH ? 2. You suggested last post to start Isocort and DHEA, having first tested sex hormones, which I have done and they are okay. I've yet to order these, thinking I would use up my remaining NAE first. If I take Isocort and DHEA would these two hormones have the knock-on effect of reducing the high T3 and raising the T4 and TSH ? 3. Would taking a small dose of T4, along with the 2 grains of Armour, solve the problem or would doing this raise the T3 further by conversion ? I find this very complicated but am hoping you can point me in the right direction. On my latest results I feel I am getting there. Many thanks again for your help and advice. P _,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Hi ilzho and welcome, First let me say if your this low your Dr. should have done more labs to find out why your this low. And he put you on a lower dose then men start on. All this is going to do is stop your body from making the low level of Testosterone your testis were making before you added this low dose of gel. I tell men that start on 5 grams and this is low to retest in 2 weeks to be sure there levels are going up. Some men starting on a low 5 grams dose will end up lower then they started because there brain sees the added Testosterone in there blood and stops sending the LH and FSH messages to there testis and they stop making the testosterone there had in there first set of labs. So you can end up lower then you started and this shut down is what happens when when we men go on TRT. This is why it's dam hard to figure out why your low to start with. Your on a very low dose your Dr. dose not know what he is doing and your need to run from this guy he is doing you more harm the good. Just read the insert that comes with the gels it says to start at 5 grams and to go higher if your levels don't come up. Problem with most Dr.'s is they start men on this low dose and tell them to come back in months for a lab test so you can be left lower then you started and feeling worse. Men need more labs to tell why they are low on testosterone the are a lot of things that can be wrong that lower ones levels and if you fix this your levels will come back up. One is high Estradiol read this link and I see this happen to younger men. http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/89/3/1174 Other things are a low grade infection, high Prolactin levels that can be caused by a tumor on the Pituitary or your low because your Pituitary does not work right and is not telling your Testis to make testosterone this is called Secondary. Your Iron levels can be to high or you have Adrenal Fatigue do to the stress in your life this lower your cortisol levels and stress lowers your testosterone. I can go on for hrs. about what can make a mans T levels go down. And I feel it is criminal to put a man on TRT without testing to see why he is low once you going on TRT it's for life and a lot of things that can lower Testosterone once it's fixed your levels will come back up on there own. If you have not been on this low dose long stop and do labs to find out why your low. Here is a link to labs I tell men they need done adding to your do your Total T4 and T3 for thyroid. http://forums.realthyroidhelp.com/viewtopic.php?f=5 & t=7059 Co-Moderator Phil > From: ilzho <ilzho@...> > Subject: Help with results > > Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 3:47 PM > Hello: > > Just wanted to post my blood results and see what I can > expect now that I am on TRT (androgel). > A few weeks ago I had blood work done in the morning and > after I had fasted. > > Here's my Testosterone Level: > > Testosterone Level: 2.1 ng/ml > TSH: 3.010ulU/ml > > I just had another follow up on my blood work: > > Testosterone Level: 271 n g/dl > % Free Testosterone: 2.74% > Testosterone Free: 7.43 ng/dl > > I have just started androlgel 2.5 grams and hopefully I > will see some changes. > > I am a 38 year old Male, 190 lbs, 6' who has experienced > for a number of years no energy, no libido, just feel like > I'm in a rut. > > I'm hoping to feel different soon. > Does anyone have any insight on using Androgel or any > advice???? > > Thanks > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:47:49 -0000, you wrote: >Hello: > >Just wanted to post my blood results and see what I can expect now that I am on TRT (androgel). >A few weeks ago I had blood work done in the morning and after I had fasted. > >Here's my Testosterone Level: > >Testosterone Level: 2.1 ng/ml >TSH: 3.010ulU/ml > >I just had another follow up on my blood work: > >Testosterone Level: 271 n g/dl >% Free Testosterone: 2.74% >Testosterone Free: 7.43 ng/dl > >I have just started androlgel 2.5 grams and hopefully I will see some changes. > >I am a 38 year old Male, 190 lbs, 6' who has experienced for a number of years no energy, no libido, just feel like I'm in a rut. > >I'm hoping to feel different soon. >Does anyone have any insight on using Androgel or any advice???? > >Thanks 2.5 gr will almost certainly do nothing for you. It says to me the prescribing doctor knows nothing about testosterone. He appears to think it is to supplement. It doesn't work that way. On gels most of us use between 5 gr and 7.5 gr. I found I needed 7.5 gr to reach good levels. But gel is a poor therapy I believe. It stops working for many of us. The skin thickens the application area grows hair which absorbs the gel. the result is less and less T is absorbed. It's also ungodly expensive. In the end I was doing 10g and couldn't bump up past 450. You should be somewhere between 600 and 750 ideally. Most of us do shots of 100 mg/week. BEFORE you started the gel you should have been tested also for E2 and prolactin. Unfortunately you will likely have to stop the gel for a few weeks to see what your natural levels are for E2 and prolactin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Hi Pam - yes, I would most definitely say that your problems are being caused with your very low iron, ferritin (which should be over 90) - low free T3, (which should be in the upper third of the reference range - too low free T4,(which should be above the middle of the reference range, therefore, yours should be around 16). Low thyroid is being shown by your raised TSH level- which would be better at around 1.0.. Your pituitary only secretes TSH when it recognises there is insufficient thyroid hormone circulating in the blood. You need to take some form of elemental iron to raise your ferritin and low iron levels. Has your GP suggested anything? Maybe Ferrous Fumerate or Glutamate 200mgs at least twice a day to start with, with high doses of vitamin C to help with absorption. I am not sure what the effect of the high platelets would have on your thyroid function, but would be interested to know what results come from a bone marrow test. Read everything that you can in our FILES SECTION about hypothyroidism and related conditions, and any questions you have, just shout! Luv - Sheila Serum ferritin 17 (range 10-200U) I seem to be very near the bottom of this range? Thyroid function test Serum free - 4.3 (range 2.6 - 5.7) triiodothyronine level Serum free T4 - 13.3 (range 9.00-22U) TSH - 3.43 (range 0.35-5.00) R Transferrin Serum transferrin 30.6 (range 28.0 42.6U) Transferrin saturation 23 (range 17-57U) Serum iron level 14.1 (range 10.00 - 30.00) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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