Posted by softheprairie on August 11, 2009, at 1:48:25
In reply to Re: I'm really glad to have my Cytomel » softheprairie, posted by floatingbridge on August 10, 2009, at 20:31:07
> Softtheprarie,
>
> do you mind me asking what your tsh level is--where you like it and where it becomes almost hyperthyroid?
>Neither my primary care doctor nor my psychiatrist test it very often, and I guess I don't mind/don't push it, since I read a few years ago from some thyroid patient advocates who say not to go so much by the TSH, but by how you feel and a panel of several thyroid measures that my PCP and psychiatrist are not that knowledgeable about (free T4, free T3, TSH, etc.). And I am not all that inclined to try to go to an endo since I have read so many times of endos not caring about how the pateint feels, but just going by whether you are in or out of the too large "normal" range for TSH. (Well, I have been tempted to try to go to an endo to try to get a med for my diabetes that has as a known, common side effect easy weight loss, but that might piss off my PCP, and I still need to be able to count on her seeing me in general. She believes my diabetes is in good enough control w/ metformin and lifestyle things that I don't need the Byetta. But, here again, I am sort of peeved that she gives so much weight to my good A1c blood level from the lab, but not my home readings that are too high.) But, anyways, to answer your question, I'm going by memory and not entirely sure these are accurate, but I think my TSH was 0.4 on Cytomel, and I recall saying to my pdoc "that's just where I want it," and I was feeling pretty good (that is, *relative, for me,* and still unemployed and not high functioning in the world). After a while, I asked my pdoc if I could try going back to levothyroxine (T4, generic Synthroid) again, instead of the Cytomel, in an attempt to save money. I had a slow but increasing decline in mood, although, to be fair, the dose was not as high as it could have been, and if an equivalency chart I found online is accurate, the Synthroid equivalent to 50 mcg Cytomel is 200 mcg, while my pdoc only got me back to taking 150. Anyways, my lowered mood time there corresponded to a TSH of 2.5, I think it was. So I asked to go back to Cytomel, which I am still on. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have such a cooperative psychiatrist.
> BTW, I've always liked your babble alias :)
>
> fbAwww, gee, thanks :)
poster:softheprairie
thread:911196
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090810/msgs/911490.html