My H went through a terrible MLC...depression diagnosis...diabetes diagnosis...alcolism diagnosis...and he had 3 TIA's last summer...and now ED issues that pills don't seem to do much for...
He has been on thyroid treatment for well over 12 years...and just recently his Dr. noted that he was showing TSH in his blood tests...twice they have reduced his thyroid meds...I think he is on Levoxyl or Synthroid, that sounds familiar...the Dr says it is rare to see the thyroid start working after so long of it not doing much at all...any thoughts on this?
ImLin - did they reduce his meds based SOLELY on his blood tests, or was he actually having any symptoms of being overdosed? Thyroid function CAN fluctuate, and sometimes a different supplier of thyroid hormone will be more potent than another, or differences in how someone is taking their medicine may result in increased absorption. Still, it sounds like he was having a lot of medical issues that were possibly related to low thyroid - it could be a mistake to lower his thyroid hormone based solely on a lab test if that doesn't match the rest of his clinical picture.
Try taking his resting pulse and temperature first thing in the morning before he gets out of bed. That can be a useful way to track what is happening. If they lowered his dose and his temperature is 98 and his pulse is 72 - that's probably fine. If his temp goes down to 96.5 and his pulse drops - ummm, probably he needs more thyroid hormone!
Do you know if he's had free T3 and Free T4 checked? Most people on thyroid replacement do best if these are kept in the middle or upper half of the normal range.
