[NikkiK]

#1060020

Can anyone explain to me why my Free T4 and Free T3 are going down (as they should) on the methimazole but so is my TSH. It has steadily decreased the last two blood draws and is now less than .0006. What does this mean? My endo did not seem too concerned about it and said that it moves around and that he was more interested essentially in what the free T4 and free T3 were doing. I have another blood draw in 6 weeks and he kept my dosage the same. Thanks for any insight you may have into numbers.

[Raspberry]

#1179721

Some find that becoming hypo leads to the Graves’ antibody activity increasing which then lowers the TSH. In my case there was a new dip in TSH after it had recovered as my FT4 neared the bottom of the range and as I developed some hypo symptoms including new eye puffiness so I think there may be something to it.

[Kimberly]

#1179722

Hello – For Graves’ patients, the T4/T3 are particularly important in making dosing decisions; TSH can remain suppressed for quite a while and is not a reliable benchmark as your treatment gets underway. (So kudos to your doc for understanding this!) It’s not completely understood why the TSH takes so long to recover, but antibody activity is one theory. Take care!

[emmtee]

#1179723

My TSH was <0.006 when I was diagnosed and stayed there for several months. I finally came to realize that, for my lab, <0.006 really means "too low to measure." The TSH can lag behind the T3/T4 by several months, so even though your T3 and T4 are getting better, your pituitary gland hasn't got the message yet that it needs to start producing some TSH. It may still be under the impression that you're getting more hyper. Eventually it will figure it out and will turn around.

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