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I do this and have for several years now. I take .075 mg. one day and .50 mg. the next. I have stayed in normal ranges since my endo prescribed this. (You are doing this as prescribed by your doctor? Never adjust meds yourself.) I do fluctuate from .5-1.5 or at each lab check, but I assume that is not unusual. I feel great! Good luck!
Linda,
What’s going on with you that you are going to try two different strengths? Do you remain hyper or hypo? I’ve been on all strenghts and continued to stay hyper, then my Dr. took me off meds for 6 weeks to allow the remaining thyroid tissue to die off, and it did. I finally went hypo again. I did go hypo 5 months after RAI but as soon as I started on synthroid I went back to hyper after taking all dosages. Dr. thinks my thyroid just went into shock afer RAI and I had some remaining live tissue. So no second RAI, just waited for the rest to die off. But now I’m just on .88 which is low for my weight, but it works. Never heard of taking two different strengths of synthroid. I have heard of not taking it one day a week. I guess this is something your Dr. is trying? And if you remain hyper, ask him about getting off all together for a while.
I don’t know if you know how the active chemical in synthroid-like replacement hormones works. But if you don’t,it might help you to understand why alternating doses CAN be effective.
The active hormone in synthroid, and other replacement hormone pills like it, is thyroxin (or T4). Thyroxin is actually a “pro-hormone”, in the sense that it is not the active form of thyroid hormone — T3 is. T4 must be converted into T3 in order to enter the cells and do its job. (T4 has four atoms of iodine; T3 has three.) We take T4 instead of T3 (in most cases) because T4 has a rather long life in the body. This is measured in terms of “half-life”. The half-life of T4 is six and three-quarters DAYS. The half-life of T3 is three-quarters of one day. So when we take T4, the amount of it builds up in the body — it is not used up all at once, every day. It lingers, waiting for the body to turn it into T3 as needed. I consider it a type of “timed-release” thyroid hormone. If you consistently take one dose one day and a different dose the next, you will average out those two doses. In this manner, doctors are able to give a patient slightly more, or slightly less than one of the standardized doses available in pill form. The majority of us are within the normal range for thyroid hormone with one of the standardized pill amounts. But there are patients who need slight adjustments. And there are slightly different ways of handling these types of adjustments, too.
So, if you have found no “normal” dose of synthroid gives you a normal reading, the tactic your doctor is suggestion just might work.
Good luck,
Bobbi — NGDF Online FacilitatorI have done that. Took .100 mcg one day and .112 mcg the next. Now, I have leveled out with the .112 mcg for almost a year. Reminder: these are really small does to begin with and it takes 6 wks or so for bloodwork to register any change in TSH. Joy in NoGA mtns.
Thanks so much for the helpful replies. Great explaination, Bobbi. To answer a few questions – my endo was on board with my desire to try alternate doses. I usually wait eight weeks for a blood test and only a couple of times I waited just six weeks. At some point during the course I feel good (after the first 3 weeks) and then I seem to go a little to far one way or another. The hyper symptoms I get are mainly loose bowel movements and aches in my knees and hips & wrists. This last time I knew I was hypo, FOR ME, when I had constipation, itchy dry skin, cracked lips again and felt very tired. I know what my TSH was prior to getting Graves so I have a target and I’d like to get close to it. I suspect my endo would like for me to settle where I’m at — I wish she could spend a month or two in my shoes.
I feel very positive about this and hearing from those of you who are feeling NORMAL is encouraging.
Linda
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