[flora]

#1060415

Hello everyone –
It’s been a little over a year on my journey with Graves, as my doctor and I continue to tweak the Tapazole to find the dose for me. Although the early wild swings in TSH labs have moderated, and I am now within normal ranges, we are not quite at the sweet spot for me. And, oddly, I seem to be almost more sensitive to the small changes in dosage we are making, than I was to the larger changes earlier in the game. As I dropped from 5.49, to 2.36 and then 2.04 (since February), on a dose that got reduced from 5mg daily, to 5mg every other day, I felt symptoms returning. So we are raising my dose to 5mg, five times a week, starting tomorrow, to try and zero in “my spot”. I have to say, that compared to how miserable I felt last year, at the start of this journey, it is way better! Two questions for my fellow ATD forum friends: How long did it take, with dosage adjustments, to find your Goldilocks dose? And did you experience sensitivity even to small adjustments, and worsening of symptoms, until you got there? Learning as I go, with help from the friends I find here – thanks so much!
Flora

[Kimberly]

#1182491

Hello – My T3/T4 stabilized within a couple of months, and TSH started coming up another couple of months after that.

I’ve needed a few tweaks along the way to stay in the “normal” range, and my labs (especially TSH) will react significantly to very small changes in dosing, but luckily haven’t had *huge* symptom swings. Probably because my T3/T4 are usually fairly consistent.

Hope you’ve finally found that “Goldilocks Dose”!

[flora]

#1182492

Thanks, Kimberly …. Another question, please – at risk of being a Question Box today . The normal range for TSH here is 0.4 to 5.25. But can you be in the range, but still in need of small dose adjustments to get to the spot where you feel just great … I have dropped to 2.04, which is still in the normal range, but my hyper symptoms have crept back in. Just wondering if the whole range is considered the sweet spot, or is the sweet spot a pretty specific place within the range, which of course will be different for everybody – in my case, maybe a little higher than where I am now. Thanks as always for your help!
Flora

[Raspberry]

#1182493

Hi Flora, there is a temporary rise in hyper symptoms as they thyroid levels go up even if they are going up a tiny bit and need to go up. It seems the movement of the hormones themselves does this – likewise you’ll get hypo symptoms as your levels move downward. For me the temporary effects usually last a week at the most two weeks. So I try not to judge the success of any methimazole dosage change till at least that long. I’ve heard that synthroid dosage changes can take even a bit longer to stabilize. But if you still have symptoms past that or the symptoms feel severe definitely talk to the doc!

[Ski]

#1182494

Hi Flora,

It’s good advice to let your body settle a bit after a dose change, but I also wanted to confirm your feeling that the range of “normal” thyroid hormone levels is quite large, but your personal “BEST” is likely a specific spot somewhere within that normal range. It’s wise to look for the exact best spot for you, and your doctor ought to be supportive of that. Keeping a journal of your symptoms can really help with the discussion, doctors love data.

[flora]

#1182495

Thank you so much, Kimberly, Raspberry and Ski – time for me to be patient once again, waiting for things to settle as we close in on my best dose. It’s also good to know that just being in the Normal Range, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are at your spot. I am lucky to have a doctor that takes into account how I am feeling, as we work along together with tweaking my Tapazole – also lucky for the encouragement I find here. Thanks again!

Flora

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