June labs

I have been feeling irritable and achy and having heart palpitations, so I increased PTU from 50 mg. daily to 75 mg (50 in AM and 25 in PM) daily, asked for labs this month.

After a week on the increased dosage, I feel better, although the sore joints persist.

Here's the hormonal progression, with the latest figure in bold:

TSH went from below 0.05 -> 0.17 -> 3.81 -> 3.28 -> 1.87 -> 0.47

Free T4 went from 1.3 -> 0.7 -> 0.6 -> 0.7 -> 0.8 -> 0.8

Free T3 went from 5.2 to 2.5 -> 2.4 -> 2.8 -> 3.0 -> 3.2

So everything is normal, although I suspect that I was slipping into a less-than-optimal zone, based on the way I felt. The physician's advice was to continue the current PTU dosage.

While there is a wide range of "normal" TSH, most people seem to do best in the 1–2 range, and indeed, I felt best there, too.

As an aside, I'm curious to see what my TSH was historically, the times I'd had it checked in my 20s and 30s for OB checkups and other reasons. I suspect that I have tended to be hypothyroid through the years.

Augh—feeling hit by a truck

Okay—maybe that's a bit melodramatic. But as before, when the thyroid was running high, every finger joint as well as the knees and back are in terrible pain.

Arthralgia is not uncommon with hyperthyroidism. All I can say personally is that my own pain would flare from time to time over 4 years, then really got bad as the hyperthyroidism accelerated. After beginning to take antithyroid drugs, it went away completely—until this week. I can't believe how poleaxed by it I feel, especially the back pain.

Heart palpitations back

The heart palpitations are back and I think I'm headed into hyperthyroid territory again. Other little clues, such as complete impatience with family and friends and scattered thoughts, led me to cut a bunch of PTU pills in half and add 25 mg to my regimen, later in the day. I hope that this will keep my thyroid levels in the "sweet spot."

At least I have no tremors yet, or not many, so, judging from last time, I am probably not in the proper hyperthyroid realm quite yet. Back then, the tremors and weakness were overwhelming.