first of all, the good news! i have been on a every six month thyroid cancer checkup schedule for the past EIGHT years. just to refresh any one's memory who has not been following my blog, i had stage three papillary thyroid cancer, with an aggressive section of follicular thyroid cancer. two of my parathyroids were also cancerous, and had to be removed. the surgeon also removed eleven lymph nodes. the good news is that now i have graduated to once yearly ultrasounds. i still have to come back in six months for blood work and an office visit. read on for the reasons...
first, my blood work was a bit askew you might say. my t4 was 2.12 ( this labs range is 0.82 to 1.77) and my t3 was 4.0( range of this lab is 2.0 to 4.4) my tsh was LESS THAN 0.006.( range of this lab is 0.450 to 4.5) . to quote a friend of mine, who summed up the feeling you have when your thyroid meds are too high, i felt like " a squirrel in traffic." what really got my attention though, was when my endocrinologist checked my heart. she said, " well, your heart is skipping a beat or two." she then reviewed my blood levels with me, and here is just one reason why i love my doctor. she looked at me and said; " what do you think we should do about this?" i know she knew, but she wanted to make sure that i was in agreement. i said, " well, i think we should reduce the Levoxyl that i take ( pure t4) from 137mcg to 125mcg. since i get very tired in the late afternoon, perhaps we could add 5mcg or so of Cytomel ( pure t3). just to review, our bodies metabolize the t4 into the t3- which is the energy that our bodies run on. synthetic thyroid hormone, like Synthroid, or the Levoxyl that i take, only consist of t4. sometimes, on a cellular level, our bodies do not, for whatever reason, make all of the t3 that we need. that is where the Cytomel(t3) comes in. now, if you are taking a naturally sourced thyroid hormone, like Armour thyroid or Naturethroid, the t4 AND the t3 are in one tablet. there is no one size fits all in the world of thyroid hormone replacement medications. here is a pet peeve of mine: what works best for one, may not be the best choice for another. it is just part of the roller coaster ride one takes when trying to find the best type and dose of thyroid replacement hormone for them. and this changes, it seems, all of the time! we lose or gain weight, we get older, we are sick with other illnesses, are just some of the reasons that one requires a dosage adjustment. whatever medication works for you, Hallelujah! i am certainly not going to suggest that you change to what works best for me. and please, vice versa.
moving on, my last blog discussed bone density, along with some other topics. my bone density test this time showed that my T scores are getting worse. to refresh, a normal T score is 1.0 or above. osteopenia is defined by a T score of between -1.0 and - 2.5. and osteoporosis is defined as a T score of - 2.5 and below. my T score before had been 0.3, which put me in the mild osteopenia range. i went from 0.3 to - 1.2. still osteopenia, but creeping towards osteoporosis. what can one do for this? weight bearing exercise and calcium and vitamin D supplements might help. i am already taking a prescription vitamin D. i had to stop my beloved Zumba classes due to a bad knee, and the fact that i had to have some time off during my breast cancer surgery and chemotherapy. i have recently started Tai Chi classes, but that qualifies more for balance and stress relief rather than any type of weight bearing exercise. i am still " studying on this" as my grandmother used to say. i do not have any answers to possibly improving, or sustaining, an acceptable T score.
so, my next blood work and office visit with my endocrinologist will be in february. i know this is a 2fer blog, and although i usually write about thyroid cancer related material, my next breast cancer check up will be coming up in november of this year. i will be relaying how that appointment went at the appropriate time. along with getting a good breast cancer check up, i am hoping for two more things to happen. first, that with the dosage adjustment in my thyroid replacement hormone, i will feel less like a " squirrel in traffic". secondly, that somehow my bone density will either stay the same, or better yet, improve.
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