darlswife wrote: »

I've always shed some hair but over the winter it started seriously thinning out. I was already on synthroid (thyroid med for hypothyroid) but when my dr rechecked my thyroid levels there was one level that was off and added another med, cytomel, and now I don't shed at all, and have a 3 inch undergrowth of new hair coming in. If nothing is helping you may want to have your thyroid checked as hair loss is a symptom of underactive thyroid.

@darlswife May I ask what "level" it is that was off? I have been shedding like 10-20x the normal rate of loss for a while now. I just had my thyroid stuff tested, and I'd love to know what I can look for. I'm not in a hurry to add another medication, but I'd love to know so that I can focus that direction. Thanks in advance!

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darlswife wrote: »

I just checked my results. My GFR estimated was 49 which is considered low. My TSH and T3 were barely in normal range and I'd been taking .88 mcg of synthroid for close to a year. He added the cytomel and within weeks my hair stopped falling out. I haven't had bloodwork since then but now I literally have no shedding so I'm not complaining. I hope that info helps. Good luck!!!

Interesting. I had all the hallmark symptoms of low thyroid YEARS before it showed up in my tests results. And we tried Armour for a while, which did nothing at all. I learned after the fact that Armour doses must be finely tuned and often increased dramatically to achieve symptom results. I discontinued it. Later (a couple years), my TSH dropped dramatically by over half, and my doctor put me on synthroid this time, 75 mcg. I had my bloodwork improve but really didn't feel better with it, until I added an iodine/iodide supplement. But then, I got referred to a new endocrinologist. He tested my iodine levels, and they were crazy high, so he wanted me to step down to half pills, which I did, and it was still high, so we stepped down to half a pill every other day until I just got annoyed and stopped. My level there is now back into the highest part of the normal range, but my TSH spiked during this iodine stepdown, so he increased my dosage to 88 mcg, then 100 mcg. Within just a few days of increasing dosage, I could feel a definite difference.

Apparently gallbladder issues, or in my case, having had it removed, means that my body is really bad about converting T4 to the active T3. I didn't know that until recently. I also have a few of the symptoms of Hashi's, but the less common ones, which is totally on par with everything I've ever had/been diagnosed with. I never have ALL the symptoms, and I'm usually missing at least 1 of the biggest red flag symptoms, so I'm terrible to diagnose. I'm going to ask my next bloodwork panel to test for the antibodies that can confirm this. Just to ease my mind, more than anything.

But that also means that since cytomel is a T3 medication, I might end up there, too. I didn't realize that synthroid is a T4 only med until reading today. I knew it was only one, but didn't know which. So until I have more testing, I'm not going to panic or anthing...

So GFR was estimated at over 60, no number given, so I got a "pass" on that test, apparently. My TSH was still out of range for my age, and my understanding is that my T4 and T3 were disproportionate to each other in connection to the TSH...or something...

Ugh, I hate that this is so complicated, and I hate that so much is related to gut. What's the worst, though, IMO, is that the thyroid antibodies can be in your body, doing damage to your thyroid and all for 10-12 years before the results show in your TSH! Good luck on your continued improvements, @darlswife.