Do TSH home monitors exist?

Hello Sarah,  Starting thyroxine and trying to get to the right dose whilst the thyroid gland is still in place and working to some degree can be a tricky business.  I can only tell you what I know from my own experience about this sort of thing.  Half of my thyroid gland was removed 28 years ago due to nodules.  I was given 100mcg of thyroxine (Oroxine) and told that 'at that dose' the remaining thyroid gland would 'go to sleep forever' and the tablet would be all I needed for the rest of my life.   That is what happened and I am ok on this dose.  Now .. I would like to mention 'body weight'.  At the time I weighed 60kg and 100mcg was the dose for a 60kg female of 40 years of age.  Based on the guidelines 1.6mcg of Oroxine per kilo of bodyweight = 96mcg - so I was given the 100mcg tablet.  Some doctors seem to dispute this way of dosing by weight but it worked for me.  If you work out this calculation for yourself you may find out what dose you should likely be on in the end.

I remember when I started on the Oroxine there was a lot going on in my life, three kids and moving house at around that time.  I recall the summer seeming extremely hot .. now when I think back to that time I may have actually been a little over medicated for a few months but that settled down (possibly because the remainder thyroid lobe had still been working to some degree.)  It takes about 9 weeks after a dose change to feel results and your tsh will be changing for 6 months or more 'I know this by experience'.  So testing the tsh every few weeks will not be a reliable way to change your dose.  Only 'you' can determine if the dose must go up or down 'not your doctor' .. you will be muddling about forever if you leave the dosing up to the medical profession.  

If you calculate a dose by the above mentioned system and stay on that dose for several weeks .. you can then determine if you need more or less thyroxine by observing your symptoms - keep a record.  The thyroxine is a powerful hormone and even a very small amount can make a big difference in your body.  Even 1mcg per day makes a difference over an eight week period for me.  When you get close to the right dose you can also cut an extra tablet into halves or quarters and take it either daily or once weekly if you need more.

I have a chart that shows how to take intermediate doses of thyroxine.  If you would like it .. I will probably have to send you the link in a private message as I don't think they like us posting links here.

Hope some of this is helpful to you .. it can be a wilderness for new thyroid patients.

Rosalie 

 

I feel your pain!! The yoyo cycle is a trial for sure. You mentioned you are having symptoms of overmedication. For me they are irritability, weight loss, heart issues ranging from palpatations to full on SVT episodes. Once I was given a full time dose of 125mcg to lower my TSH and it dropped to 0.03. Scary low and I had a couple heart episodes which is nothing to fool around with. My only point is that you should be checking your TSH regularly. After my overmedication scare I recognize how quickly something can wrong in this scenario. I used to check my TSH every 6-8 months apart but have decided I'm going to go in every two monthls now for a while. I seem to have a very small window for my TSH to be in (around 0.8-1.8) where I feel really good and I am willing to invest the time and resources to hit that target. Sadly I've heard terrible things about home testing kits or else I would be the first to jump in that line. It takes a while to figure out your ideal dosage but I promise once you hit it you will feel SO much better! I am literally a different person now than I was when I was getting this all sorted out. Trouble is that your dosage needs will fluctuate with time and thus the regular monitoring.