Levothyroxine Dosage & Thyroid Fluctuations: A Patient's Experience

Question
my husband was 67 when his doctor put him on 100MCG of Levothyroxin for borderline hypothyroid. Now, at 68  almost a year later he is borderline hyperthyroid.  He went back to see his physician today and he saw the nurse,  a nurse practitioner and a doctor's assistant, but not his doctor and his thyroid was not even addressed.  They did mention his cholestrol and he just finished treatment IMRT treatment and a seed implant for prostate cancer and they talked a little about that and had him get a blood test. Should he be taking thyroid pills.  I was borderline thyroid once and the doctor would not give me any pills.

Answer
Connie,

Managing thyroid disorder (especially hypothyroidism) is an art form.  It can be tricky and working with just the 'numbers' is not managing the patient but rather lab values.  For more on thyroid disease read my article on my blog.  You can do an internal search for it using the keyword thyroid at www.docsaleeby@blogspot.com

JP Saleeby, MD
www.saleeby.net