Hello again, Elaine!
First of all I want to thank you so much for all that you are doing to help and educate all of us who are struggling with Thyroid Disease.
As you know, I have been struggling with finding a doctor to dose me by my FT4 levels rather than my (fully suppressed) TSH levels. Because of this, and the adverse health effects I have been having due to the high dosing, I have started to taper down my Methimazole on my own.
I started off with a Methimazole dose of 30 mg (and the doctors urging me to increase to 40 mg) and decreased to 20 mg. This helped in some areas (eyes / periods), but after 9 weeks (probably too long) on the 20 mg I was feeling extremely tired again, and napping 2-3 times a day. I was also having a lot of anxiety.
Because of this, as soon as I had my blood levels drawn, I decreased my dose to 15 mg, and began to feel better. My goiter is smaller / softer, my eyes are completely back to normal, and I have less anxiety. There are times, lately, that a feel absolutely great! However, I still need to nap occasionally, although only once a day as needed. Because of this, and feeling physically that I was close, but not quite there, I was pretty sure that I would have some wiggle room when the labs came back to try to get down to at least 10 mg of Methimazole / day (I've been aiming for the recommended 2.5 - 10 mg / day dose).
My previous two FT4's were 1.08 (which I felt terrible at), and 1.13 (still didn't feel well, even though I was mid-level).
I was surprised today to find out that my FT4 level was 1.39 this time. (My scale is 0.76-1.46). And this was on my 20 mg dose.
I'm a little unsure as to what to do now. Should I go back on my 20 mg dose, according to the lab work, or continue on my 15 mg dose , according to my symptoms, until my next labs (end of March)?
Every time I think I've got this figured out, Grave's throws me a curve ball!
I was also wondering if it's harder to taper down Methimazole if you've been on higher doses of it too long. Does the body "get used" to the drug and need it?
Thanks again for all your help. I don't know what I would do without you!
Brightmorningsky
P.S. Your suggestion for using Melatonin to help with the stress of the night shift has been extremely helpful!