Thank you so much for this forum, Elaine. It's most helpful. I hope I can provide enough information to you as I don't have copies of all of my labs.
I was diagnosed with GD in August of 2011. My symptoms at the time were minor and that was consistent with my numbers (TSH was .125). My endo and I discussed not using ATDs at all, but my blood pressure has historically been low normal and my doc was afraid to use a beta-blocker instead.
I started with a daily does of 5 mg of methimazole in mid-August. On 9/30 my labs were FT4 of 1.2 and TSH of 3.41. From there, I cut my dose to 2.5 mg daily. On 12/30 my FT4 was 1.1 and my TSH was 3.13. From there, I was to cut my dose to 2.5 mg every other day. I almost immediately starting feeling kind of edgy with that dose and decided on my won to instead alternate between 2.5 and 1.25 mg daily. On 2/22, my FT4 was 1.0 and my TSH was 4.34. My current instruction is to take 2.5 mg every other day. I'm not confident that that reduction will do the trick.
For a number of reasons, my doc has not given me much confidence in this process. Based on a few of our conversations, I'm fairly certain that she has based her decisions to cut my dosage based solely on my TSH numbers. It's hard to get her attention.
As far as my symptoms go, I've felt mildly hypo since beginning ATD (goiter, constipation, minor fatigue, hair loss, dry eyes, minor weight gain and inability to lose weight). But, my heart rate worries me at times, too. At rest, it's fine, but I still feel it racing at night sometimes and it increases rather quickly with any degree of activity. I'm back to exercising again, but I'm anxious about whether I should be.
My next appointment with my doc is in late March, and I'm not due to have new labs done until then. I'd like to talk to her about block and replace, but am not sure if I should even wait that long to do that and/or if I should seek a consult with another doctor.