I want to stop taking thyroid med. I have half thyroid. I take 25m, tsh is 2.5. Can I?

Question

I feel great so no bad symptoms but there was nothing wrong with the half thyroid they removed and we keep lowering my dose from 100m (by my request from 50 to 25). My numbers are always good on my blood work. I don't understand why we want to shrink & kill my other working half. I would like to try to have it do the job without any meds. I am skeptical on having to take med the rest of my life if my thyroid could possibly do the job. Am I wrong to want to try this?

Answer 1

No, don't stop taking your Synthroid b/c you will get really sick! If you are having uncomfortable side effects then talk to your doctor about it, but 25mcg is a pretty common dosage.

Answer 2

Listen to the new nurse.  Do NOT just stop taking thyroid medication.  Your TSH is your level of thyroid stimulating hormone that is produced by the pituitary gland--but your pituitary gland will keep trying to stimulate your thyroid gland even if it isn't working.  TSH is downregulated by the products of your thyroid gland, so when everything is working, there is a "negative feedback loop"--the products act to reduce the stimulant for new products.  These products are called T3 and T4 (they can be interconverted in the body's tissues, but only made by the thyroid gland).

Synthroid is replacement thyroid hormone--it replaces the T4 that your thyroid gland may not be able to make, or that half of it may not be able to make enough of.  So your level of TSH doesn't tell us anything about how much T3 and T4 you are naturally producing--the synthetic version will also regulate the pituitary.  

Talk to your doctor before altering your medication--please.