How are your feeling now? Do you have symptoms?
Update: I saw my endo this week, and now he's asking me to consider radioactive iodine (RAI) because the lab work (the one with the result I've posted above, done in the beginning of August) shows that I have low white blood cell count, which might be due to methimazole.
Now a bit of a recap, at the time when the lab work was done, I was already off methimazole for about 1.5 months (no drug in my system), so I wonder if the white blood cell count has been low for a while. Whether it is attributed to methimazole or not. I'm curious because I have not had any side effect from any of my medication.
If I continue to stop taking methimazole, will my white blood cell count go back to normal? But how fast will my TSH/FT4 go all bad again?
To gypsy_dancer:
I was on methimazole for a about one and a half year (starting from end of 2013). I don't remember my dosage in the beginning, but I took something like 3 times a day in the first few months, then 2 times a day for a few months, and then ultimately 1 pill of 5mg a day remission dose for about 6 months.
The main symptom I got from hyperthyroidism is rapid heartbeat, which I can still feel sometimes if I'm forgot to take beta blocker.
About a month before I was diagnosed, and why I noticed something wrong - in addition to the fast heartbeat, I also had: light hands tremors, easily dizzy from physical activities that I had no problem doing before, sometimes my legs would shake uncontrollably for no reasons, and I had high body temperature. All of these symptoms were gone immediately once I started treatment.
It would be great if you could update us on your condition. I also have Graves and hope that it will go into remission after treatment with MMI. How long were you on the methimazole and what was the dose before you stopped it? Was the dose changed during that time? What other health conditions did you have? I want to do everything I can to get off and stay off the meds.
Thanks.
Once we have antibodies, we have them for life, although TSI (thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin), the antibody associated with Graves', often goes into remission. However, it is always lurking in the body, so relapse is always possible.
Methimazole does not treat the cause of your hyperthyroidism. All it does is relieve the symptoms by staunching the production of thyroid hormones. So, lack of methimazole will not make the relapse stronger. That being said, I have heard many people say that after going into remission, if they came out of remission, Graves' came back with a vengeance. We're all different. You could go into permanent remission. If you continue to monitor TSI, you'll be able to tell if your TSI level is rising.
So should I worry about a relapse? Will stopping Methimazole cause the relapse to be stronger?
Reference ranges vary lab to lab. So, the only way to compare numbers with different ranges is to convert them to a percentage of range. Your number could be different. Part of what determines range is the test kits they use, which have repeatable accuracy, but may not exactly correspond to other test kits. Most reference ranges are fairly close together. I still struggle with what to do with the ones that are way out there.
Percentage of range calculation:
1) Upper limit of range - lower limit of range, e.g. 1.8-0.8 = 1.0
2) Your result - lower limit of range, e.g. 1.3-0.8 = 0.5
3) Divide result #2 by result #1 x 100, e.g. 0.5 / 1.0 x 100 = 50%
I don't have the exact number, but yes, my T3 has always been high, and it didn't change that much. I remember my doctor mentioned it when we moved to the maintenance dose that he wasn't sure the reason for my T3 being high still.
So regarding the FT4, I've noticed that different labs use different reference range, because my number could be consider on the high end side if using other reference range. Does that mean my number will be different based on the different reference?
You were on a very low dose of methimazole before you discontinued it 1.5 months ago. It is out of your system at this point, so the numbers you see are unmedicated.
Your FT4 looks good, but your TT3 is high, as you noted. You say it's always been on the high side. Did it change much when you stopped meds?