Thyroid Medicine

[Guest LokisMom]

Just wondering if anyone knew how long it would take for thyroid medicine to wear off or "correct" itself?

 

I posted awhile back about the fact that my vet thinks our hypothyroid boy was on too much Soloxine and had become hyperthyroid. The vet adjusted his dose from 2.4mg a day to .6mg per day. I have not taken him back for his next blood work although we will be doing that in a week or two. He has been on the lowered dose for 3 weeks and nothing has changed. The symptoms the vet said pointed to hyperthyroid are all still there. So thus far, his blood work indicates low thryoid according to the previous vet. The current vet said his blood work was normal for a greyhound on the high dose but the symptoms were not normal. Nothing is changing, he still pants heavily all the time, he still shakes, he is still restless and twitchy.

 

In my understanding, thyroid medicine works over time. Is it possible 3 weeks just isn't enough time to notice a change? Or is there something else going on that may be unrelated? I just want to do what is best for our boy and am not familiar enough with thyroid conditions or with Cole to know what the deal is. I guess this could just be "normal" for him?

[Guest shelbygirl07]

In Shelby's case, her thyroid was borderline low so they put her on a real low dose of Soloxine. She started losing weight and so she was taken off the Soloxine all together and gained weight within a week so we noticed the change immediately. My vet said that the Soloxine is out of the system in 3 days maximum.

 

It could be that his thyroid has corrected itself and ne no longer needs the soloxine at all. You might want to talk to the vet about possibly taking him off the thyroid and waiting 2 weeks to test his levels again. That way you can see the change yourself almost immediately.

 

Monitor his weight. he may be losing weight and you can't immediately see it.

[Guest LokisMom]

In Shelby's case, her thyroid was borderline low so they put her on a real low dose of Soloxine. She started losing weight and so she was taken off the Soloxine all together and gained weight within a week so we noticed the change immediately. My vet said that the Soloxine is out of the system in 3 days maximum.

 

It could be that his thyroid has corrected itself and ne no longer needs the soloxine at all. You might want to talk to the vet about possibly taking him off the thyroid and waiting 2 weeks to test his levels again. That way you can see the change yourself almost immediately.

 

Monitor his weight. he may be losing weight and you can't immediately see it.

 

 

He has lost weight. He is down 10lbs under what he weighed last year and is officially under weight. That is part of why I am worried. The vet said the weight would straighten itself out if the thyroid issue got resolved. We did not have him last year and he was already skinny when he came to us so we did not notice the weight loss. His coat is so thick, you can't really see ribs all that easy but now that we know I sure can tell that he is too skinny. Also, he is our first senior and I thought older dogs just tended to be skinnier than young dogs. I feel like such a bad mom especially when the vet was telling us how he was underweight. I could have cried.

[Guest shelbygirl07]

In Shelby's case, her thyroid was borderline low so they put her on a real low dose of Soloxine. She started losing weight and so she was taken off the Soloxine all together and gained weight within a week so we noticed the change immediately. My vet said that the Soloxine is out of the system in 3 days maximum.

 

It could be that his thyroid has corrected itself and ne no longer needs the soloxine at all. You might want to talk to the vet about possibly taking him off the thyroid and waiting 2 weeks to test his levels again. That way you can see the change yourself almost immediately.

 

Monitor his weight. he may be losing weight and you can't immediately see it.

 

 

He has lost weight. He is down 10lbs under what he weighed last year and is officially under weight. That is part of why I am worried. The vet said the weight would straighten itself out if the thyroid issue got resolved. We did not have him last year and he was already skinny when he came to us so we did not notice the weight loss. His coat is so thick, you can't really see ribs all that easy but now that we know I sure can tell that he is too skinny. Also, he is our first senior and I thought older dogs just tended to be skinnier than young dogs. I feel like such a bad mom especially when the vet was telling us how he was underweight. I could have cried.

 

If he doesn't have dietary issues, start mixing in 4-6 oz of pasta (un rinsed) in with his food (Each meal) and that should start his weight gain. Don't add veggies because they can cause the "big D" (from experience) That is a slower way of increasing his weight and stabilizing the weight loss but i would seriously talk to the vet about pulling him from the soloxine and taking it from there. it is very possible that his thryoid has completely corrected itself with the use of the soloxine over the years he was taking it.

Please let me know what you decide to do or what your vet says. I know what you are going through and it is frustrating waiting for answers. Now that shelby has been off the soloxine, she has gained 7 pounds from eating her normal portions of food.

 

Edited to add: her weight gain was over the course of 2 weeks. That's how bad the soloxine was affecting her.

Edited June 10, 2008 by shelbygirl07

[Batmom]

Did the dog come to you with thyroid meds, or did your vet put him on to begin with?

 

If your vet put him on, did he do a full thyroid panel first, or just a T4?

 

If there's no record of any test but a T4, I'd take him off the thyroid meds. You need to wait longer than 2 weeks, tho, before retesting. I believe MSU (the gold standard for thyroid testing) recommends 6 weeks. And that test should be a full thyroid panel, not just a T4.

 

Hang on a sec and I'll give you a link.

 

Here ya go, question #19: http://www.animalhealth.msu.edu/FAQ/Endocr...d_Canine.php#19

 

Scroll up and down the link for some other useful info. Good luck!

[Guest LokisMom]

Did the dog come to you with thyroid meds, or did your vet put him on to begin with?

 

 

Thank you for the link. He came to us on thyroid meds at the higher dosage and has been on them for 5+ years before coming to us. I don't know if they did a full thyroid panel or not as all we have for previous records is a bill showing when the next panel is due.

 

Our vet had said to re test in 3 weeks but I think we will wait a full 6. I will probably also call our vet back and find out if he did a full panel or just the T4 as I am not sure. I didn't even know there was a difference. Time to get to reading about it, I suppose.

[Batmom]

If he's still on the meds, it won't be worthwhile to test him with a full thyroid panel. For that, he does need to be off meds for a period of time.

 

On the other hand, if you're wanting to test his levels while he's on his current dose of thyroid meds, PM Burpdog -- she's got a bunch of experience doing that. There are timing considerations (when after his dose you would draw the blood), etc. For that test you do just want a T4.

[feemandvm]

Did the dog come to you with thyroid meds, or did your vet put him on to begin with?

 

If your vet put him on, did he do a full thyroid panel first, or just a T4?

 

If there's no record of any test but a T4, I'd take him off the thyroid meds. You need to wait longer than 2 weeks, tho, before retesting. I believe MSU (the gold standard for thyroid testing) recommends 6 weeks. And that test should be a full thyroid panel, not just a T4.

 

Hang on a sec and I'll give you a link.

 

Here ya go, question #19: http://www.animalhealth.msu.edu/FAQ/Endocr...d_Canine.php#19

 

Scroll up and down the link for some other useful info. Good luck!

Great post... echos my thoughts exactly.

 

You need to know if this dog is truly hypothyroid. Is there anyway you can access the medical records and test results from when he was started?

[RobinM]

When I got Chloe she had never had a full panel just the thryroid. it was low. .02. They put her on soloxine and she was a new dog. When I brought her home, I waited about 6 weeks and then very, very slowly took her off. I waited 6 weeks after her last weaned pill to do a full panel. It was still very very low. Her "symtoms" reappeared within a week after her last pill. It was horrible. But I had to wait it out to get the full panel done.

 

Once back on the meds, she was indeed a new pup.

 

3 weeks seems plenty of time to see a change reflecting dosage.

[Guest LokisMom]

Did the dog come to you with thyroid meds, or did your vet put him on to begin with?

 

If your vet put him on, did he do a full thyroid panel first, or just a T4?

 

If there's no record of any test but a T4, I'd take him off the thyroid meds. You need to wait longer than 2 weeks, tho, before retesting. I believe MSU (the gold standard for thyroid testing) recommends 6 weeks. And that test should be a full thyroid panel, not just a T4.

 

Hang on a sec and I'll give you a link.

 

Here ya go, question #19: http://www.animalhealth.msu.edu/FAQ/Endocr...d_Canine.php#19

 

Scroll up and down the link for some other useful info. Good luck!

Great post... echos my thoughts exactly.

 

You need to know if this dog is truly hypothyroid. Is there anyway you can access the medical records and test results from when he was started?

 

 

We have his medical records going back to 2001 but they are just what his previous owners were given by the vet. I am not sure if the results would be in there or just bills and what was done and the like. I can dig through them and look. I assume I am just looking for numbers I don't understand that somehow indicate T4 or thyroid or somesuch?

[feemandvm]

I would call the vet that you have the records from and ask for a copy of his thyroid test that they diagnosed him as being hypothyroid. They should have it readily accessible and can provide you with a copy.

 

 

 

It could be that his thyroid has corrected itself and ne no longer needs the soloxine at all.

True hypothyroidism really doesn't "self correct". Dogs can be started on Soloxine and then have it discontinued and be fine but those dogs are not truly hypothyroid. Also remember that thyroid supplementation will cause hair growth, weight loss and extra energy in dogs with normal thyroid levels so "response to treatment" can also be a difficult way to assess if a dog is truly hypothyroid.

 

A low free T4 by equilibrium dialysis paired with a high TSH would be the ideal way to make a true diagnosis of hypothyroidism. If you look at ALL the Greyhounds on thyroid supplementation... I would bet that less than 50% will meet this standard.

[Guest MAXNAV]

I had one dog that started to gain weight, and panting a lot. I brought him in to be checked, and a T4 showed he was hypothyroid. He was put on .5 mg of soloxine 1x day. After 30 days, the vet did another T4 and he was right where he should be. He re-checked him again 90 days, and everything was still great. He then checked him every 6 mos, unless we saw weight gain/loss. At one point, his weight did drop a little so they did another T4 and his dose had to be decreased, as his thyroid had kicked back into gear.

 

My grey was monitered for almost 2 years before he was finally put on .8 mg of soloxine 2x a day. He actually never gained weight like my other dog. When I brought him in for his 30 day re-check, his levels were actually lower. The vet was concerned that I had missed some doses, and said that maybe the dog was ditching the meds somewhere after I gave them, etc. I advised her that there was no way my pup wasn't getting the meds. They had me continue for another 30 days, and when he was then re-checked after being on the meds for a total of 60 days, he was right where he needed to be. The strange thing about this vet is that they don't even want to see him until his next annual check-up, which would be almost a year. I will be setting up a 6 month re-check for another T4 just for my own piece of mind.

 

 

[feemandvm]

I had one dog that started to gain weight, and panting a lot. I brought him in to be checked, and a T4 showed he was hypothyroid. He was put on .5 mg of soloxine 1x day. After 30 days, the vet did another T4 and he was right where he should be. He re-checked him again 90 days, and everything was still great. He then checked him every 6 mos, unless we saw weight gain/loss. At one point, his weight did drop a little so they did another T4 and his dose had to be decreased, as his thyroid had kicked back into gear.

A lot of things can cause fluctuations of a T4. The time that it was drawn is obviously the most logical one. Was it a "peek" or "trough" level? If both levels were done at the same time, then yes it is possible that the thyroid gland decided that it could "work" again... however, dogs with true hypothyroidism are not able to be tapered completely off of supplementation as the thyroid gland does not regain "full function".

 

Also remember that a T4 is a very unreliable way to diagnose hypothyroidism... it is very prone to false positive results as many diseases can lower a T4 (euthyroid sick syndrome).

 

 

[Guest MAXNAV]

A lot of things can cause fluctuations of a T4. The time that it was drawn is obviously the most logical one. Was it a "peek" or "trough" level? If both levels were done at the same time, then yes it is possible that the thyroid gland decided that it could "work" again... however, dogs with true hypothyroidism are not able to be tapered completely off of supplementation as the thyroid gland does not regain "full function".

 

Also remember that a T4 is a very unreliable way to diagnose hypothyroidism... it is very prone to false positive results as many diseases can lower a T4 (euthyroid sick syndrome).

 

Actually, Max was on meds for the rest of his life. He never was totally off them.

[Guest Brindled_Greys]

Mabel has been on thyroid medicine the whole time we've had her. We got her at 4 years old and she is now 11.