Chloe And Her Thyroid

[RobinM]

As most of you know Chloe is hypothyroid. She had a full panel done back in 06. Her T4 was 0.2 and her free was also ridiculously low- but worse than that- she showed all the signs of being hypothyroid. She was a borderline spook, she was losing a lot of hair, she was lethargic etc. The .5 mg of soloxine 2 x day gave us the Chloe we adore.

 

Lately, she seems the slightest bit off. No way to really describe it- I just know my girlie. Rich doesn't see it. Maybe slightly less active- maybe slightly more sedate. She is normally my crazy biotch.

She also has had more head tremors in the last month than she has since we've had her. That was a concern.

 

She was a few months over due for her T4 check. We had it done on Sat.

 

Her T4 was .04. Last time was .07. She also lost weight. She was never overweight as she is a BIG chested girl- but she was at 73 pounds. She is 69 and looks greyt. I have cut back a little bit of treats or just don't give that much but I didn't think it would cause that much of a weight loss.

 

Vet says I should keep a close eye on her but she does not want to up the soloxine yet. She said there is room to do it but she agrees that GH are overly medicated with soloxine.

 

So we will do just that. I don't want to imagine Chloe is not feeling right and sometimes when you have them under a microscope which I tend to do, it's hard to tell what's what.

 

Thoughts?

[Batmom]

How long after dosing is she having the blood draw?

 

What was her TSH when she was originally tested?

[Guest kydie]

Vets like doctors, don't always know what is best for our "kids", I would have a full panel run again, as labs ca be off too, and go from there, if you think she needs more meds, tell the vet so!, just me here, my vet pretty much goes with the flow with me!

[Guest isntitgreyt]

I just read the symptoms and it made me think about Glenda. She was on thyroid meds but the meds weren't sent up with her nor was paperwork showing her bloodwork. I'm still waiting to get it so I can have her follow up with my vet. She doesn't have head tremors but she's shedding something terrible and just not very active. She goes outside and lays down, she comes inside and lays down, she even tries to eat laying down.

[tbhounds]

May not even be thyroid related. I would run a full Chem panel including a cbc and check those teeth

Edited July 21, 2009 by tbhounds

[RobinM]

How long after dosing is she having the blood draw?

 

What was her TSH when she was originally tested?

 

Blood was drawn about 2 hours later and her TSH was <0.10

 

 

Her free was 5

 

T4 - 0.2

[Batmom]

Blood draw is too soon. Should be 4 hours minimum after dosing.

 

You might want to have feemandvm or OSU review her records. With a TSH of .10 and a measurable fT4 ... that suggests she could have something going on other than hypothyroidism. I say this because if she is not hypothyroid and is getting meds -- or if she is hypothyroid and is getting more meds than she should have -- that could be contributing to her tremors, etc. and could make her very ill indeed.

[Wonder]

My vet said to test Passion 4-6 hrs after her dose so yes like Batmom said, 2 was too soon

[RobinM]

With out the meds, she was a wreck.

[Batmom]

With out the meds, she was a wreck.

 

But, unfortunately, that doesn't mean she had or has a hypothyroid condition.

 

Thyroid meds have an impact that can hide a lot of other things. They tend to "brighten" a dog, and they promote hair growth.

 

Based on your descrip of her symptoms lately, if she were my dog, I would want a specialist's review of the initial numbers (in combo with a review of any other bloodwork, meds, etc. that were occurring at that time), and I would want to recheck blood at a later time after dosing. JMO.

[tbhounds]

I agree with Batmom. Why don't you get her first thyroid results and fax them to Dr Dodds @ Hemopet---she was kind enough to review my girls results I'm sure she'll do the same for you.

Edited July 22, 2009 by tbhounds