Monitoring Thyroid Meds

[Guest suesmom]

How do you decide that your grey is getting the right thyroid dose if T4 is not supposed to be a good measure of thyroid in greyhounds? Sue was originally diagnosed as hypothyroid based on fT4. I had asked the vet to do a "full panel", but they didn't send it off to MSU, so we didn't get the full picture. After months of testing T4, our vet didn't feel like she was seeing good enough response from the meds, as measured by T4 (last reading was 0.6), and referred us to an endocrinologist. We took Sue off her meds for a little more than 6 weeks, so that she could be retested. She just had her nuclear imaging scan this week, and she has NO thyroid activity at all, so she is back on her 0.6 dose twice a day, even before we have the results back from the MSU panel. Is there anything else out there that you use other than T4 to decide if the dosage is correct? Thanks!

[Batmom]

T4 is fine for monitoring although it can also be helpful to run a TSH and make sure it's in normal range. It's a different case when you're medicating the dog versus evaluating native thyroid function. How are her symptoms?

Edited April 22, 2012 by Batmom

[Guest suesmom]

Too soon to tell how she's doing back on the meds. She has always had skin infections, thinning hair, extra lethargic (she's our third, so I'm used to lazy greys, but she's different). We never had any signs of aggression until we took her off meds. She started getting growly with people other than my husband and me, but only inside the home. She has had all the skin problems even when taking the meds . Thanks for your help!

 

Forgot to mention, she's a shy little girlie, but has made progress in the year we've had her

Edited April 22, 2012 by suesmom

[greyhead]

We've monitored T4 all along but decided to do a full panel when there was frequent whining, esp. at night. That's how we found the fT4 pretty high. The TSH was low too. But TSH can be wrong, while fT4 never lies as far as I know. So in answer to your question, I think a fT4 add-on to blood work is a good way to monitor when there's a question, and it costs about $85.

 

Our Spencer did that defensive aggression thing too, among other symptoms, before we had him tested for thyroid years ago. It's disconcerting, to say the least. At least this time it was only whining!

[greyhead]

She just had her nuclear imaging scan this week, and she has NO thyroid activity at all, so she is back on her 0.6 dose twice a day, even before we have the results back from the MSU panel. Is there anything else out there that you use other than T4 to decide if the dosage is correct? Thanks!

I hope you'll share the MSU results with us when you get them.

[Batmom]

What kind of scan was done?

[Guest suesmom]

Excuse the possible spelling mistakes... She had thyroid scintigraphy using technetium. I had asked beforehand if the test was black and white or just a piece of the puzzle. They said it was usually just a piece of the puzzle. But her scan was pretty compelling. Not a single flash of activity in the thyroid. Tomorrow it will be a week since we were there, I will post the blood test results when I hear.

[Batmom]

Ah. Doesn't mean she has no activity whatsoever, just low or impeded (various meds and some other medical conditions can do this IIRC). Hope you can get to the bottom of things and improve her symptoms!

 

 

[gr8kids]

For another opinoin after you get your results is to contact Dr. Jean Dodds at Hemopet in CA. She is an endorcrinologist who is a greyhound savy vet who keeps a log of various criteria such as sex, age, raced, neutered/spayed and all plays a roll on the thyroid. She recommends the full panel. Hope this helps. I've used her often for my girls and went to hear her talks. See the website at www.hemopet.com. You can email and ask for advise w/results.

 

Kathy

[Guest suesmom]

Got the blood test results:

TT4 12

TT3 .9

FT4 5. *** this is flagged as low (range 6-23)

FT3 6.8

T4 auto antibody 11

T3 auto antibody 6

TSH 23

Thyroglobulin auto antibody 7

 

So the only thing that looks low is FT4

[Batmom]

Your dog is low in FT4 on the "all breeds" scale and not low at all for a greyhound. I'd say your dog is entirely normal in this respect and would discontinue the thyroid supplementation. If there's a physiological problem, it isn't here.