A part of the Billy riddle solved

I got a call from Dr. B last night ... and he finally got hold of the vets at Michigan State's vets.
 
The [linkhttp://www.vegsource.com/animal/dogs/messages/1012184.html#]thyroid[/link] values ... there are actually FOUR of them plus the TSH (thyroid stimulating [linkhttp://www.vegsource.com/animal/dogs/messages/1012184.html#]hormone[/link]). There are two T3 values and two T4 values. 3 of those were very 'low'. One was technically within parameters. The TSH was high (meaning the body was trying to bump up the thyroid production to satisfy the body).
 
This MState vet listened a long time and asked which values were 'low'. Then he talked to Dr. B about the possibility of tick-borne disease vs the auto-immune [linkhttp://www.vegsource.com/animal/dogs/messages/1012184.html#]anemia[/link]. "If you've ruled out the local tick [linkhttp://www.vegsource.com/animal/dogs/messages/1012184.html#]diseases[/link], then probably IMHA is what it is ..."
 
Dr. Bailey said "Well he seems to be responding some to the prednisone ..."
 
"WHOA ... THIS DOG IS ON PREDNISONE???? HOW MUCH AND HOW OFTEN???"
 
Dr. B told him 10 mg twice a day.
 
"AHA!!!! This dog's thyroid values are NOT low. They are exactly as they should be!! The three values that are 'low' are low because of the pred, and it doesn't affect the fourth value!!! There's your answer. The pred is screwing up the values!!"
 
Now, the interesting thing is, I was told by the vet who did the [linkhttp://www.vegsource.com/animal/dogs/messages/1012184.html#]blood[/link] draw that the pred would make the value HIGH ... but nope, the Michigan State vet says they just did a LONG study on this ... and pred actually makes the values read low!!
 
Now Dr. B actually told me to back Billy's Armour thyroid back down to where we had it!! I don't quite totally have my [linkhttp://www.vegsource.com/animal/dogs/messages/1012184.html#]brain[/link] wrapped around this yet, but it looks to me like it literally screws up the 'reading' ... rather than it actually making the thyroid 'low'.
 
Interesting, huh??
 
But at least I can quit worrying about ANOTHER possible immune-mediated thing. PHEW!!!
 
His blood value isn't going 'up' but it's not falling.  But blood values can fluctuate a LOT so they said no improvement was fine as long as he wasn't losing ground.