My Mum has been ok for many years on Levothyroxine, but has started to struggle with her health after a spell of Glandular Fever...

[missdove]

My Mum has had an underactive thyroid for over 20 years now, she has been on 150mg of Levo for 17 years now and has pretty much carried on with her life as normal (one of the lucky ones!) But recently she has been feeling unwell and also recently has been suffering with Glandular Fever.

She has been getting chills and shivers, hot legs and feet, sweats, spots on her face, and flushes and she says she feels like she is going through the change again even though she is now aged 67, also feeling more tired than usual. Her GP has asked her to drop her Levo to 100mgs and get the bloods checked in 6 weeks, she is a week in and feeling pretty crappy...

These are her latest bloods before the reduction:

Serum Free T4 19 pmol/L Range 10-19

TSH level 0.15ml/L Range 0.35-4.5

Serum Free T3 3.2 pmol/L range 3.5-6.5

Could it be her age needing more or less? Is it because she has been unwell? Is the GP right to reduce the dose? I am rubbish at knowing what the levels should be so any feedback is greatly appreciated...

[marram]

That is a very low T4 to T3 conversion rate. Rather than reducing her levo he should be looking for B12 and iron deficiencies as a possible reason for this.

67 is not particularly old, anyway. (I would say that, anyway - I'm 68!) Is the doctor under the impression that older people just sit in chairs and vegetate, and so need less thyroxine? Or could it possibly be that they sit and vegetate because they don't have enough thyroxine?

It is a myth that old people need less thyroxine, the fact that many older people produce less thyroxine is not because they need less, but because their thyroid glands are failing and they desperately need thyroxine treatment.

It's like saying that a stomach ache leads to an attack of eating unripe apples! (quote from Dr Finlay from donkey's years ago - ask your Mum!)

She probably won't stand up for herself (mind you, I do!) so perhaps you could ask the doctor to check B12 & iron and also point out that the T3 is below the bottom of the range, so why would he want to reduce it?

[missdove]

Ha ha Marram, you do not know my Mum, she sure as hell can and will stick up for herself, and no she is not at the vegetable state at all if ever, like you said 67 is not old at all. She has never really needed to question the thyroid bloods as she has always felt ok, I am the one that struggles...BUT that's a whole other story that most of you will relate to on here!

I will definitely advise her to request B12 and iron deficiencies tests and must say I was doubtful that a decrease would help her.

I will ask her about the saying, I am sure she knows it and my lovely Nan (her Mum) was full of them...We must keep the sayings alive and kicking as they are great.

Thanks for the help

D