This is on behalf of my brother. He is on 100 mcg thyroxine and his last tsh was about 6 ( from memory ). He is on the journey of titrating up to his optimal dose and has another couple of weeks to go before an increase. He is feeling awful. Tired, irritable, anxious. We've checked iron, vit b12, d etc and they are good.
He has asked his gp to send him to an Endo but she refused. He was going to go private but has put that off for now. He wants to try a little t3 to see if that improves things but his gp was resistant last time he approached the subject. He does not feel any benefit of the 100 mcg thyroxine and feels much worse now then before he started thyroxine.
He has always been quite slim and since being on the thyroxine has put on weight and is looking quite chubby.
He is self employed and struggling to keep his business going. He is worried that it is all going to crumble.
Does anyone know how he could persuade his gp to add in some t3 or would he have to see an Endo?
Thanks in advance
Carolineanne x
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CarolineAnne
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Firstly, I know you said that you have had iron, VitD etc checked and all were good but have you got any results you can post on here as what his GP might say is good will be insufficient for a thyroid sufferer. I ask you to post your brothers results because if I had been given the correct tests (especially iron) and they had all been at optimum levels for a thyroid suffer I would never have had to take T3 and would never have suffered the heart problems it caused and I only started taking T3 because, like your brother, I felt awful on T4 and my GP was refusing to test things like vitD, B12 and in particular (which is the one that I think caused the most problems) ferritin. Since correcting all my vitamins my 100mcg's of T4 is now working to it full potential and I feel fine.
I managed to persuade my GP by telling her that I would have to give up my job (or in his case his business) unless my health improved.
Please post ALL his latest results (with ranges) including his last TSH test and people will comment.
I will post them. But just to let you know I didn't just take the doctors word for it. Lol ! I have been in this thyroid game for 9 years myself unfortunately and have read and researched much in that time so I felt that they were ok.
Glad to here it - I have a link that explains why, in certain people, thyroid medication is not taken up by the cells but stays pooling in the blood, would you like me to try and link it to you to see if it rings any bells.
Sorry if my first answer was things you already knew but on here, unless you state otherwise, the basics are always the first covered.
Thanks Moggie for the link. Sorry I was trying to leave out info that i thought I had covered but i can see that Its difficult to advise unless you have got all the facts.
Anyway he's gonna get me everything later when he gets home from work.
If you email louise.warvill@thyroiduk.org and ask for a copy of Dr Toft's article in Pulse Online. Under question 6, he says some people need a higher dose of levo if still unwell, or the addition of some T3 to a reduced T4. He also states the TSH the GP should be aiming for and it is under 1.
If you email louise.warvill@thyroiduk.org and ask for a copy of Dr Toft's article in Pulse Online. Under question 6, he says some people need a higher dose of levo if still unwell, or the addition of some T3 to a reduced T4. He also states the TSH the GP should be aiming for and it is under 1.
When I was first put on T4, by that time barely able to function, I only felt about 10% better, and the higher the dose went, the worse I felt. I tried T3 alongside but it didnt really seem to change things. Via a series of tests thru a private metabolic illness specialist (ex GP fed up with NHS) I discovered that I was not able to process T4 into T3 therefore the added T4 was just making me toxic. I switched to natural full spectrum thyroxine (has T1,2,3,4) - bought from the US,not very expensive - felt 85% better within 24 hours and now have my life back. NB in the absence of GP support I established the correct dosage for myself using Resting heart rate (taking pulse on waking) and morning temp, and also scales I made up for myself such as 'wellness' and 'anxiety' levels. As it happened, the right level for me was the dose they had started me on with T4, 50 mcg. When I went back to GP to be tested my levels were good, but more importantly i no longer felt ill. Doctors risk suspension in the UK if they prescribe natural thyroxine so can't really blame them, the problem goes much deeper into Pharma-control territory, if you look into the history of Levothyroxine.
According to the bottle, 1 grain represents 65 mg not mcg of thyroxine - my point is that the T4 content of 1 grain is listed as 38mcg, so 1.5 grains contains 57mcg of T4, roughly equivalent to the dosage of synthetic T4 I was originally prescribed by my GP .
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