How often does your dosage change?

[mountaingoat83]

This question is just for my general interest really. 9 months after being diagnosed I am on 75mcg, tsh was 0.75 a month ago, and I'm feeling mostly good. However at one point when my dose was increased from 25 to 50, my tsh went up quite a bit, so I was just wondering how stable people are when they've found a dose that seems to be working for them, or whether people's levels fluctuate. My doc said to retest in 6 months which seemed reasonable.

Thanks,

Emma

[humanbean]

Based on my own experience, I think it is possible for poorly thyroids to give up the ghost when thyroid medication is introduced. If that happens then I'm not sure what would happen to blood tests part way through the process of finding your correct dose.

[Hansaplatz in reply to humanbean]

When I went for an ultrasound of my thyroid recently the doctor doing it said something that seemed to support that idea - he said there was a distinctive image for a thyroid of people on thyroid hormone replacement (whether T4 or T3) - their thyroid would generally be shrunken rather than enlarged once on treatment, as from what he said it suppresses what remains of the body's natural function. So maybe that is why TSH often tends to goes up for people after a bit of treatment and requires another increase?

[shaws]

If you find clinical symptoms returning, go back to GP for an increase.

[mountaingoat83]

Thanks all, I will keep an eye on things and see how I go. I don't want to fall into a trap of feeling a bit rubbish and instantly blaming my thyroid, because everyone feels rubbish sometimes, but I don't want to do nothing for ages again either if I do notice symptoms.

[crimple]

I was diagnosed hypo in 2007 and dosage increased from 25mcg to 50 to 75 to 100 to 125mcg over about 2 years.

from about 2011 things started to go "pear shaped" and levels needed adjusting. The problem was TEVA 100 mcg tablets that were delivering well under the dosage (MHRA withdrew TEVA licence) I then went on to Actavis 100mcg and was soon Hyper! dose reduced to 100mcg then to 75mcg. (25 mcg tablets are from Mercury Pharma) and a few months ago people were asking if they were delivering the correct dosage! My TSH levels have been on a roller coaster the last 2 years so just bear in mind it could be the medication.