Has anyone had their Levothyroxine doubled? - Thyroid UK

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Has anyone had their Levothyroxine doubled?

Joyliz profile image
5 Replies

As I said in a previous post, my doctor has increased my levothyroxine from 75 mcg to 150 mcg- starting tomorrow. I`ve asked advice on the other thread and I`ve decided to increase more slowly but all the same I wondered if anyone else has been told to double their dose like this?

Thanks in advance.

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Joyliz
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Joyliz profile image
Joyliz

Thanks for your reply reallyfedup

I thought it was increased by 25 mcg- but if we can increase by 50 mcg every 3 or so weeks, my doctor has still certainly over dosed me. Thank goodness for this forum and having it to come to for advice.

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toJoyliz

Joyliz, reallyfedup, I'm really not happy about that advice. I think 50 mcg would be too much for most people, and every three weeks is definately too fast for levo. It takes six weeks for the levo to be activated, so testing after three weeks would not give you a clear picture of where you are. That all sounds far too fast, in my opinion.

Joyliz profile image
Joyliz

Thank you all for your replies.

There seem to be a mix bunch of opinions. I`ve raised the dose to 100 mcg today from 75 mcg and hoping to listen to my body. I`ve felt for a week or two that my body needs extra but I intend to proceed with care.

Sandy12- I do tend to agree with you by doctors leaving people to suffer needlessly. I do hope your son is ok now.

My grandmother was on 100 thyroxine for many years. She became so hypo that she was having hallucinations, she is about 87yrs now. She didn't hear from her Gp for a year and thought that they would automatically write to her to come for annual testing. When she did have a test her TSH had spiralled out of control and doubled her dose to 200. She has other conditions inc Lupus and hypoparathyroidism (which I also have). Once her TSH went back down (to what I don't know as my nan tends to be very trusting of gp who I know will stick to the ranges - which is what happened when I was living in the same area and registered with same gp), GP then took her back down to 100mcg.

As Sandy12 says, they start people on a very low dose. My TSH at diagnosis was 5.3 and I was started on 25mcg and kept on it for nearly 2 years with no blood tests in between. There was no T4 or T3 or antibodies tested at the time, and I didn't have the knowledge I have now. I was diagnosed purely on TSH and had symptoms for many years before that. Eventually, I moved house to be near a new job (few years ago) and managed to get an increase to 50, then 75 and when I changed jobs and moved again to another area, increased myself to 100.

This is a common theme for many people.

BeansMummy profile image
BeansMummy

All I know is that my own increase has only ever been done by 25 mcg, and it takes me a long time to get used to it. I have terrible palpitations which take forever to settle down.

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