Should I ask for my levothyroxine to be increased? TSH "normal.."

[shanmoo]

Hi everyone,

I have Hashimotos disease and was finally put on levothyroxine 3 years ago as I got terrible insomnia, tested and found to be hypo.

Started on 25 mcg then when I had difficulties sleeping again a year later and was feeling rather rubbish, although my test results for TSH and T4 were in the "normal" range they werent great so the doc agreed to increase to 50 mcg and hey presto my insomnia went and I started to feel better.

My TSH at that time was 2.89.

Another year on and Ive got the insomnia again. Just can not get off to sleep. Also voice is struggling, I have headaches and am gaining weight. I have been through a difficult last 10 months following a breakup of an emotionally abusive relationship which has not helped anything, and I have to see the idiot at work so thats obviously a stress factor to take into account. However even on the good days where Im relaxed and feeling ok I still cant get off to sleep. Im often still up 4am and I have to go to work!

My doc has given me Mirtazapine to help me sleep although Ive not started taking them yet. I asked if they would test my thyroid, which they have, it came back as "normal no action" at 3.39.....

For some reason they havent tested my T4?!

I asked my doc to ring me about my meds but they havent done.

I feel bad for going in and disputing with the doc over this but I know that my sleeping issues are being contributed to by my thyroid.

How do I approach this with my doc? I feel brushed off onto antidepressants and told the results say Im fine!!

ps I laugh - had to take "idiot" out of the keywords under the post!

[shanmoo]

PS I should add that I also have fibromyalgia! Thankfully the pain and fatigue are not as bad as they used to be, was in and out of hospital for a long time with it though. If I get a good nights sleep it makes a real difference to everything.

[greygoose in reply to shanmoo]

Shannon, do you know that your 'fibromyalgia' is more than likely a low thyroid symptom. It is not a disease, it is a syndrome, which means it is cause by a disease, more than likely hypothyroidism. That you have it points to the fact that you are undermedicated. You TSH is not 'normal', a truly normal TSH in someone with no thyroid problems, is around 0.8 - 1.25. Your doctor doesn't know much about thyroid does s/he.

Hugs, Grey

[galathea]

You could have a look at the dr toft book.... Less than £5 from amazon.... Its called understanding thyroid disorders. Its endorsed by the bma and dr toft has an excellent pedigree....( although he doesn't understand NDT). So he is clearly someone your doctor would listen to. In his ook he says that on meds, your tsh needs to be somewhere near 1 and your free's towards the top of the range.

You could show the info to your doc and suggest that he gives you enough meds to reduce your tsh.... So you can see if it makes you feel better.

If you just doubled up your meds yourself and ran out early.. How easy is it to pick up another prescription? Would your doc dare to leave you without meds.? I have asked this question many times but never got a reply. I think you could sue your doc if he left you without meds, even if the reason for you running out was because you had taken them at a higher dose than prescribed. Anyone know?

Xx g

[shanmoo in reply to galathea]

Hey thanks

Just checked out that book, the last print one is 2008, the 2012 is Kindle only, is that the one you mean?

Im reluctant to self medicate to be honest, Id much rather have my docs support, atm I am still trying to get through to the surgery to see what to do

[galathea in reply to shanmoo]

I suspect the 2008 book has only recently been put on to kindle, so is showing a 2012 date.

PRobably best to buy the paper copy if you plan to show it your doc... They seem to think computers are all voo doo, magic and trickery. Ths would probably apply to a kindle too. :-(.

[Flower3 in reply to galathea]

In my country the pharmacy controls that. So they can see how many pills they gave you and if you go to early they will say you should still have enough pills. GPs office also, they wil see the date on which they prescribed.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Flower3]

What if you lose some pills? Your bag gets stolen or you drop them down the loo?

[Flower3 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Well that could be a good excuse for some pills. But like me, I get 100 pills so that's enough for 100 days. If I suddenly take 2 pills instead of 1 I would be out of stock in 50 days. That's suspicious so the pharmacy would ask about it.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Flower3]

Buy on web, then. But the "lost pills" is worth trying once to see what happens. You'd probably be taking one extra every other day.