How long untill you felt your own self again?

[Flower3]

Hi guys,

yesterday my GP appt and after 7 weeks on 75mcg my results are good (tsh 0,2 and FT4 17,8). Since 2 weeks starting to feel better for the first time in 7 years.

It may sounds odd but it's making me feel anxious. How far will this go? Will I feel myself again? My GP told me this is normal, and because nothing ever worked in the past 7 years it may seem unreal.

From what I've read it takes time for the body to heal after it had to function without enough thyroid hormone. Since I'm just 7 weeks on the right dose I understand that it will take longer for my body to heal.

But I'm wondering, how long can this take? Weeks/months/years? How long did it take for you?

(Ps; I take high dose sublingual B12 and 3000IU vitamin D plus a multivitamin each day for a year now).

[HEA72]

That's sounding really positive, what a relief for you to start noticing some improvement.

It can take time and I don't think this is expressed enough, as I found I got so frustrated when I wasn't improving at the rate I hoped to. It depends on how long you've been ill for to how quickly you recover. That's the theory anyway. I found my mental clarity improved first, then my mood lifted, feeling much more upbeat and I felt motivated and libido started returning (but you may not want to know that one!!). Then gradually the energy started to creep back. It's still work in progress with me as I don't think I'm on my optimum dose of med, as the physical energy and immune system hadn't reached a complete satisfactory level. I found printing off the 'signs and symptoms' sheet form Thyroid UK's website helpful and went through it monthly and then realised how much better I was getting without realising until I noticed the ticks in the boxes became less and less.

Just go careful and try to avoid stress or overdo it physically when you start to feel more energised. I messed up there and found that both caused me to energy crash big time, taking weeks to recover and get back on track again. Best wishes to you on your recovery.

[HEA72 in reply to HEA72]

P.S. I started feeling the mental and emotional improvements within the first few weeks (I'm on NDT), energy improvements after a couple of months, feeling even better energetically after 5 months. 10 months on the best I felt for many years but the energy and immune system still needing work. Still work in progress.

[Flower3 in reply to HEA72]

Thank you so much. It helps to hear other thyroid patients and their experience with this. I don't know any hypothyroid patients in real life.

I noticed at first that my eyes went more open, they feel not so heavy anymore. No eye pain anymore, less headache. And since last saturday the nausea is much better. That's a big improvement of course but still got other symptoms (like no appetite at all).

I realise I'm just starting to heal but at the same time I'm afraid. This felt like my last hope and I really don't know what I would have done if I didn't feel any improvement.

I will keep my rest and give my body time. My GP also said not to make a lot of plans right now.

[Inna]

I had an improvement in most of my symptoms within first couple of weeks starting Levo, later they slowly crawled back and more. Adding T3 helped a little, NDT seems a better option for me.

[Flower3 in reply to Inna]

Thanks for your reply. I want to check my thyroid levels every 3 months for the first year, my GP is ok with that. I also want to check FT3 again (this was also checked just before starting treatment), then I can see if this level also increased. That blood test will be in may so I will wait and give my body time.

[Inna in reply to Flower3]

I think this is a good strategy, good luck!