Before anybody jumps down my throat, I don't plan on ceasing to take my 100 Levo anytime soon!
In doing a bit of research, I've stumbled across an option that was never really offered to me when I was diagnosed as hypo 11 months back. I recall the doctor mentioning I was only "slightly irregular" (presumably TSH levels), and apparently some in that boat go down a more natural and 'life-altering' approach as apposed to medication.
I'm wondering if its worth my time requesting a history of all my blood work, speaking to my Doctor and looking at that as an option. My question to the thyroid community is, has anybody heard of this being done before? I'm wondering if its now a case of being in too deep and no longer being able to produce the hormone naturally.
Let me know what you think, and if its worth the time looking into
Matt
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mattioso
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If you have had thyroid antibodies tested and you have Hashimoto's, then playing around with thyroxine dose is not advisable. You could try going gluten free diet wise if you do have antibodies.
If you do not have Hashi, then you could get an iodine excretion test done to see if your iodine intake from diet is low. There are people who have hypothyroid problems because of low iodiine and selenium intake from their diet.
By life altering I meant things like gluten free It feels like the deeper I dig the more stories I find of not misdiagnosis of thyroid conditions, but certainly other avenues not being explored to cure other potential issues effecting TSH levels, with doctors jumping to synthetically increase levels instead.
I think the safest thing to do would be to make whatever life-altering changes you want to make, and then see if you end up feeling over-medicated.
I know that getting my minerals and vitamins up helped to improve my FT4 and FT3 levels, and my conversion rate improved. (I still have a thyroid and I have never had positive antibody tests.) But they still weren't good enough to give me a good quality of life, and I still take T3 alone.
Another thing I did was to go gluten-free. That helped too. But again, it wasn't a cure-all.
You might find the sites written by Izabella Wentz of interest. She has also written a book. She calls herself the Thyroid Pharmacist - she is a sufferer of Hashimoto's herself. Just google her name and the first links to come up are her sites.
I think that's the plan going forward. I'll be seeing a lot of doctors over the course of the next month or two, but living a cleaner lifestyle is probably a great thing for all that are hypo.
I need to press on and get more tests such as the ones you speak of, I've merely had the diagnosis of "slightly hypothyroid" in the last year, with medication being upped once.
Thanks for the author suggestion, I'll have a read over her work tonight!
Mattioso, lifestyle and dietary changes may help some patients with suboptimal thyroid levels that don't qualify for treatment. They can't restore thyroid function to a Hashimoto's damaged thyroid but they may reduce further Hashi attacks and antibodies. Adopting the changes may improve your T4 to T3 conversion but I think its unlikely they'll kick into gear a thyroid that needs 100mcg Levothyroxine.
It may be worth making the changes and see whether Levothyroxine dose needs reducing as Humanbean suggested.
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It feels like the deeper I dig the more stories I find of not misdiagnosis of thyroid conditions, but certainly other avenues not being explored to cure other potential issues effecting TSH levels, with doctors jumping to synthetically increase levels instead.
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