Overmedicated?

[SassyAF]

Hi can anyone help me understand the logic behind being overmedicated with thyroxine, but suffering weight gain and exhaustion? You would presume being over medicated would make you feel better not worse? Thankyou x

[Jazzw]

Well no, over medication of levo will never make you feel better. It just causes lots of stress to your body, raises cortisol levels and reduces the amount of T4 being converted to the active hormone T3. Not enough T3 means your body will store fat instead of burning it and leaves you feeling knackered.

I think the answer in your case might have something to do with reverse T3. Here's a bit more about that: stopthethyroidmadness.com/r...

I wouldn't get hung up on getting tested for RT3 - reducing levothyroxine and adding in liothyronine as I believe you are already doing will clear out a lot of the excess T4 and will naturally have the effect of reducing reverse T3.

[SassyAF in reply to Jazzw]

Ok Thankyou. I'm gaining weight rapidly, am exhausted and feel unwell generally. I've been diagnosed for 22 years and am feeling worse than ever before, but phone call today to reduce levothyroxine by 25mg?

[Jazzw in reply to SassyAF]

Ah right - have I misunderstood? Are you going it alone with the T3 or has it been prescribed? What blood tests were these that your surgery seems to have reacted to - from before you started T3 or afterwards?

[SassyAF in reply to Jazzw]

Jazzw tiromel from Turkey. I get my thyroid checked every 3 months as I've always been very low and am on 200 mg daily. All the doc normally says is I have a very depressing relationship with my thyroid. Today I had a voicemail to reduce my thyroxine to 175mg

[SassyAF in reply to SassyAF]

I should have said after being in the tiromel for a week. I haven't felt any better on the tiromel but maybe my doses are too high?

[Jazzw in reply to SassyAF]

What are you taking now?

[Jazzw in reply to SassyAF]

So have you started taking the T3? If you'd started taking the T3 before the blood test, it would most likely suppress your TSH - and your doctor will have reacted to that by reducing Levo. Does the doctor know you're taking T3?

[SassyAF in reply to Jazzw]

Yes I started a week ago. And doc doesn't know

[Jazzw in reply to SassyAF]

So you were already on the T3 at the time you had your bloods done? If so, then that will be why the doctor wants you to reduce. He/she will have seen the TSH drop lower than usual and many GPs have an irrational fear of very low TSHs. - but that happens automatically if you add T3. You may not actually need a reduction in Levo. It would be very interesting to see an FT3 result but the lab may not have done one.

[helbell in reply to SassyAF]

Can you post your results for members to see?

I was exhausted and felt unwell when I went over. In my case I was on NDT and topping up with t3, and my t3 went over the top. Didn't take long to reduce.

[SassyAF in reply to helbell]

Helbell I don't have any results to show.

[helbell in reply to SassyAF]

Ah...can you contact doc to find out why dose reduction, or get a read out from his/her secretary?

[Parbrook]

If you have poor conversion or absorption, then it is very easy to be over-medicated with Levothyroxine and still have symptoms of hypothyroidism due to insufficient T3, which is the active thyroid hormone.

You need to request a copy of your blood test results for TSH, Free T4 and Free T3.

Without these, it will be difficult for anyone (including docs) to give you meaningful advice.

[Hidden]

Hello Carolanne,

It is very hard to know what is going on without blood testing and having the T3 tested is imperative if medicating on T3,

If your doctor/endo don't know you are self medicating, then they won't test your T3 because it is expensive to conduct. You can either tell them or perform your own private test and then post results complete with ranges for members to comment. There is a link below.

Flower

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[Jackie]

Hi In some people HYper is the same symptoms as Hypo. Mine were when I was overdosed and my Endo says it is unusual but can happen.

Jackie

[suzroux]

I felt extremely sick when I went over medicated, when I was still trying to get balanced, much worse than when I was under, also with weight gain and exhaustion. I also assumed from this that I was under medicated, so upped my own dose before my regular blood tests or consulting my doctor and ended up in A&E, thinking I had Malaria. (I'd recently come back from a holiday) (By then my T4 had gone to 132)

Anyway, I learnt from the mistake.

Good luck

[SilverAvocado]

Carolanne, a tip for self medicating, is to always coordinate your dose changes with you scheduled NHS blood tests so that you can take advantage of them. Make any changes at least 6 weeks before a blood test, so that your body will have settled down and you'll get an accurate reading.

Also, am I right in thinking that you are taking the Tiromel in addition to your usual Levo thyroxine dose?

[SassyAF in reply to SilverAvocado]

Thanks everybody for your response. Yes silverAvocado I was taking the tiromel in addition to normal dose.

[SilverAvocado in reply to SassyAF]

Aah, I thought so. That explains why your test results will say you're over medicated. Tiromel and Levothyroxine are different forms of the same medicine, so you must reduce the Levothyroxine as you increase the Tiromel.

I think the advice is to reduce 50mcg of Levothyroxine for every 20mcg of T3. But please search for what Clutter usually advises, I am just going from my poor memory.

That works out well you, because the doctor wants to reduce your prescription, but that doesn't matter because you will need less anyway!

[SassyAF in reply to SilverAvocado]

Thank You! I did reduce initially but then decided to take all thinking I may feel better but it backfired. Thankyou for your help x

[SilverAvocado in reply to SassyAF]

You're welcome! Good luck with it, it takes time to work out exactly your right dose. Being overmedicated can be just as bad as under. This forum is a lifeline, tho

[SassyAF]

Would anyone advise to have a day off all meds and start afresh tomorrow? I had a horrific panic attack in the early hours of this morning brought on by sleep apnoea and I really don't know what to do for the best.

[faith63]

You can be on too much and not converting, which makes you toxic and doesn't relieve hypo symptoms.

[faith63]

you can be overmedicated on t4, not converting it to the active t3..thus getting hyper and hypo symptoms. It like a t4 toxicity. You would need to cut way back on the t4, add t3.

or you are not overmedicated and need more t4, but t3 is the active hormone that controls metabolism.

I hope you found help by now..just ran across your post today.

[SassyAF in reply to faith63]

Thanks faith63 still a bit up and down, maybe one good day when I think I've cracked it, only to be extremely hypo the next day. Blood tests in couple of weeks to see where I'm at x