Any advice pls, started on 25mcg thyroxine for 3mths, increased to 50mcg unable to tolerate 50 as felt so stressed and odd, lost half stone since going on this and I'm small already so could do without that!
Tsh today 8.9 from 5.4 when I started thyroxine t4 16.5 ferritin 45 I worry I'll get worse if I increase but treatment so far has worsened function already chol slightly raised at 5.2 was always very low any advice?? GP will say increase but is there anything else I can do??
Richard, treatment hasn't caused the rise in TSH, it's because you reduced dose from 50mcg. Cholesterol has risen because thyroid hormone is low.
Try increasing Levothyroxine to 25mcg/50mcg alternate days for 2 weeks to acclimate before increasing to 50mcg daily. Have a thyroid blood test 6 weeks after taking 50mcg daily as you may need a further dose increase.
Low ferritin can make it difficult to tolerate dose increases so improve ferritin to half way through range (or to 130 for men) by supplementing Ferrous Fumarate and take each tablet with 500mg-1,000mg vitamin C to aid absorption and minimise constipation.
Ask your GP to do a coeliac screen in case gluten-intolerance is causing weight loss. If not, you'll have to accept that Levothyroxine does cause weight loss in a few of us and will need to eat small frequent meals and snacks to maintain weight.
Hello richard,
I am sorry to hear that you are still feeling so bad.
In a previous post just 18 days ago you advised of low ferritin and low Vit D. It may take a while for these levels to rise even though you are supplementing.
You could try raising Levo dose on alternate days only and see how your body tolerates just a smaller increase.
Did you get all other nutrients tested? If you post the results complete with ranges (numbers in brackets), members will comment. A doctors "normal" is not the same as the levels that members have found to be beneficial.
Flower
Link explaining how low iron affects thyroid meds
You could try taking Levo at bedtime
thyroid.about.com/od/thyroi...
Also might find that taking Soluable Vit C drink just before you take Levo might improve uptake too
TSH Results 
TSH 7.8 Female 30
