Tiredness

[fraserbooks]

Hello, I am new here. I have been on a low dose of thyroxine for about two years and at first it seemed to be helping a lot. I lost a stone without dieting mainly from around my middle and I felt other symptoms were going as well. However over the last six months my thyroid symptoms have returned, particularly tiredness. I feel if I do something one day I will have to rest the next. I have been back to my doctor who has increased my thyroxine. However he says that it is unlikely to help with tiredness. Has this been other people's experience?

[PinkNinja]

Am increase may help with the tiredness if you were not in a high enough dose but you won't notice an improvement straight away.

Other things to check are serum iron, ferritin, folate, vitamin b12 and vitamin D. It is fairly common for these to be low or low in range in hypothyroid patients due to impaired digestion among other things. All of these can cause tiredness if they are low or low in the range. They can also affect how well your body can use the thyroxine you are taking. Your doctor shouldn't have any problem doing these tests especially is he doesn't think more thyroxine will help.

As an aside, getting a copy of your blood test results can be helpful for your records.

I how you find the answers soon.

Carolyn x

[shaws Administrator]

Your tiredness may not go if your doctor is one who insists that your TSH is somewhere in the range and that you do not need further increases.

If you can get a print-out of your blood test results with the ranges and post for comments on a new question and say what dose of levothyroxine you take.

If you haven't had Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate tested ask for these to be done as we are usually deficient.

When you have a blood test for your thyroid gland, make the appointment as early as possible and fast (you can drink water) and leave approx 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test. Always get a print-out of your tests for your own records and make sure the ranges are stated as labs differ.

[fraserbooks in reply to shaws]

Thanks folks. I did not know about fasting and missing my thyroxine before hand but my TSH was 11.1. I don't think they took a B12, Iron or vitamin D level, so if I don't feel better I will go back and ask for those.

I am not sure if it is a placebo affect or not but my mental fog seems to be lifting after only a couple of days on a higher dose. I have gone from 50 micrograms a day to 75 micrograms which I know is a small dose.

[shaws Administrator in reply to fraserbooks]

These are relatively new suggestions as some doctors adjust our dose according to the TSH and sometimes we don't feel we need a reduction in fact most times we feel we need a bit more.

You are due another blood test in about 6 weeks or shortly thereafter so ask for the minerals/vitamins to be done too. It is surprising that quite a few of us are deficient and particularly B12 and Vit D are important in that they are 'hormones' too.

webmd.com/osteoporosis/feat...

brainblogger.com/2014/07/30...

If your Vitamin B12 is very low ask your GP to test the intrinsic factor to exclude Pernicious Anaemia.

Some of us are very lucky and take to levothyroxine like a duck to water and will have no problems. Others have some difficulty and need support. Some doctors think it's ok for the TSH to be just 'in the range' whereas most of us need to be at the low end i.e. around 1 or even suppressed but some doctors disagree.