Success!! Yesterday after having fought for months to have the GP acknowledge that I have a thyroid problem I have a prescription for Levo to try! My latest TSH was 9.55 (sorry I don't have the range but I think it is below 4.5 for "in range") which she said was approaching 10 in any ones book and I expected her to say we will try another blood test in a few weeks just to make sure but she just wrote me a prescription and said come back for regular testing. I was in and out in a few minutes. And this is from the GP who reduced me to tears a few months ago by saying results of 5.91 and 4.34 were NORMAL and I was unlikely to have a thyroid problem! I feel that I have now an official label for why I feel so awful and it is a huge relief! The key difference I think was that I was very careful to get an early morning fasting test whereas the other tests several months ago were after food and as last as 10.30 in the morning.
Prescription at last!!: Success!! Yesterday after... - Thyroid UK
Prescription at last!!
Well done -finally she saw sense! According to the NICE guidelines seeing a graduate raising of TSH shows that they thyroid is struggling and can start treatment. Did they do a Ft4 as well? Is she going to see you again in 6 weeks -she will need to tilt rate the meds up. Make sure you don't taken your meds until after the early morning blood test.
Hope you asset to feel better soon. Xx
Argggh predictive test 'asset' should be 'start' lol....
Great news bd,
Are you dosing on 25mcg or 50 mcg?
Levothyroxine takes 7/8 days to be absorbed before it starts working & up to six weeks to initially saturate the body which will only tolerate small increases at any one time.
Your doctor should retest your thyroid hormone levels after 6 weeks and adjust the dose according to results.
Leave 24 hours between last dose of Levo and blood draw and whilst fasting have the blood drawn early in the morning when TSH is highest.
It is important to take your pill on an empty stomach with a glass of water, 1 hour before food, 2 hours before supplements and 4 hours before calcium, iron or vit D supplements.
Depending on how long your hypothyroidism has remained undiagnosed, your symptoms may continue for a while, but be assured that you should start to see an improvement once you are wholly medicated.
The goal of Levothyroxine is to restore the patient to euthyroid status and for most people that means TSH just above or below 1.0. Symptoms can lag behind good biochemistry by 6-8 weeks.
People with thyroid issues often have vitamin deficiencies and you advised in a previous post you have low B12 and gut issues. These must be addressed for nutrients and thyroid hormones to be absorbed properly.
The main dietary advice is to avoid all forms of unfermented soy which are very bad for the thyroid and ensure plenty of good fats, carbs and protein at regular times as thyroid hormones don't like sugar//insulin spikes.
Have you been tested for thyroid antibodies TPOAb & TGAb ?
A good read is "Your Thyroid And How To Keep It Healthy" by Dr Barry Durrant Peatfield.
I hope you feel better soon
Flower
Hypothyroidism
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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical guidance from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions.
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Congratulations.
In some 'developed' countries we would be given levothyroxine when our TSH was just over 3 with symptoms.
The UK is the most barbaric by insisting that the TSH reaches 10 before a prescription is due and ignoring completely the patients disabling symptoms or giving anti-d's or any other prescription to keep the patient quiet because they keep appearing in the surgery knowing something is wrong and relying on the GP to tell them.
Instead you're sent off with a flea in your ear for even mentioning the word thyroid or told it is 'in range' at 5+ but to wait till it reaches 10 - if it ever does.
I was even more ignorant - I'd never heard of hypothyroidism or knew anyone who had it. Even worse was eventually finding out none of the ten doctors/specialists - unnecessary op/A&E cardiac dept (discharged as 'Probably Viral with High Cholesterol) no-on did a TSH which was 100 whilst in the A&E cardiac dept
Lots of us have similar stories.
Oh to be back to the days when doctors diagnosed us according to our 'look' plus clinical symptoms (no blood tests then - only a superior skill) and patient given a trial of NDT .
Your starting dose should be 50mcg of levo with an increase in 6 weeks. We have to read and learn and we soon know more than most doctors otherwise we might remain unwell particularly if the think the TSH is 'god' and ignore clinical symptoms.
Thank you to all the replies. Nearly everything I have learnt about testing and ranges and thyroid I have learnt from informative replies like these.
Does anyone know if levo can be taken at a similar time to vit b12 drops or is it best to leave two hours just in case? I find that at the moment I can't tolerate vit d supplements but when the levo kicks in I might be able to. My prescription is for 50 mg and I'm to be retested in 6 weeks and I think she will do B12 again then.
My T4 was 11.07 (sorry I don't have the range but I know it was "in range" which was why I expected more blood tests rather than a prescription).
I know the prescription is just the beginning but I'm still very pleased that finally after several years there is something officially "wrong" and not all in my head or "stress"!!!
I would always leave 4 hours at least between levothyroxine and any supplements, i.e. take them at lunchtime. Some leave 2 hours but I know iron should definitely be 4 hours.
If your B12 drops are sublingual (absorbed through the tongue) I would still leave a gap of two hours.
Test results - what are they saying?
At a loss !
Prescribed levothyroxine at last!
Hi everyone, I haven't been here for a while!
Armour update and GP has cancelled my NHS prescription :(
