Thyroid hormone?

[rachel35a]

I was wondering, is it possible that when diagnosed with an underactive thyroid that rather than the thyroid being faulty it's whatever it is that stores the hormone that's gone wrong?

From all I've read it's supposed to take weeks for the build up when taking levo but if I miss my tablet in the morning or take it late I feel rubbish by that same evening.

Also when I was first diagnosed I was feeling a whole lot better within a week of starting my meds. My tsh level went from 98.8 to 7 ish in just 4 weeks.

Any ideas?

[eeng]

Some people are very sensitive to their thyroid meds. I just take Levothyroxine, but if I go without for a weekend I feel terrible, and every time I increase my dose I can feel the benefit within 1-2 days.

What dose did you start on? Many doctors start their new patients on 25mcg or 50mcg, but others prescribe more if the TSH is as high as yours was.

Remember you are aiming for a TSH of around 1, otherwise you will probably start to feel less well as time goes by. I think you will end up on a higher dose, and that's why you feel worse when you miss a tablet - your body hasn't quite got enough to store any yet, it uses up whatever you take by the end of the day.

Some people struggle to convert the T4 they take (Levothyroxine for example) into the active T3 hormone. I think you are the opposite - your body grabs every molecule of T4 you take and converts it into the T3 it has been gasping for and uses it.

[rachel35a in reply to eeng]

I was diagnosed last March, started on 100 of levo and it's never been changed. My last result that I saw was September time and I was down to 0.4

What you say makes sense to me, I normally take my tablet around 4am go back to sleep then get up and have coffee just before 7. By 10pm I'm asleep or very close.

Yesterday I forgot my tablet till I got up at 7 so I took it with my coffee, I was falling asleep sitting up by 8.30pm.

I'm due a review of bloods in march so I'll see how my levels are doing then

[Clutter]

Rachel35A, there's no doubt at all that your thyroid has failed for TSH to be 98.8 and drop to 7 in 4 weeks after taking 100mcg. As Eeng, says some people respond very quickly to replacement and may be sensitive to missing or increasing dose.