Morning Guys, I haven't posted for a while as my other health problems have been taking over. I was diagnosed underactive last October and am on 125mcg Levothyroxine daily. As a result of the other problems I was having I have been diagnosed with PMR (polymyalgia Rheumaticia) and on Friday was starred on 15mg oral Prednisolone.
A couple of questions really.....does anyone else take these 2 meds and how has it affected your weight/symptoms? And secondly do the steroids affect the absorbtion of the Levo?
As a side note my last TSH had risen from 0.93 to 1.3 before starting the steroids and I know it's not a great hike but as I didn't know I was having it at that point I had already taken my Levo which I never do, so I'm a little worried it's rising again already and have asked for it to be re-tested when I have my crp and esr re-checked.
Any help/advice would be appreciated x
P's, I am also on a variable cocktail of medictations for other pain problems I have.......I rattle, lol
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birthday1
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birthday1, how long are you supposed to be taking prednisolone at the 15mg dose?
I take prednisone (same equivalent in regards to dosing with prednisolone except prednisolone is in a form the body uses right away). When I get intense flare up of pain and reduction in mobility, I take prednisone for a week or so to tamp things down. Then usually I'm good to go for a few weeks. Then back on for a week, sometimes two weeks.
One really great thing about prednisolone and prednisone is these drugs are the gold standard anti-inflammatories. They work super well and you'll feel a lot better really quickly.
They do have side effects but if you are in severe pain due to inflammation, intelligent dosing will minimize or possibly avoid the side effects.
Hi, I'm initially on this dose for three weeks to get it in my system I suppose and then re-check crp and esr to see how the levels are and then start to reduce down. I'm hoping it really does help with my chronic pain ...some days I can only walk a few steps
Okay, that sounds right. Once you've beaten down the inflammation, you'll be able to cope with a low dose.
(My crp and esr are normal so my problem is a bit different than yours. It's more to do with arthritic changes in the back from herniated discs, spinal stenosis and muscle spasm).
I've had 3 surgeries on my back, the last one being a spinal fusion L4/5 in August 2014 which has failed but through years of compensating for my back I now also have athritis in both knees, chronic back pain, shoulcer pain and so on.....I've put so much weight on through I imobility and my thyroid that it is now also impacting on my joints. Well, I shall keep my fingers crossed. Thank you for coming back to me.
I was diagnosed with PMR in 2000 - this was soon down-graded to fibromyalgia after a private consultation with a Rheumatologist - as I did not want to accept the Steroid prescription from the GP.
In 2005 I was diagnosed with Hashimotos and in the last 11 years I have seen huge improvements and now realise the FM was caused by LOW T3 in my case.
Do you have any other results apart from the TSH ? You really need to know how the FT4 and the FT3 are doing - also you need the thyroid anti-bodies tested - Anti-TPO and Anti-Tg.
What are your levels of VitD - Ferritin - Folate - Iron - B12 ? ?
Hashimotos could well increase the ESR and CRP ..... it did with me.
They have not tested anything other than TSH since I have been medicated. I have been on vit D since October and my levels are still in the mid range. Fbc and ferritin were fine. I'm encouraged that you can now help your pain with your meds and hopefully this will be the case for me. I saw my pain consultant last Tuesday who seemed thrilled I was going on the Prednisolone and is hoping to wean me off my butrans patches if they are successful. I just want to be pain free and not exhausted all the time.
The TSH is not a good test to find out what is really going on with your Thyroid. You really need the FT4 - FT3 and the Anti-bodies tested too. It is possible you could have been Hypo for more years than you thought - hence the damage to your spine, knees. Low T3 can affect bones - tendons - ligaments and muscles - which when inflamed can impact on joints.
I too have had a complicated journey to wellness - if you click onto my name you can have a read ! I have not updated my Profile lately - but I have been Gluten Free for 3 years which has reduced my thyroid anti-bodies considerably.
Many inflammatory conditions can often begin with gut issues.
Your Ferritin that you say is fine - needs to be halfway in the range. Your B12 - what is the result ? That would help your pain as low levels can impact on nerves. I have weekly injections.
i think you really need to investigate further..mark hyman md, stopping autoimmune disease, is a good place to start. Sorry about the punctuation and lack of caps.
I was put on leverthyroxin for under active thyroid. I was started on .25mg and over 6 months the dose was up to 100mg.
This went on for 10 years and I kept on questioning the doctor as I felt over medicated.
About 3 years ago I had a breakdown and my anxiety was terrible and I was nearly hospitalised. This led me to insist that my leverthyroxin be reduced which the doctor did not agree with as my blood tests were normal with taking the medication.
After reducing to .75mg my blood test was perfect as it was on .50mg as it was on .25mg and as it was taking no medication at all.
My blood since have been perfect and my anxiety has gone and I blame being over medicated for all my issues.
My advise is get the specialist to advise not your GP
if your conditions are autoimmune, i would look into to releasing thru diet..autoimmune paleo reset for 30 days of food elimination and stay paleo. Pain and autoimmune are often caused by food. Grain , Dairy are inflammatory foods..stopping them helped many get into remission from arthritis, ms, hashi's, cancer..
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