Thyroxine Medication.

[jojo1960]

Hi Everyone,

I have had an Under active Thyroid for many years now and about 3 years ago I was being overdosed with the medication, I was on 175mg `thyroxine at the time and I suffered terribly, I had Ectopic Heartbeats which were very scary and a lot of muscle pain in my neck and the shakes, I went to see my doctor and told him I would like to drop down to 125mg, I know this was quite a drop, but from 150mg up that's when I realised the Ectopic heartbeats would come on, I had a number of heart test at the time, thank fully all came back normal. Anyway, I'm still on 125mg now, my ectopic heart beats have disappeared and my muscle pain has settled down and I feel a whole lot better in myself. The doctors are not always right regarding the amount you should take, I say go with what your body is telling you, that's what I did and it paid off for me? not saying that everyone can do the same but it's worth a try if it makes you feel better. I was on no other medication at the time so I know this was the cause of my symptoms. All my blood test have come back normal. Personally...I wish I could stop taking them permanently, I'm in the menopause now, maybe that will change things for the better? who know??

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum and I am glad you found a way to relieve most of your clinical symptoms. That's how it used to be done before the blood tests - adjust medication until patients symptoms were relieved. Nowadays doctors halt ncreases according to the whereabouts of the TSH and rarely do FT4 and FT3.

You say you still have a couple of symptoms but I wonder if you had a Free T3 blood test if it would show high or low. It is T3 which is the active hormone required in all of our receptor cells. T4 (levothyroxine) is inactive has to convert to T3 and we may not do so efficiently.

You state "All my blood test have come back normal" and they may most certainly are but is TSH 1 or lower and are the Free T4 and Free T3 towards the top of the range?

Has your doctor tested your B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate too as we can be deficient and maybe unaware.

When you have a blood test it should be the very earliest possible, fasting, and allow 24 hours from the last dose of levo and the test. Levo should be taken on an empty stomach usually first thing with one full glass of water and wait about an hour before eating as food can interfere with the uptake.

If you get a print-out of your most recent results from the surgery (some charge a nominal sum for paper/ink and post them for members' comments.

[jojo1960 in reply to shaws]

Thank you for your reply.

I don't have any other symptoms regarding my thyroids, just the menopause symptoms, for which I am coping with at the moment.

My TSH was 0.6 back in Feb 2016 FT4 can't remember what that was?

I have been tested a number of time for Vit D and I was always low, I was treated for a short time by the doctors, but now I take Vit D over the counter, had a blood test a while ago and all is great now, the doctors seem to think I should take them all year round, I have seen a great improvement with my health, skin and nails.

I found I get on much better by taking my Thyroxine last thing at night so they don't interact with anything, and this has worked very well for me.

Next time I have my bloods taken for my Thyroids I will post them on here.

[shaws Administrator in reply to jojo1960]

As you take thyroxine last thing, miss this dose and take after the earliest fasting blood test (you can drink water). You can also take the dose at night as usual.

[jojo1960]

Hi there

Thank you for your reply.

I will be looking in to your comment and do a comparison. Thank you.