Levothyroxin and Metavive 11

Hi there - I was diagnosed four years ago with hypothyroid. I have been on Levothyroxin at 50mgs for four years but have never felt great . I decided to stop taking it in August and took iodine and Metavive 11 instead. When I has my TSH tested it had gone up from 4.5 to 5.13. I then started the levo again, but still took the Metavive 11 as well. I went back and had another TSH test and the result was 0.3. I am sharing this because the only thing I have done differently in the four years, is to take the Metavive for the last few weeks, and am assuming that this is what has caused the levels to drop so significantly .

[greygoose]

What time of day did you have the test? Had you eaten? The TSH varies throughout the day, so you can't compare results unless they were all done at the same time, and fasting.

How come your doctor kept you on 50 mcg with a TSH of 5.13? That's much too high, indicating that your dose was too low.

Taking iodine was not a very good idea. It will only help if you tested deficient for iodine, but could make things a whole lot worse. When you were on 50 mcg, you were getting 30 mcg iodine out of that, anyway. And if that didn't help you feel better, then increasing the iodine wasn't likely to help. You needed the finished hormone, not the raw material.

The problem with products like Metavive 11 is that you have no idea if there's any hormone in it, and if so, how much. The manufacturers are not allowed to say. So, it's a very unreliable way of doing things.

I think that what you really need at this point is full thyroid testing.

TSH

FT4

FT3

TPOab

TgAB

vit D

vit B12

folate

ferritin

Then you would have a much better idea of what's going on. Just because your TSH is low, doesn't mean that your thyroid hormones are good. You need to see their level, and whether or not you are converting the levo to T3. The NHS won't do all those tests, I know. So, it would be an investment in your future health to get them done privately.

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

Thank you for your reply. I cannot afford to have all these tests done unfortunately, as I am a pensioner, but I thought it odd that the doctor didn't question my results because they were so different from what it's been for four years. I don't feel well either with the 0.3 or the 5.13 or the 4.5 which its been since I have been on the Levothyroxin. This is why I tried the Metavive 11 as my doctor stated categorically that she would not give me a prescription for NDT. And also why I tried iodine.

[shaws Administrator]

Greygoose has responded magnificently

[greygoose in reply to shaws]

Thank you, shaws.

[Treepie]

You do not say how well you feel now.