Help! Re taking levothyroxine

[Seebie1981]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and was looking for some advice, I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid 2years ago, initially it was borderline and so was give 10 Levo, I'm now on 175 levo, my doc says my bloods are fine, including my iron levels, I recently asked what exactly was the issue as I don't feel any better for being on the levo and am I'm two minds on whether to stop taking it but am scared.

I still have hair loss, and am putting on weight when I stared the levo I was size 18-20 I'm now size 24.

The doctor told me from the start that production isn't the issue is distribution that the problem, I have asked her re t3 after reading a few blogs on here and she is very dismissive saying there is no definitive study to suggest it will help.

I'm scared of purchasing t3 online as I don't know what I would be getting and I'm not confident purchasing drugs online.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I should approach this with my doctor, do I demand to be referred to a endocrinologist or try reasoning with the doc again.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Thanks

[silverfox7]

welcome to the forum. Something isn't quite right and the only way to get to the bottom of it is to get your T3 tested as I can be dangerous to blindly start on T3 without that knowledge. Being over medicated isn't nice, trust me!

So can you get that tested privately? Medichecks and Blue Horizon are recommended sites and both have special offers from time to time. Medichecks usually do them on a Thursday.

In the mean time have a look on the Thyroid Uk site as they have loads of info re the Thyroid, the best wayto take the medication, and some other things to do or more importantly not to do! You-may, through no fault of your own, be preventing absorbtion, or you may be low in other things that are necessary. So would also be helpful to get your doctor to test Vit B12, Vit D, folate and Ferritin. We are often low in such things but post your results when you get them and ther ranges as it's where in the range that is important and many doctors thing if you are in range then that's fine-it isn't!

The same can be said for your thyroid meds so can you post your last results and the ranges? The ranges are important as they differ from lab to lab. It may be you aren't taking enough of your thyroid meds because doctors become frightened if your TSH is suppressed!

Also can you give us any symptoms as that again can point to where the problem may be. There is a symptom list on the site I mentioned as you may find problems that you didn't realise were Thyroid based and your doctor could even be trying to treat you for them. It's very much a steep learning curve but there is plenty of help along the way and this is viewed by many as the best forum around so you have come to the right place!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

As well as asking GP to test vitamin D, B12, folate & ferritin ask for test of thyroid antibodies to see if you have Hashimoto's.

If you have Hashimoto's then you may be able to get improvements by changing to gluten free diet & supplementing with selenium

See the Thyroid Pharmacist website for lots on Hashimoto's connection to diet & leaky gut

[greygoose]

If production isn't the problem, why do you have to take 175 mcg levo? That doesn't make any sense. What does she mean by 'distribution'? I don't think she knows anything about thyroid. For a start, starting you on 10 mcg levo is totally wrong - unheard of, in fact. Where did you get 10 mcg pills? This is all very strange.

The first thing you should do, is get hold of your blood test results - for as far back as you can - it would be interesting to see the test where you were diagnosed with 'borderline' underactive. You don't happen to remember the numbers, do you?