Was taking 150mcg of Levothyroxin, got lowered to 125mcg. Why?

[Soulofthedark96]

i was taking 150mcg of levothyroxin and my doctor just told me after i stopped birth control that my levels were almost undetectable and he put me on 125mcg and i dont understand why? wouldnt he have to go higher not lower?

[Hidden]

Hi Soul, your doctor is probably referring to your TSH level. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is usually high when you are not producing enough thyroid hormones of your own. Do you know what it was? After you begin taking levo, your TSH will reduce to normal as it sees you are now receiving a supply of thyroid hormone and doesn't mind that it is coming from a pill. The sad part is that doctors become afraid if it goes "almost undetectable" as he thinks you may be over medicated. This may or may not be true. Insist that he test both free T3 and free T4 before he lowers your dose. Those numbers are more important than TSH now that you are being medicated. If he refuses you can get tests on your own and even levo on your own. These doctors are still rather clueless about Hashimoto's.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

and put the test results in here, with the 'in range' in brackets. in a new post for us to see and evaluate. x

[Soulofthedark96 in reply to Hidden]

Well i called him yesterday and they said that they want mine to be lower than others to prevent thyroid cancer. Mine tested at 0.003

[Sarahpk in reply to Soulofthedark96]

Have u had thyroid cancer? Those of us who have and had total thyroidectomy it us true we ae kept on suppressed THS to prevent recurrance. This means a higher than ave dose of Levo, not less but are at risk of overmedication in which case free. t4 too high. If not cancer thyroid patient then u r Dr us confused!

[Soulofthedark96 in reply to Sarahpk]

yeah i had Thyroid cancer at 17.

[magsyh]

It could be that while you are on the pill you need a higher amount of levo and now you are off it he thinks you will need less? But if your own thyroid is suppressed and not working it will make no difference if you are off the pill or not as its the levo doing the work and not your thyroid. He should have left you on the 150 unless your ft3 was too high. If you have your results and post them you will get advice xx

[Soulofthedark96 in reply to magsyh]

My thyroid was completely removed due to cancer

[Sarahpk in reply to Soulofthedark96]

Sorry just read this and following advise good!

[Soulofthedark96 in reply to Sarahpk]

thats oki ^^

[Eddie83]

Apparently your doctor is using TSH to estimate your dose. This is WRONG. TSH is a poor diagnostic tool, and almost useless for establishing dose. Your doctor should be using these criteria for dosage: (1) how you feel (most important), and (2) your FT3 & FT4 readings are in-range.