Hello. I am new to the forum and am REALLY confused by my current situation
I had a Total Thyroidectomy 8 years ago. Understandably, it took a little time to get my levels right but I ended up on 200mcg Levothyroxine daily and felt absolutely fine on this. All went well for some years until routine bloods showed lowered TSH & raised T4. Since then, various GPs have fiddled about with my dosage gradually decreasing it to 150mcg. After decreasing it last time, my blood test actually showed that my T4 had increased even further to 33.9 & TSH now at 0.02!! My GP has written to the Endocrinologist for advice and been told to tell me to reduce me to 100mcg. I am really confused as I am displaying all the symptoms of being under medicated: Weight gain, brittle & splitting nails, fragile skin, hair loss tiredness etc. I am certainly not whip thin or "bouncing off the walls" like a hyperthyroid might be expected to. I am so scared to reduce my meds any further as I do not want to end up being a complete blob but my GP has given me no other option, saying that she wants me to reduce from tomorrow & repeat bloods in 4 weeks. She actually said that, by reducing my Levothyroxine, I might lose some weight which sounded a little odd to me. Can anybody offer any advice please?
Written by
LittleGrey
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I would go back to GP asap and ask for symptoms to be addressed. Take a full written list of all your symptoms with you. Have you ever had your nutrients level checked in particular Vitamin D , B12, Ferritin and Folate? If not ask for blood tests for these also.
Why are they concerned about your TSH being low ????
Did you have your blood test early morning and omit your Levothyroxine that day? If you can't get early morning appointment for next blood test then ask doctor to also test your Cholesterol levels. That way receptionist will make early morning appointment and tell you to fast!
You are very overmedicated to have FT4 33.9. Overmedication can cause weight gain and fatigue. My hair was coming out in clumps when my FT3 was over range. thyroid.about.com/od/thyroi...
It doesn't matter about your TSH. But it's rather strange that your FT4 has risen so high. Do you have any other results on that dose, 150 mcg? Do you have an actual print-out of your results? Or just what your doctor told you?
In any case, they shouldn't reduce you by 50 mcg in one go, it should be 25 at a time. And, four weeks is too soon to test, should be more like 6 weeks.
Are you taking any other medication of supplements?
Thank you all for your comments. I do always get a print out of my results and my FT4 has been 33.9 at it's highest (current) and 22 at it's lowest over the last 10 tests over just under 5 years. I have always taken my Thyroxine first thing in the morning (normally at 6:00) and at least 30 minutes before food and I have always taken it on the days of my blood tests which are usually before 10:00. I find it a little odd that the GP is dropping me from 150 to 100mcg in one go especially as I have had a Total Thyroidectomy. She is of the opinion that there may be some residual Thyroid tissue that they could have left behind but I find it a bit odd that I was fine for 4 years after the operation and all this has happened since. Incidentally, having just re-checked all my results, I had an FT4 of 19.2 (range at that time was 10-19.8) 4 months prior to the operation which was to remove a 3cm tumour (fortunately benign). I do take Glucosamine, Omega 3 and Vitamin D as I am Osteopaenic. Having said that, I was taking the Glucosamine prior to the operation. Any further comments would be most useful and I appreciate the speed with which some of you have already responded. Thank you.
In addition to my last post, I should like to mention that I have a pretty low calorific diet, eat hardly any meat and generally have soya milk or sheeps milk rather than cows. Whether this would have any bearing on my situation, I don't know.
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