Newly diagnosed

[Alicia1986]

Hi new to forum and newly diagnosed, taking 25mcg thyroxine which was started 5 weeks ago, any idea when I notice a difference in symptoms which are mostly dry skin, weight loss, joint pain, sweating, low heart rate, constipation, feeling cold, tiredness

Thank you for reading

Results before diagnosis

TSH 44 (0.2 - 4.2)

FREE T4 10.3 (12 - 22)

FREE T3 3.1 (3.1 - 6.8)

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODY >1000 (<34)

THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODY 478.3 (<115)

[startagaingirl]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Starting on levothyroxine and increasing dose has to be done slowly to avoid stressing the system. Your 25mcg is a cautious starter dose and you will need several more dose increases before you will reach the correct dose for you. Because it takes 6 weeks to feel the full effect of a dose increase, you should have blood tests to assess progress every 6-8 weeks. Depending on the result of this you should then have a dose increase, but no more than 25mcg each time. The ultimate aim is to have ft3 close to the top of the range and in this case TSH should be 1 or below. But this all requires patience, you didn't get hypo overnight and it won't get better overnight either. It is quite common that you could actually feel worse on a low dose than you did with none because the body effectively relaxes and stops producing so much hormone of its own. Every time you have a blood test ensure that it is done as early as possible, fasting overnight (water only), and 24-36hrs after last dose of levo. If you normally take it at night, skip dose the night before and have it after the test instead. Always get a copy of the results and post them here for advice.

90% of all hypothyroid is caused by an auto-immune condition called Hashimotos and your high anti-body levels show that you are positive for this. This is a condition where your immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid, resulting in cells being killed off. As they die they dump their hormone into the bloodstream, causing what is termed a "Hashi flare", which creates a temporary hyper effect. Once this subsides you become more hypo, as there is now less thyroid tissue to produce the hormone you need.

Hashis is very frequently linked with food intolerances, in order of most people affected gluten, dairy and soy. For this reason, it is normally recommended that anyone with Hashis has a trial of a strict gluten free diet for at least 3 months to see if there are any improvements. You don't need to be coeliac for this, there is another condition called non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, which you can have without any obvious gastric issues. In doing this I personally found quite a severe intolerance of all of these.

There is a lot to learn if you want to have some control over your own condition, for instance nutrient deficiencies are common and it is very important to correct them. A good place to start is our parent website thyroiduk.org.

There is always plenty of advise here, so ask away.

Good luck and I hope you start to feel better soon.

Gillian

[Alicia1986 in reply to startagaingirl]

Thanks I have results of vitamins etc so will post these

[Hidden in reply to startagaingirl]

Fantastic reply SAG.. if you don't mind I'm going to save this one to post for reference later!