Hypothyroid symptoms

[Semira]

I have been diagnosed with hashimoto in June'2017. After 5 weeks medical treatment with 75mg levothroxine, I still have symptoms like: inflammation of hands, chest pain and stomach pain. Is it normal?

[MiniMum97]

It's very early days. It takes months to get on the right dose of levo and then for symptoms to subside - apparently symptoms can lag behind good blood test results by a number of months too. Did you start on 75mcg? Usually the starting dose is 50mcg, which should then be increased by 25mcg every 6 weeks until your TSH is under 1 and T4 in top third of range and T3 in upper part of range.

Are you booked in for another blood test?

Do you know about having your thyroid blood tests as early as possible in the morning, on an empty stomach? Your last dose of levo should be taken at least 24 hrs before the test. You should also not take any supplements containing biotin for at least 4/5 days before as they can give false results. I stop all supplements at least 4/5 days before.

Have you had your ferritin, vitamin D, folate and vitamin B12 levels checked?

[Semira in reply to MiniMum97]

I really thank you a lot for your answer. I feel better now.

Yes I've started with 75mg and after 5 weeks my TSH dropped from 7.8 to 1.13. But also my hemoglobine level dropped from 13.5 to 12.9. According to my endocrinologist the symptoms I have should not be linked to hypothyroidism. That made me worried a lot.

I am based in France. The knowledge of people here is amazing.

Does anybody has similar symptoms like me?

[greygoose in reply to Semira]

Endos know very little about thyroid, and are very quick to say that symptoms are not due to hypo, when, in reality, they have no idea what hypo symptoms are!

You need more that your TSH to be tested to know how well you are medicated. Your TSH could be suppressed, but your FT3 too low, and it's the FT3 that is the important number. And, as MiniMum said, it's far to soon for you body to have sorted itself out, even if you are on the right dose. These things can take years! But, my endo told me I would be better in two weeks! lol They just have no idea of the reality.

Insist on having your FT4 and FT3 tested, next time. You need to know how well you're converting.

[Semira in reply to greygoose]

Here are my latest results:

Iron: 78 mg/dl (50-170)

Vitamin D25 OH (D2+D3) : 29 ng/ml (30-100)

B12: 560 pg/ml (211-911)

Folates (B9) :14.28 ng/ml >5.38

Ferritine : 33 ng/ml (10-291)

T3F: 0,27ng/dl (0.23 - 0.42)

T4F: 1.27ng/dl (0.90-1.26)

TSH: 1.25 mUI/ml (0.55-4.78)

I have started 75mg levothroxine treatment for about 7 weeks now.

Basically my TSH and FT4 has improved, but FT3 remains the same..

I am taking 200mg Selenium, B12 and Vitamine D supplements since 2 weeks after reading the advices here.

As I said earlier, I feel much better than before treatment, but I still have symptoms, inflammation, light pains..

What do you suggest?

Thanks a lot!

[greygoose in reply to Semira]

Well, you obviously have a conversion problem, that stands out a mile. And, the solution is not to keep increasing the levo, because past a certain point, it will just convert to rT3. What you need is T3 added to your T4.

It's low T3 that causes symptoms, not high TSH. Your TSH is ok now, but your FT3 is much, much too low. So, your endo doesn't really know what he's talking about!

[Koosha in reply to Semira]

Hi im taking levothyroxin 5years my tsh . Freet3.freet4 are in range but i have hashimoto symptoms for example im so sensetive to coldness and all drs say i should be good

[Semira]

Thank you Greygoose!

This site is the best thing I discovered lately. Thank you good people.