Dry skin

[Zizzy1591]

Hi I am on a fairly low dose of Levo and my last test came back normal but I am getting side effects back again especially dry skin tingling and itching has anyone got any idea what I can do about this. Thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Post your actual results including ranges, it's common to be under medicated

Levo dose should be high enough to lower TSH to low in range, around one

FT4 towards top 1/3 of range

Important to also test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12, very common to be too low, especially if you have Hashimoto's (high antibodies) also called autoimmune thyroid disease

All thyroid tests should be done as early as possible in morning and fasting and don't take Levo in the 24 hours prior to test, delay and take straight after.

[Zizzy1591 in reply to SlowDragon]

Many thanks should I get a private test done as blood tests seem to come back normal every time I have one and they are reluctant to increase dose of Levo even though I tell them I still have symptoms

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Zizzy1591]

Post your results here if you have them

But yes many, many of us have had to resort to full private testing

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.

Option to pay extra for private blood draw or DIY finger prick test

All thyroid tests should be done as early as possible in morning and fasting and don't take Levo in the 24 hours prior to test, delay and take straight after.

[Zizzy1591 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks very much for that I will do private testing 😊

[Greybeard in reply to Zizzy1591]

Gp practice is required to give you a printout of your test results if you ask for them, there may be a small charge. You can also register to see you results online, they call it enhanced access.

[Howard39]

Hi

Yes the others are spot on- you should post your results

I get on with my gp ( the top doctor- when you can see anyone) and he said normal can be just in range. I laughed and said I'll agree to disagree with you. Saying that he knows I self medicate t3 since they stopped it and seemed casual re a surpressed tsh. Unlike his wife who I will not see as she had steam coming from her ears.

Point I am making is the ranges have for t4 been reduced twice since 2003. So normal could be pretty low and minute in comparison to 14years ago before tsh!

Good luck- get what you can from the docs and you should consider private testing. Armed with as information as you can get will help you.