New to Thyroid

[Fox78]

Hi

I'm new to this site so thought I'd post would be grateful for any advice. I have to get

Was diagnosed as hypothyroidism 6 weeks ago have felt off for six months or more main symptoms were periods irregular or heavy and painful, brain fog, random night sweats, heart palpitations, flushed cheeks, insomnia but tired too, bloating, constipation or diarrhoea, aches especially in neck lower back, pins needles, cold hands and feet, and swollen tongue, sore mouth, bruising... Lots of things! My tsh was 45.12 and my t4 was 5.12 I was started on 50 levothyroxine mercury brand since then I've felt better in some ways but more tired than I did before

Am waiting on results of bloods which I had taken the other day x

[jimh111]

You will almost certainly need more than 50 mcg levothyroxine. The latest thinking is to start patients such as yourself off on 100 mcg unless they are elderly or have cardiac problems. However, most GPs are not up to date and take a more cautious approach. This will delay your recovery for a month or two but is not something to worry about. No doubt your latest blood test will show your TSH to still be elevated a little. If it is still above e.g. 8.0 I would ask your doctor to increase your dose to 100 mcg, so that you can recover quicker. The way TSH works is it rises exponentially as fT4 falls. So, in simple terms it will take the same amount of levothyroxine to drop your TSH from 8.0 to 2.0 as it will to drop it from 44.0 to 11.0.

Most patients do well when their TSH is around 1.0 or 2.0 and their fT4 towards the top of its reference interval. However, a minority of patients have more complicated hypothyroidism which is more difficult to treat.

When you have your next blood test results post them here and if you don't have them ask your surgery for the 'reference intervals', these are the numbers (usually in brackets) after the results. This is because each lab has different assays with slightly different reference intervals.

You should feel quite a bit better in a few weeks time (assuming your dose is increased) but it may take six months or so before you fully recover.

[bobsmydog]

Hi Fox78, and welcome.

It takes a while for medications to work and for correct dose to be determined. When you get your new blood results please ask for a copy and post your results here along with the ranges.

The thyroid hormones affect the metabolism of the whole body and so when the thyroid is underactive the lack can cause a load of different symptoms! Your TSH was high at first testing, but will likely be lower now.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Post your results on a new post when you get them and members can advise

Also ask GP to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Did you have high thyroid antibodies

If antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known as autoimmune thyroid disease). About 90% of hypothyroidism in UK is due to Hashimoto's.

Hashimoto's very often affects the gut, leading to low stomach acid, low vitamin levels and leaky gut.