Newly prescribed

[Suzanam]

My last TSH was 4.48(0.27-4.20) I ca e to România and seen an endocrinologist today. She prescribed eutirox. She said start with 25 mg and slowly I should get to 62.5mg. Does this sound OK? I am a bit scared to start. I am already suffering from palpitations. She said I should take beta blockers cause it may give me more palpitations at the beginning until my body gets used to the hormones. It is 2 am here tiered as a horse but can't sleep. I am due to start tomorrow the treatment. I am going to have my insulin test tomorrow even though my blood test were fine.

[Treepie]

In the UK you would be lucky to be treated before TSH reaches 10. No idea what eutirox is but assume it is a brand of levothyroxine (T4). So yes it seems OK ,but you really need to have Free T4 and Free T3 results. You are being treated with a small dose of hormone and initially this can lead you to feel worse. You should be tested again in 6-8 weeks and the dose will probably be increased.

An old book by a UK doctor said angina type problems often follow starting thyroid hormones and can be treated by beta blockers .This happened to me.

[eeng]

It sounds good to me. You should also get your ferritin, iron, Vit B12, D and folate tested because people with dodgy thyroids often become deficient in these, even if they eat a healthy diet, and without healthy levels (not just in the 'normal' range) we can't utilise the thyrooid hormones properly.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Palpitations should decrease as you get used to the thyroid hormone.

It can take a while and you are likely to need increase in dose, but we have to step dose up slowly. Testing after 6-8 weeks before considering possible next increase

[LAHs]

Hi Suzanam, I hope it was just a typo but we normally start on 25 mcg not 25mg. If your doctor wrote 25mg and you copied it faithfully then you have to be very careful with that doc. I do not mean this as being picky it's just that units are very important in medical matters. 25mg will kill you.