Can I take Levothyroxine ?

[luv2017]

All,

I have my blood test booked next week and I am going to wait for my result. Before that,

2 month ago I've diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in India with level TSH 5.69, was given 12.5 mcg tablet to start with but right after 2 weeks I had severe body ache,muscle pain .As doctor suggested I stopped taking it. Took my blood again after 1 week of stopping my tablet , it was 3.96 and I was told its perfectly normal and nothing wrong for TTC. I booked 3 appointments and asked 3 different doctors hoping someone would prescribe to lower my level further more for TTC but every doctor said just the same.

All the forums,people from here, and sites are suggesting TSH should be <2.5 for TTC.

My question is,

If my next blood test report has same level of TSH 3.96 or more than 2.5 and If i was ignored by not giving any tablets to lower my level for ttc, can I start taking my Tablets which I got from India? it was 12.5 mcg. What should I do? But I lost hope that GP will prescribe any tablets unless more than their range , I believe its 5.5.

Thanks

[Clutter]

Luv2017,

If your doctors won't help you after showing them the NICE and BTA links in healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... then your only option is to change practice and find a more knowledgeable GP or self treat. However, if the Indian Levothyroxine caused adverse effects you may want to buy another brand as it may be better tolerated.

[luv2017 in reply to Clutter]

Ok Let me wait until next week... Thanks for that..

[luv2017 in reply to Clutter]

Hey ya,

Is it possible to get Levothyroxine online with the GP's blood report?

I live in Scotland and just thinking to do private blood test and get the prescription, is it possible?

Thanks

[Clutter in reply to luv2017]

Luv2017,

You need a prescription to get Levothyroxine in the UK. If your GP won't prescribe then write a post asking members to send you a private message saying where to obtain Levothyroxine without prescription.

[luv2017 in reply to Clutter]

Sure Thanks for that. Let me wait until next week and check with my results...

[marigold22]

Just a quick point ..... you say the doctor in India gave you 12.5mcg tablets. That sounds to me like T3 tablets. We call that Liothyronine in the UK, probably a different name in India. If you were given 12.5mg of Levothyroxine (T4) that is a very low dose.

[luv2017 in reply to marigold22]

Hey ya,

The Tablet I got from India is called Thyronorm and when I showed that to my GP he says as Thyroxine,,,, may be the name is different,, I posted here earlier with photo of the tablet. I think the active ingredient of the tablet from India is Levothyroxine. Ya its too less dosage it seems and I have no idea why the doctor in India gave that to start with..Thanks for that.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to marigold22]

marigold22,

I have never seen mention of liothyronine (T3) in other than 5, 20, 25, 50 and 100 microgram tablets.

Obviously it would be possible, but seems less likely.

[marigold22 in reply to helvella]

It was the fact that luv2017 stated mcg. Isn't T4 in mg?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to marigold22]

marigold22,

Non - both are in micrograms.

A rule of thumb is that if you take, say, 100 micrograms of T4, only about one third is converted to T3. (That is where the "three times as strong" idea comes from.) There would be no point in changing units for that sort of difference.

(Some countries/people/companies do state T4 doses as 0.100 milligrams, 0.025 milligrams and so on. I detest that simply because it is more complicated to no advantage! My rule of thumb is to try always to avoid decimal points and leading zeroes.)