Thyroid problems again! : Hi there, I'm looking... - Thyroid UK

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Thyroid problems again!

Westgab profile image
4 Replies

Hi there, I'm looking for advice/reassurance for my 19 year old daughter who was diagnosed with Hashimotos 18months ago. With ever-changing doses (ranging from 25mcg to 150mcg of Levothyroxine) she has not yet reached that point of feeling well. She went off to college on a dose of 100mcg, but is really struggling after the latest blood test showed TSH 0.2 and FT4 23.8.

How long are her hyper symptoms likely to last? On the advice of the endos she reduced to 75mcg a week ago but is still feels all over the place, making uni life very hard.

Thank you.

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Westgab profile image
Westgab
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4 Replies
Nanaedake profile image
Nanaedake

It takes 6 weeks for a change in dose to be assimilated by all the cells in the body. Everything about thyroid is slow and adjustment is slow too. Even after 6 weeks the body will still be adjusting. It's best not to change levothyroxine dose by more than 25mcg at a time if at all possible because bigger changes can make us feel unwell.

You don't post any laboratory ranges but these are necessary to understand results as lab ranges vary. In addition, it would be better to have an FT3, FT4 and TSH result as it's the FT3 and FT4 that really define the thyroid hormone status.

I can't tell without the lab ranges but it doesn't sound as though FT4 is hugely over-range. She really should have her vitamin levels tested as they are likely deficient. Correcting any deficiencies will help a great deal as thyroid hormone, our own or medication needs good vitamin levels for us to feel the full benefit of thyroid hormone.

marigold22 profile image
marigold22

Would be helpful if you could post all her blood test results with the ranges also (the numbers after the results). If she has been diagnosed with Hashimotos, then there are other issues involved, like getting the inflammation down.

Hashihouseman profile image
Hashihouseman

For what it’s worth and based largely on my direct experience ft4 seems too high, potentially suppressing tsh without necessarily enabling her to produce a freeT3 level her body recognizes as normal for her. As other replies no doubt say it is more helpful to have tsh ft4 and ft3 tested together and while things are changing as often as 4 weekly intervals , sometimes waiting 6 weeks can be uneccesarily late in allowing for adjustments to a trend of results going too far too fast...... but as others will say, beware making big frequent adjustments gently does it! Also, you could try swapping some levothyroxine for desiccated thyroid which has a small amount of T3 e.g 4-6micrograms...... good luck and take care

Boojuda profile image
Boojuda

Bless her I know that feeling all to well. Hashimoto is a inflammation problem she will also most probably have low stomach acid causing burping and mistaking it for indigestion and so will gps, try some digestive enzymes before meals. She may also be deficient in vits and minerals. Tests for vit D, B12 folate her iron may be low too so full iron panel including TIBC % saturation, ferrtin, She should also think about avoiding gluten dairy and soya oh and the hardest I’ve found is sugar. These are all triggers! Selenium is a great antibody reducer for Hashi try to get this tested b4 supplementing with 200mg a day.

Have you heard of ‘stop the thyroid madness’ its a group on Facebook and there is a book available to buy on amazon also Isabella Wentz follow her group. Her books are Hashimoto’s Root cause, hashimoto’s protocol they all have lots of info.

As for how long it will take depends on how far your daughter will go to advocate her own health. Going gluten free helps with brain fog.

My life stopped abruptly for 2 years believing gps and endos new best, they didn’t in my case. oh don’t let them put your daughter on anti depressants ! Good luck I hope your daughter figures the quickest way back to functioning with all this reading. NDT IS A GAME CHANGER X

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