Thyroid

[Patriceakins]

I have underactive thyroid taking meds for it i have my days with it my 10 year old has it to shes on meds as well

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum and I am sorry you have hypothyroidism and your 10 year old too.

Have you both been recently diagnosed? If so what dose of levothyroxine do both of you take.

[Patriceakins in reply to shaws]

Well i take 100 mg and my daughter takes 25 mg my mom has it as well and she takes 25 mg got a question why do i have a highter dose then them

[shaws Administrator in reply to Patriceakins]

I think you are your Mum may be on too low a dose and bear in mind I am not medically qualified. 25mcg is an incremental dose. We usually start at 50mcg and slowly build up every six weeks with the addition of 25mcg until we are symptom-free.

I don't know about children's doses but I think if you all get a brand new blood test and ask the doctor to test TSH, T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies. GP may not do all of these, but you can get those not done by one of our private labs (pin-prick home tests. I think probably be the FT4 and FT3 which are not done and these are the ones that give us a wider and better picture.

You doctor should definitely test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

All blood tests for thyroid hormones have to be at the very earliest possible and allow a gap of 24 hours from your last dose of levothyroxine and the test and take it afterwards. This gives us the best possible result.

Always request a print-out of your results with the ranges. Ranges are important and mine charges 30p for a copy.

Post your results with the ranges as doctors are very poorly trained these days and it appears, by reading members' post, that they believe that if the results are within the ranges there job is done. It isn't we have to have a TSH of 1 or lower with the Frees in the upper part of the range.

Post your results on a new question and vitamins/minerals need to be optimal, i.e. towards the top of the range not middle or lower.

[Patriceakins in reply to shaws]

Ok thanks ill get ahold of doctor on monday bc they called me friday about my blood test

[shaws Administrator in reply to Patriceakins]

Always get a print-out of your results with the ranges for your own records from now on and post if you have a query.

Some doctors get wary if our TSH goes below 1 but that's fine as around 1 or lower is fine but they think that 'anywhere' in the range is fine. Not so. They rarely test Free T3 and Free T4 which are important as it reveals whether or not we can covert T4 sufficiently into T3. T4 - levothyroxine is inactive and has to convert to T3 (liothyronine) the only Active thyroid hormone need in all of our millions of T3 receptor cells.

[Mary-intussuception in reply to Patriceakins]

Hi, are you in USA or UK?

[Patriceakins in reply to Mary-intussuception]

Usa

[Mary-intussuception in reply to Patriceakins]

There can be any of a number of reasons that your Mom is on a different dose from yours. However 25mcg is a low dose. As already mentioned 50mcg is usual starter dose (I have no knowledge of childrens dosage but would guess it may be less??).

Is your Mom on any other medication? Does she have any other medical conditions?

When you get all most recent blood results of all 3 and post with present symptoms and any other conditions /info - this will give a clearer picture for people to comment.xx

[Patriceakins in reply to Mary-intussuception]

Ok and my mom has copd and depression

[Mary-intussuception in reply to shaws]

Is 100mcg low Shaws, I thought that was a regular dose?? Mine is 75mcg.

As you say, though, it depends on bloods.x

[shaws Administrator in reply to Mary-intussuception]

I think that nowadays doctors only look at the blood tests and think if TSH is somewhere in range you're on sufficient. Some members were getting their dose adjusted every time they had a blood test and as TSH is highest early a.m. and drops throughout the day sometimes the patient is never well. Well means with no clinical symptoms.

The aim is a TSH of 1 or below. With FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of the range.

Before blood tests were introduced along with levothyroxine we were prescribed NDT (natural dessicaqted thyroid hormone) until we felt well with no symptoms - no blood tests.

[Mary-intussuception in reply to shaws]

Sorry

This is getting confusing.

I meant that the poster is on 100mcg and not 25mcg.

[silverfox7]

An you post the ragesas well as they differ from lab to lab. The receptionists should be able to give you your results.

[Patriceakins in reply to silverfox7]

Yes i know they just called friday i cant rember the numbers so hopefully they will send me a copy