When will I feel better??

[Lorriejoan]

Hi am new on here . Im on week 4 after starting on 25mg Levothyroxine and don’t feel any different. It all started whilst pregnant at 42 and I’ve never felt normal since ( my girl is now 3) . So hoping to feel better soon . And hope to loose the two stone of bloated belly. It’s so bad I look 6 month pregnant ☹️ Xx

[Nanaedake]

25mcg is a very small dose of Levothyroxine. 50mcg is the usual starter dose unless you are frail, have a heart condition or some specific reason. If you post your latest blood test results here then people will be able to give helpful suggestions. It does take at least 6 weeks for thyroid hormone to get into all your cells. Everything with thyroid is frustratingly slow.

Some tips we can share which your doctor might not have told you...

Take your levothyroxine on an empty stomach with a full glass of water such as first thing in the morning and leave one hour before eating or drinking anything except for water. Leave 4 hours before taking any other medicines or supplements.

Always have your blood tests first thing in the morning and fasting (doctors will say this is unnecessary). Take your levothyroxine after the blood test, not before.

When newly diagnosed, you should have a blood test every 6 weeks and increase the dose until your TSH reaches around 1 or a little lower which is where most patients feel well. If your doctor has not instructed a blood test in 6 weeks then ring and book it in advance yourself.

You can get online access to blood test results if in England. Ask your GP reception for a password login so that you can access blood test results, not just appointments. Keep a record or print out of all your results and blood tests, amount of medication you are taking, type of levothyroxine so that if you run into problems, you've got a log.

Stick to the same formulation of levothyroxine and find one that suits you. Some people find levothyroxines are not interchangeable although 'officially' they are. If you have problems with any type of levothyroxine make a yellow card report. This helps to maintain quality for everyone.

If your doctor has not tested vitamin levels he/she should do so as patients with thyroid conditions are often deficient. Ask for tests for:

B12

folate

ferritin

vitamin D

Never take the doctor’s word for it that test results are fine. Doctors often say fine when anywhere in range and that does not necessarily make us feel well. So get a print out of all results and post here. Some people have over 20 years’ experience living with hypothyroidism on this forum and can give you excellent advice.

[jimh111]

25 mcg is a very low dose and usually reserved for the elderly or people with heart conditions. The current specialist view is that patients can be started on 100 mcg depending upon how much their thyroid has declined (their blood test results). GPs tend not to be up to date and perhaps more anxious and so start patients on low doses and build up slowly. I'd ask your doctor if you can go to 50 mcg now and have a blood test in a month. There's no point in delaying your recovery.

If it helps you can take your levothyroxine at bedtime, this usually gets around not eating at the same time, although I have breakfast 3 minutes after my thyroid medication, it only has a small effect on absorption for most people (not everyone), so as long as you are consistent it doesn't matter. Taking the levothyroxine at bedtime or just before simplifies everything.

Having the blood taken early morning whilst fasting is a fiddle to get a highter TSH result and a bigger dose. For some patients this is necessary if they need more hormone to get well and can't (or can't be bothered to) persuade their doctor to pay attention to their symptoms. The problem with this is you don't get accurate records for your own benefit and also the TSH is changing rapidly at this time of the day so you can't accuarately compare one set of results with another. I would take the levothyroxine at night and have the blood test at a convenient time of day, preferably after 10 am and don't starve yourself.

Each time you see the doctor ask for a copy of your results, they may be very usesful in the future. Most of the patients on these forums are those who don't recover well, the majority of patients do recover although it can take many months before you are back to normal.

[autowhen]

Hi Lorriejoan

I posted similar a week or so ago, I am like you now on week 4 of 25mg Levothyroxine, stupid doctors don't seem to be aware that we should have been started on 50mg. I am going for another blood test in 2 weeks and going to try to force my doc to increase my meds, I feel much worse since starting.

I had a period of feeling really ill last august and got tested, felt a little better a month later got retested, TSH levels a little lower, so doc insisted on waiting another 3 months for a third blood test before I could even persuade them to prescribe anything. I had hoped to feel better quickly once I finally started the medication.

However having done some reading around I now realise that with Hashimotos that the levels can fluctuate (hence feeling better and worse over the previous year or so), but also that too low level of Levo can lead the thyroid to put in less effort and hence levels change again, and symptoms worse.

Also I did not get my B12, and D3 vitamins tested, so I will be pushing to get these checked too while there in a couple of weeks.

I hope we can both get our levo increased in a couple of weeks and start to find out where our normal level of medication should be.....

[Lorriejoan in reply to autowhen]

For the past few days I’ve been having a meltdown 😢. My moods are all over the place , am feeling angry and tearful and I can’t seem to control it . Am getting some symptoms back ! Tingle in arms and legs , foggy confused head . Am due my bloods in 1st week of March . Do I have to wait for bloods or can they change my dose ? Do I need more ? Xx

[autowhen in reply to Lorriejoan]

I got my repeat blood tests done last Friday, 6 weeks from starting rather than 8 weeks. I hope to get the results tomorrow, and I am fully expecting to have to up my dose, it is not doing much for me.

Can you get your bloods done sooner than March? I doubt they will increase your dose without the blood tests.