Please advise, I have coeliac disease and am worried that by retaking my Levo my hyper symptoms of tremor, loose stool, insomnia and weight loss will get worse. And what could thyroid peroxidase antibody and thyroglobulin antibody levels be please?
Dec 2017
TSH 5.68 (0.2 - 4.2)
FT4 14.1 (12 - 22)
FT3 3.4 (3.1 - 6.8)
TPO antibodies 277.3 (<34)
TG antibodies 365.1 (<115)
Thanks in advance.
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sara_g
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There is no gluten in UK Levothyroxine so there is no reason why it should make your symptoms worse. It's likely your symptoms are due to undermedication as TSH is high and FT4 and FT3 are low in range. Symptoms should improve a few weeks after you resume Levothyroxine.
Thyroid peroxidase antibodies are positive for autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's). There is no cure for Hashimoto's which causes 90% of hypothyroidism. Levothyroxine treatment is for the low thyroid levels it causes. Many people have found that 100% gluten-free diet is helpful in reducing Hashi flares, symptoms and eventually antibodies.
Tell your pharmacist Teva has made you ill and ask for your previous make to be supplied. If your pharmacist isn't helpful ask for the prescription form back and take it elsewhere. You can report the Teva adverse effects via yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/
Raised antibodies indicate an auto-immune thyroid condition (Hashimotos in your case). It's not uncommon for hashi's sufferers to experience symptoms of both hyper and hypo- thyroid (thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...
Your should go back onto your medication, as your thyroid is clearly struggling.
Many advocate a gluten free diet to help bring antibodies down, which should hopefully help your symptoms too.
These current results show you are under medicated. What were results on previous brand?
Your antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known by medics here in UK more commonly as autoimmune thyroid disease).
About 90% of all hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto's
Essential to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12.
Always get actual results and ranges. Post results when you have them, members can advise
Hashimoto's affects the gut and leads to low stomach acid and then low vitamin levels
Low vitamin levels affect Thyroid hormone working
Poor gut function can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
But don't be surprised that GP or endo never mention gut, gluten or low vitamins. Hashimoto's is very poorly understood
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and slowly lower TPO antibodies
Ask GP for coeliac blood test first
Persistent low vitamins with supplements suggests coeliac disease or gluten intolerance
If you start taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 3-5 days before any blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results
Sorry, my brain forgot you'd mentioned you were coeliac when I posted this.
Sometimes gluten isn't the only thing that aggravates antibodies, many with coeliac also find they need to cut out dairy or soya. You could eliminate these from your diet for a month to see if it helps (but I'd try this whilst also taking your medicine again)
You've had good advice from everyone, but just wanted to emphasise that you are substantially undermedicated, so there's no way that you might get a bit hyper.
Underactive thyroid symptoms can be a bit ambiguous. It's more common to gain weight, but lots of members lose weight, insomnia can be a symptom of both, as if you don't have enough energy your muscles can't relax, etc, etc.
You've also got a lot of vitamin deficiencies, so some of those symptoms will mimic both hypo and hyper symptoms.
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