in despair

[jwoodward5]

hi my daughter whose 15 has an under active thyroid and has been on 75 mg of levothyroxine for 6 months, she feels no better and has actually gained weight and is so depressed about it . we have done a bit of research and found many people have said levo didn't work for them and made them gain weight and that armour thyroid or liothyronine made their life so much better and lost weight, ive asked her endo doc to give her either but he has said no, what can we do? she is now said she will no longer take the levo as its making her worse. any ideas anyone? I just don't know what else to do?

[Marz]

Hi and Welcome ! Do you have any results with ranges you could share - so members can comment and hopefully help. Has your daughter had the vital nutrients tested ? - B12 - Folate - Ferritin - VitD ? All these need to be optimal for the thyroid hormones to work well in the body. Sorry another question - does your daughter have Hashimotos ?

[jwoodward5 in reply to Marz]

Hi i will find her latest bloods bit dont think she had nitrients checked . Also what is hashimotos please

[pffft2017 in reply to jwoodward5]

The NHS define Hashimotos as;

nhs.uk/conditions/thyroiditis/

Your GPs and endocrinologists will fight tooth and nail to refuse you T3 ( liothyronine ) because of the cost. They won't even entertain the idea until your daughter's results are within normal range. It took me two years to find a decent doc to prescribe T3. Try to find an endocrinologist in your area who does prescribe T3 and ask her father to attend the appointment with her as most medics are too quick to dismiss women's opinions and symptoms.

[jwoodward5 in reply to pffft2017]

How do you go about finding a doc who does prescribe t3?

[Marz in reply to jwoodward5]

Your daughter may not need T3 - once we see the results and ranges members can advise.

[jwoodward5 in reply to Marz]

Ive posted bloods below

[Marz in reply to jwoodward5]

Sorry we need ranges as labs do vary ....

[jwoodward5 in reply to Marz]

T4 range 9-23

Tsh 0.35 -5.5

T3 not given

[Marz in reply to jwoodward5]

So her TSH is over range and the FT4 not high enough in the range - an increase is needed in Levo/T4 ....

[jwoodward5 in reply to Marz]

but tsh was 1,7 which is in range .35-5.5?

[pffft2017 in reply to jwoodward5]

I'm sure the thyroid community will know of a decent endocrinologist. I ended up going private but I wouldn't recommend him. First see if your daughter improves once her levels are normal.

[jwoodward5 in reply to Marz]

No shes had scans on neck which is larger than normal bit they say normal so guess hasnt got hashimotos

[greygoose]

She should not have been left on 75 mcg levo for six months. It's little more than a starter dose. Has she not had a blood test during all that time? She's probably under-medicated - nothing is going to help if you don't take enough of it! But, as Marz says, we need to see some results to know what's going on.

[jwoodward5]

She had blood tests in december when he increased dose from 50 to 75 thing is she absolutely petrified of having blood tests so not as easy to just get them all time it traumatises her ill get results when get home

[Treepie]

Hashimotos or auto immune thyroiditis is diagnosed by antibody blood tests not how she looks.

Sadly she will have to get used to blood tests.On a low dose she may feel bad as her own thyroid reacts by producing less hormone on sensing the introduced

You have had good advice .I suggest you read up about the disease on the Thyroid UK web site.

[jwoodward5]

So her bloods in aug 17 were tsh 7.05. Free t4 15 ftee t3 not tested

In dec 17 after 50 mg levothyroxine tsh was 1.7. Free t3 5.8 and free t4 15

Can anyone comment on these

[Rapunzel]

Did she take her levo the morning of the test? what time of day was the test taken?

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...

This is a real can of worms, I'm afraid

[jwoodward5]

The first test shenwasnt on levo the second she dis take levo at 8 am and test done around 11.30 ish