1st ever 28 day bloods

[PaulH1986]

Good evening all,

So tomorrow is my 1st ever 28 day bloods since starting levo, do I take my medication as normal at 0515am and go for my bloods around 0900am (want to get it done and out the way) or do I skip the medication and get bloods done at 0900am? To see if the levels have fluctuated or not since starting the medication?

Im a little confused about how this all works, if i take the meds then obviously the TSH levels will be lower as the sythetic med is feeding the the hormones...? Am i right in thinking this?

Look forward to your replies.

Paul

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Paul

You should take your Levo after the blood draw.

You should now fast overnight, don't have anything other than water until after the blood draw.

Taking Levo before the blood draw will not affect TSH, it will actually give you a false high FT4. Levo peaks in the blood up to 6 hours after taking it, so the test would measure the dose you took. Leaving off Levo means the test measures the amount of FT4 normally circulating.

TSH is influenced by time of test and eating. TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. TSH lowers after eating. So an early morning blood draw after an overnight fast will give the highest TSH.

[PaulH1986 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you, so should I go at 9am for bloods? Or do I leave it until later in the day?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to PaulH1986]

Paul

You are recently diagnosed on a starter dose of Levo. You will be looking for an increase in dose, therefore you want your TSH as high as possible. Have your blood drawn was early as you no later than 9am.

Always advised here, when looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction:

° Book the first appointment of the morning

° Fast overnight, water is allowed (no breakfast before blood draw)

° Delay taking your morning dose of Levo until after the blood draw

[PaulH1986 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Brilliant thank you for the advice.

Will try and post results tomorrow once ive had them.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to PaulH1986]

You're welcome.

If you are having testing through your GP surgery, it's usually 2 days for results to be available, and a GP has to see them first before the patient is given them.

[PaulH1986 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Im going back to AECU tomorrow as thats what I had arranged with them... So for my GP taking bloods should I go 2 or 3 days before running out of meds?

Also my next prescription, will run out whilst im out of the country if requested will they give me more than 28 days medication? As technically I need it???

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to PaulH1986]

Paul

I don't know how your surgery works.

For me, my Levo is on repeat prescription. I choose to use my pharmacy's service where you drop off your repeat prescription form with them, they take them to the surgery, pick the actual prescription up next day, meds available for me to pick up 2-3 days after I dropped my prescription off.

If I handed my repeat prescription form at the surgery, the prescription would be available for me to pick up 2 days later.

I tend to take my repeat form to the pharmacy 7-10 days before I run out. I would never leave it so close to running out as 2-3 days.

When I used to go on holiday the pharmacy didn't offer the repeat prescription service then, so I used to go to the surgery, explain that I would be away for X weeks, and could I have enough Levo to cover me for that time.

As for booking tests, they should tell you when to go back. It should be about 6 weeks after a dose change.

[PaulH1986 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Ok thank you, thats what I will do...

And thanks for the advice on the repeat prescription stuff aswell I need to get that sorted with the doc/hospital tomorrow...

Really appreciate the advice

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to PaulH1986]

PS - I messed up that reply! Time for bed I think

Looks like you followed what I was trying to say.

Not sure if you are in the UK, if not it may be different.

[PaulH1986 in reply to SeasideSusie]

I am uk based, and off to bed myself 😴😴😴

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to PaulH1986]

You should be able to get an earlier prescription. When I go away I just request a double prescription for all my pills. I do that a couple of times a year. You should probably take your meds in their original packaging and maybe a copy of your prescription as well.

[PaulH1986 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thank you. 👍

[silverfox7]

Paul. Have you only been taking your medication for 28 days? Won't matter too much with this first one but the Levo you are taking gradually builds up so it's usually after 6 weeks that you retest a new dose. You will probably show you need an increase so if that is the case you should have another test in 6-8 weeks and continue like this until you are on the correct dose for you. As I said it won't matter too much at this stage that you are tested early and I'm assuming you have been put on a low starter dose but by your next testing go back to 6 weeks as it's nearer the time to do fine tuning so you don't want to end up over shooting where you want to be. Ask for an earlier repeat so you can sort it before you go away.

[PaulH1986 in reply to silverfox7]

Thank you for the advice.