Worse not better !

[Anniewoz1]

Morning everyone

I’ve been taking a starter dose of levothyroxine- 50mg - for 6 weeks now.

The only difference I’ve noticed is the pain/stiffness in my neck and shoulders has got worse, I’ve even less energy and brain fog is dire !

Is it normal to feel worse before feeling better ?

Thanks for reading 😉

[beh1]

Simple answer is yes, your pituitary will have registered that there’s more thyroid hormone in your system and will have lowered your tsh accordingly. Your thyroid will therefore be less stimulated and have lowered output. At six weeks, you could do with another blood test and almost certainly an increase in dose.

[Anniewoz1 in reply to beh1]

Thank you beh1

Blood planned for a couple of weeks

[humanbean]

Keep notes of which company made your Levo and what the result was in terms of your health and symptoms. Some people do better on one make than another. But unless you know what you've tried, you won't know what to avoid in future. There are four brands of Levo in use in the UK.

You can find out what options you have in the UK here :

thyroiduk.org/tuk/treatment...

thyroiduk.org/tuk/treatment...

Notice that the products you can most easily get are listed on the first three pages of the PDF. Make sure you start getting a paper prescription, then phone around your local pharmacies and ask if they can dispense the dose and quantity of Levothyroxine you need made by company A or B or C etc. It depends on the wholesalers that the pharmacies use which products they are likely to get hold of. So, if a local Boots doesn't do a brand you want to try, phone up a pharmacy from a different chain or an independent pharmacy.

[Anniewoz1 in reply to humanbean]

Great idea humanbean,

Thanks for advice 👍

[Gambit62]

This was my experience - it probably means that you have been put on far too low a dose of levo.

Unfortunately many GPs aren't very good at interpreting thyroid results after treatment has started and there is a tendency to focus on TSH and forget about T3 and T4.

I was started on 25mcg - lasted a week on that because I was suicidal - went up to 50mcg myself. Was tested on that and GP said everything okay but it wasn't. Probably should have gone back and talked to them but didn't so have just continued to put levels up every couple of months - feel okay on 100mcg but still not entirely convinced it is the right dose.

They continue to issue repeats - guessing they aren't noticing the frequency. Will go back at some point.

You have my sympathies.

It's difficult because it takes a while to respond to dose changes so it takes an awfully long time to get to the right dose

[Anniewoz1 in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks Gambit62

I’m doing bloods again in a couple of weeks, hopefully the dose will then be raised !