Need some advice please. So my last blood results showed that I was over medicated 🤨 (0.4 mu/l ) so the doctor called to tell me he was dropping my levo from 75 to 50. I don’t feel to bad apart from been very tired and weight gain. I go to the gym 5 times a week, I need it for my anxiety and I also follow a weight watchers plan on line. So the doctors receptionist called a few days later to ask me to to go have a hormone blood test to see why I’m not loosing weight , I’m guessing that anyway. I went today and the bloods I had done was PROLACTIN & CORTISOL. Has anyone else had these and what exactly will it tell them.
Thank you
Jenny
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Jennymiddle
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I assume the 0.4 relates to TSH,, have you got a range to go with this- in some thyroid blood tests this is still within range. But a TSH of 1 or below is good, so she/he is not accurate anyway to say you are overmedicated. Did the Gp bother with FT4, FT3 or total T4 bloods? No, which is daft as the FT3 is the active hormone that makes hypothyroid patients feel better. Loosing weight is supposed to come when on optimum dose of T4 or/ and t3( still waiting for that!). Nice to know they are at least looking for at other reasons for stress and weight, rather than being told( or implied) it's in your head or due to eating too much. My cortisol levels were high but then results totally ignored by Gp and endocrinologist so can't tell you what they will tell them to do .
Hi thank you for your reply. The ref range was 0.27-4.2. I did have all the other test done but came back normal. I have made an appointment to see a nutritionist so hopefully she will help. I might be just eating the wrong food. But certainly not over eating as one doctor suggested. Since Feb this year I have gone from 50 to 100 then 75 now 50 again so I’m just all over the place at the minute
Thank you for your reply. Is there anything i can dl about it or just wait until the blood test come back i had today and for my thyroid bloods tl level out.
But they aren't going to level out if your doctor reduces your dose every time the TSH goes down. The TSH doesn't tell you how much FT3 you have, and it's the FT3 the most important level. It low T3 that causes symptoms. He should not be reducing your dose without knowing the level of your FT3, because you're only over-medicated if your FT3 is over-range. It has very little to do with the TSH. You are now back on a starter dose when you probably needed increases each time, not decreases. 50 mcg levo is not going to make you well. So, you either have to stand up to him, or change doctors, and try and find someone who has a clue what he's doing.
Ok thank you. Im just clueless with it all really. I read up about it all the time but just cant get my head around it all. I think thats why i just take what they say. I know they tested T3 a few months ago and said it was all normal. Im going to see him on Thursday for my results from this blood test so i will ask him to explaine it all tl me and ask him what be classed as normal. If im honest i dont feel to bad compared to a lot of people. Just tired anxioty and weight gain is my biggiest problem. But i do get up at 5am 4 days a week to go to a boot camp so that might explain the tiredness maybe. Thanks for all your advice as usual. Im just so fed up and lost at the minute and feel very alone. But coming on here and asking questions always makes me feel better. Thank you
Better still, ask for a print-out of your results and post them on here - we could probably explain them better than your doctor, anyway - but we do need the ranges as well as the results.
And, don't let him fob you off! It is your legal right to have a copy in the UK.
Neither of those two TSHs are under-range. Did she reduce the dose after either of those? However, in April, your FT4 was rather high, so I'm guessing your FT3 might have been low at that point.
In February, we don't even have an FT4! But, your nutrients are good.
I doubt it. As I said, I'm willing to bet you have a conversion problem, and your FT3 is low. It's low T3 that causes symptoms like not being able to lose weight. But, your doctor knows so little about thyroid, he wouldn't understand that.
So, what you really need to do, if you can, is get your FT4 and FT3 tested privately so that we can see the level of your FT3 and how well you convert. Keep lowering/raising the levo according to the TSH just isn't going to cut it, I'm afraid.
Can you recomend where i would go to have it done private please. Also what if im not converting can i take the results to the doctors and will they do something about it. Sorry for all the questions
However, I very much doubt if your doctor would do anything about it. a) he might not accept private tests, a lot of them don't. b) he probably wouldn't understand about conversion. c) he can't prescribe T3 himself - which is what you would need - it all depends whether he would be willing to refer you to an endo, and if that endo would agree to T3. Getting hold of T3 gets more and more difficult as T3 gets more expensive, and endos get more ignorant. Which is why most people buy it themselves.
But, let's not jump the gun. First get the tests done, and then see what the results are. But, I would advise not to ask for comments by the company's doctor, because they just tow the party line, and don't give any real advice.
Thank you so much. I will see what my bloods are next week see the doctor says then go private and if i need T3 i am willing to buy it as i just want to feel well again and loose weight. I didnt know you could get T3 privately. So at least now i still have options. I will post next week the outcome and take it from there.
Good idea - many on here DIY private blood tests and buy T3 from abroad, as GPS and even endocrinologists haven't got the knowledge, expertise or sadly CCG backing to fund some of 'meds' even on a trial basis. Try to get a constant levothyroxin dose ( admittedly that might need raising after tests 6 weekly) rather than this up and down dosing based on TSH- it's stupid!
The last thing they should do is reduce meds according to the TSH. I think they are unaware it is highest early a.m. and drops throughout the day and because we are replacing thyroid hormones, TSH will be low. The professionals seem to believe fairy tales, i.e. that a low TSH will cause heart or bone problems. So, what if someone has had thyroid cancer, they have to have a supppressed TSH. It just doesn't make sense.
Your doctor doesn't know why you are gaining weight? It is due to being hypothyroid and being on levothyroxine alone. Levo may not be increasing your metabolism, especially at a low dose.
Thank you for your reply, I’m all over the place at the minute since Feb I have gone up and down on meds 4 times. Maybe that’s the reason for no weight loss as I just can’t find a balance.
Your body cannot cope with up/down adjustments and that leaves me to believe your doctor doesn't quite understand how to treat you. Not their fault if they've no knowledge but don't let them treat patients so that the patient is worse than before being diagnosed:
Excerpt from above link:
"Dear Thyroid Patients: If you have thyroid gland failure--primary hypothyroidism--your doctor is giving you a dose of levothyroxine that normalizes your thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level. Abundant research shows that this practice usually does not restore euthyroidism--sufficient T3 effect in all tissues of the body. It fails particularly badly in persons who have had their thyroid gland removed. IF you continue to suffer from the symptoms of hypothyroidism, you have the right to demand that your physician instead give you T4/T3 (inactive/active) thyroid replacement therapy. Your physician can either add sufficient T3 (10 to 20mcg) to your T4 dose, or lower your T4 dose while adding the T3. The most convenient form of T4/T3 therapy, with a 4:1ratio, is natural desiccated thyroid (NDT-- Armour, NP Thyroid, Nature-Throid). If you have persistent symptoms, you can
demand that your physician change you to NDT and adjust the dose to keep the TSH at the bottom of its range-- when you have
the blood drawn in the morning prior to your daily dose. This may be sufficient treatment, but IF you continue to have hypothyroid symptoms, and no hyperthyroid symptoms, demand that your physician to increase the dose to see if your symptoms will improve, even if the TSH becomes low or suppressed. You can prove to your physician that you're not hyperthyroid by the facts that you have no symptoms of hyperthyroidism and your free T4 and free T3 levels are normal in the morning, prior to your daily dose.
They may even be below the middle of their ranges. Your free T3 will be high for several hours after your morning T4/T3 dose, but this is normal with this therapy and produces no problems. You should insist that testing be done prior to your daily dose, as recommended by professional guidelines. It's simple common sense. TSH is not a thyroid hormone and is not an appropriate guide to thyroid replacement therapy. The hypothalamic-pituitary secretion of TSH did not evolve to tell physicians what dose of levothyroxine a person should swallow every day. A low or suppressed TSH on replacement therapy is not the same thing as a low TSH in primary hyperthyroidism. If you have central hypothyroidism, the TSH will necessarily be low or completely suppressed on T4/T3 therapy; your physician must treat you according to symptoms and the free T4/free T3 levels.
(I doubt in the UK that doctors will listen to the patient).
The above quote is what the ideal should be but in the UK it has been impossible for sometime now for doctors to prescribe an alternative to Levothyroxine or the addition of T3 so we cannot recover and remain unwell. Also even if levo worked they don't always prescribe sufficient and 'they' are happy with the results and ignore the patient who says they feel awful. They then prescribe anti-d's or anything else other than an increase in dose due to the TSH.
I agree, every time I go to the doctors I get upset with how I’m feeling and all they want me to do is go on antidepressants. I refuse as I don’t want to go down that road. I have a counsellor that help and also go to the gym. I know this isn’t for everyone but I find it helps.
Tell your doctor as he is anxious that you should go on anti-d's, that he should check both Free T4 and Free T3. I bet both are low. Low FT3 causes many symptoms and, especially if hypo, and T3 is needed in our millions of T3 receptor cells, the brain and heart need the most.
If he refuses you can get these two privately through one of the two labs on our list. These are home pin-prick tests and make sure (if you decide to do it) you are well-hydrated a couple of days before and arms and hands warm to draw blood. Arrangements can be made to have the blood drawn or maybe surgery would (?).
If doctor wont prescribe an increase in your dose you may have to source your own. No information is provided on the forum, so you'd have to ask for a private message(s) to be sent to you. Members can do this by clicking onto your name and it takes them to a new page. The post will then be closed so that only private messages can be sent to you.
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