Synthroid Dose Increases of 12.5mcg or 25mcg?

[Andyb1205]

Thought I’d ask the members on this forum if you did better by having your dose increased in small increments, 12.5mcg every 4-6 weeks or by 25mcg. Did you notice any differences? Being on only 100mcg and 112mcg for 6 months now I’ve been feeling horrible and becoming impatient.

[Heloise]

I think it appears you need another increase. Usually you make smaller increments when you are at that level so you don't miss your optimal dose. Six months is too long to stay at a level that is too low. Won't your doctor raise it to 125 mcgs? You may even need 150. What are you latest results?

[Andyb1205 in reply to Heloise]

I believe my doctor was filling in the holes to go against a dose increase because he is puzzled by what the cause of my hypothyroidism is, especially with my testimony of improved symptoms on Synthroid. He referred me to a neurologist which is great. But on the one hand he believed that increasing the dose can mask neurological symptoms, I'd assume it would rather unmask it.

On the other hand he exaggerated the risk of hyperthyroidism as it would worsen my ADHD (runs in the family) but the opposite is also true, beyond the effect of metabolism on efficacy of my stimulant medication, hypothyroidism slows down cognitive processing and creates it own attention problems.

I posted my results from two weeks ago in this other thread but my FT4/FT3 are 43%/35% in range respectively. TSH is low simply because of dopamine interference from Adderall that lowered my set point (small changes in FT4 give even smaller changes in TSH).

I've been self-medicating with ~125mcg for 10 days now and just today started ~132mcg. Especially with the 25mg Zoloft added in (for OCD and to balance the Adderall), I'm convinced now that I definitely need a dose increase from 112mcg to 137mcg.

[Heloise in reply to Andyb1205]

Andy, I just took a look back at some of your posts. Not having antibodies show up may not necessarily rule out Hashimoto's. We learned so much more about autoimmune conditions because these functional doctors are looking at the research and making discoveries. The brain is very involved because they said any inflammation in the body will include inflammation in the brain. It's a shame because your ADHD is probably a result. I don't know how to calculate what zoloft and adderall are doing to your system. I'm puzzled as to why you left off two grains of NDT but we have to remember that taking replacement hormone does not cure the condition.

I know you haven't asked this question but have you thought of trying some protocols that would work WITH your body. I know it takes some sacrifice to make the lifestyle changes but you and your brother are so young and it isn't good to take those drugs forever.

The Broken Brain Series, Dr. Mark Hyland and Dr. Tom O'Bryan brought out the reasons for the increase in autism and Alzheimer's. Dr. John Bergman has a lot of you tube videos which reveal a lot about hormones. youtube.com/watch?v=Nqggy05...(Not working as expected?)

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

I was on 100 and tried 125. It was too much so I dropped back to 100.

Fairy shortly that felt too little and I tried alternating 100 and 125. That seemed the right amount but somehow not quite right. So I now take 112.5 every day - and that seems the best for me.

On the basis of my experience, if you might be close to an optimum dose, consider 12.5. If not, 25 should be OK. But always be aware and remember that if it is too much you can drop back down.