Does Levothyroxine supplement natural thyroid production?

[hankpym]

I have been on Levothyroxine 25mg for 3 weeks now and I do feel a bit different, mood has been lifted slightly and stress is down. I feel a little bit smarter as well, not sure if these slight changes are imagined or not - time will tell.

I know this is a very low dose and chances are this will be increased by my GP on my next blood test in 3 weeks but my question is, does the Levo add to natural levels or will my natural levels recede in time due to the presence of the synthetic thyroid?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

The later is more likely, but it depends how well your TSH responds to being hypothyroid

Some people wander around feeling only vaguely tired with a TSH as high as 100.

Others can barely crawl out of bed with TSH at 5

Taking replacement thyroid hormones lowers TSH. This may just lower TSH such that your own thyroid continues to function

Or you need dose increased until TSH is very low.....because your own thyroid is packing up, or packed up

With Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid disease diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies) we often need very low TSH to stop Hashimoto's flares (wide variation in thyroid levels)

[silverfox7]

Remember as well that you have been put on medication because your thyroid isn't working as itcshould so whatever the cause of that will continue and in time will probably stop altogether. At least given medication once the levels are correct you should feel as you would have done had you a correctly functioning thyroid.

Glad you have been told you need to be retested as you may need to increase a few times until you are at the level that's right for you. We do hear of patients who have been left on a starter dose for lengthy periods and not doing well because of it. It is a little early still to feel the difference of taking madication but each new dose takes 6 weeks to get fully into your system. Hence retesting at that time. Always get into the habit of asking for a printout of your results and make sure they have the ranges with then as ranges differ from lab to lab so if you wish to let us know your resultsso you can understand them better then we need to see what your rangesare as well or we would just be guessing!