Must I take medication ?

Doctor decided last year to get me to take Levothyroxine. Started with 25micrograms now up to 50 micrograms daily and he's satisfied with my blood test results.

But the thing is, I've never experienced any of the symptoms that hypothyroidism apparently has ? I did stop taking the medication for a months trial and felt neither up nor down, although I don't know what my blood readings would have been at that time.

I've resumed my 50 microgram daily as it's no great hardship, but my question is, if there are no symptoms do I still need to continue with the treatment ?

[greygoose]

Do you know what your blood test results were when you started taking levo? Do you know what they are now? Are you saying that you are perfectly healthy, with no aches or pains or allergies, not so much as an ingrowing toenail? It would be a miracle if you were. There are over 300 known symptoms of hypo, and very often we wouldn't associate them with the thyroid. So, it's possible that you do have hypo symptoms, just not the obvious ones like weight-gain and fatigue.

And, just because you don't have those symptoms now, doesn't mean you wouldn't develop them later on - taking levo now will avoid that. So, if you had a high TSH and low thyroid hormones, I would say yes, you do need to take it. It's not just about the symptoms you have now, it's also about not developing more serious conditions in the future, like heart and kidney problems, and dementia.

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

February 2015 my TSH reading was 5.3 mUI/L.

August 2015, without any medication my TSH reading was 3.78 mUI/L and my T4 reading was 15.3 pmol/L

February 2017 my TSH reading was 6.01 mUI/L and in September 2017 had risen to 6.73 mUI/L

November 2017, still without medication, my TSH reading was 6.4 mUI/L and my T4 reading was 15.1pmol/L

At this point I was prescribed 25 micrograms of Levothyroxine and in February 2018 my TSH reading was 5.28 mUI/L and my T4 was 15.1 pmol/L

My Levothyroxine was doubled and my last result in May 2018 was TSH 3.60 mUI/l and I was told to continue with the medication until my next scheduled blood test in February next year.

I'm male, seventy years old and apart from intermittent attacks of colitis has enjoyed relatively good health. Don't smoke, don't drink much and take regular exercise.

In the last year I was told that I was approaching a state of Pre-diabetes, so I reduced severely the amount of carbohydrates I was eating and much to my surprise my weight dropped from 110kg to 84kg within six months.

Whether it's the weight loss or not, now I don't feel nearly as sluggish as I did a year ago and generally feel better than I have for years.

So you reckon that I should continue with the medication and keep my readings within the correct range and hopefully this should minimise my chances of developing any of the symptoms of hypothyroidism ?

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Ronald Weaver.

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

I reckon your dose should be increase to 75 mcg, because your TSH is still too high at over 3.

But, do you always have your blood draw early morning and fasting? And do you leave 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the blood draw?

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

Blood tests are always in a fasted state first thing in the morning but for the next test I'll make sure that there has been a 24 hour gap since my last dose of levothyroxine.

I'll report my next results and thank you very much for your help.

Ronald Weaver.

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

You're welcome.