12.5 mg levothyroxine

[SusieR68]

Does anyone have 12.5 mg levo perscribed by gp?

[MissSusan]

Do you mean mcg? (Microgram). That’s a pretty low dose, most people’s starting dose is 25 mcg to 50 mcg.

[SusieR68 in reply to MissSusan]

Yes sorry 12.5mcg. I have been on 125mcg for some time, but tsh was still a tad high and t4 was "normal" but low normal. Tried to increase to 150mcg but this resulted in headaches. Wanted to try increasing by another 12.5 to see if there was any inprovement but told this was too expensive!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

I did get one lot of 12.5 microgram levothyroxine tablets from my NHS GP. I explained that I found 112.5 micrograms a good dose and did not want to split, nor to alternate day dose.

The only 12.5 microgram tablets were Teva - and I did not like them. Further, they are massively more expensive than the other dosages of UK levothyroxine products.

(I think, actually I hope, you mean 12.5 micrograms rather than 12.5 milligrams.

dropbox.com/s/q00vyt5703f4u... )

[Hormone-hell]

Yes I do, I was told to half 25mcg pills

[SusieR68 in reply to Hormone-hell]

Yes I broke a 25 in half easily this evening. Im going to ring the practise and see if they will prescribe some extra 25s

[SusieR68]

Been told they were too expensive

[silverfox7]

As Levo is a storage hormone and pill cutters with a bit of practice are getting better I would split a tablet or if you don't find that easy take an extra 25 mcg every other day.

[Gilbo72]

My dose is 112.5mcg a day. I take this by 100/125mcg on alternative days as Levo sticks around in the body a bit. (My endo actually said you could take your weeks supply once a week if you really wanted... not sure about that though!) so you could try alternative days. I got a weekly pill box, that I fill up each week with correct doses to avoid confusion.

[Angel_of_the_North]

I would doubt it if the GP is following guidelines, as the normal starter dose for an adult is 50mcg or 25mcg for those who are elderly, frail or have heart disease. Then the dose is raised every 6 weeks by 25mcg until TSH is under 1 and free T4 is in the top part of the range

[SusieR68 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Tsh is 6, T4 is 18. Can tolerate 125 levo, but get bad headaches at 150. Was looking for dose between the 2 rates.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to SusieR68]

Since T4 is a storage hormone it doesn't get activated quickly so just take 125 and 150 on alternate days as someone else advised. No need to take the same dose every day