I have been taking Levothyroxine for about 20 years and consistently doing well on a dose of 137 until recently when my TSH was at 7 and I was feeling exhausted and chilled, skin feeling dry. My diet has changed hugely in the last 6 months and I think this has altered how much thyroid hormone my body needs to function optimally. I have learned that I function best at around TSH 1 or lower. I used to go an endocrinologist for closer monitoring but now my GP monitors and prescribes and has increased my dose to 150 mg but as I have a crazy hectic two weeks ahead, I really need to start feeling better quickly to cope with these next few weeks. Usually, I'm ok with knowing it can take up to 6 weeks to feel better and to re-check labs to be at the right TSH. I really need advice on whether its safe for me to take more than 150mg daily for a week or two and then follow my doctor's recommendation to settle at 150 daily and re-check labs 6 weeks after I settle on that amount. Is it safe to take a pill and a half a day for one week in the hopes that I stop feeling so exhausted and weak? I need to safely jumpstart myself so that I can function better. I can't wait 6 weeks for this increase to kick in and be feeling this tired every day. Thank you for tips
Is it safe to take an extra half pill a day for... - Thyroid UK
Is it safe to take an extra half pill a day for one week of Levothyroxine?
I would do everything to support your adrenals right now as you say you have a crazy couple of weeks ahead.
So, that would be taking soluble vitamin c with some unrefined sea salt at regular intervals, taking extra b5 is known for its anti-stress properties, magnesium to calm and relax muscles (ideally with some p5p which is the active form of b6 which boosts serotonin and also helps with anxiety and supports heart health with magnesium), zinc to prevent you from getting ill and some riboflavin (b2) for the same reason.
I am sorry I have not answered your question directly, but you may find adrenal support is what you really need and carries less risk of backfiring.
I don't mean to hijack this post but would like to know why you recommend sea salt with vitamin C. 🙂
No problem. Well it works for me.. I have a link here to explain why as well.
The adrenals benefit from vitamin c and electrolytes including trace minerals that you can only really find in things like unrefined sea salt. Salt helps to regulate blood sugar levels as well and the problem with adrenal fatigue is that you can get low blood sugar and insulin resistance. The other problem with stress is that we tend to pee more often (also due to drinking more tea and coffee at these times) which means that we lose more vitamin c, Magnesium and electrolytes. So the best thing is to replenish the things we're losing at very low doses (tiny pinches) throughout the day, or use it in cooking.
In theory as T4 is a storage hormone you probably have some already stored that your body will use if it feels it needs to. Not looked at your history so my apologies if this has been done but have you tested you Vit D, B12, folate and ferritin? These help your thyroid to work better but they need to be optimal not just in range. Many of us supplement as having a thyroid problem means we lose vits and minerals so we are often low and this does impact on our wellness. Usually if we need to supplement itsfor life but we may be able to find a maintenance dose once we are optimal.
Thank you, this is really helpful and makes sense to consider what else may be low. I’ve been neglecting taking multivitamins and often find I’m low in Vit D this time for year. I live in Massachusetts and colder winters mean being indoors more and not getting enough vitamin d
Just had a quick look and see you are new to the forum so welcome! Might also be useful to post your last results and the ranges. The ranges are so important as they differ from lab to lab so without them we would just be guessing. It's worth just checking your results as some doctors are happy if you are in range but it's where in the range that is important.
Thank you, I’m going to follow up in a few weeks with my doc and will ask for more info and ranges. All I remember is that my TSH was at 7 and the norm is between 1-5. I know I feel optimal when my TSH is at 1
I’m feeling tired and weak and hoping my increase from 137 mcg to 150mcg will start to make a noticeable difference to my energy level sooner rather than later
If you are currently taking 137 mcg and increasing to 150 mcg, that's a difference of only 13mcg; so it's not clear what you mean when you say "can I take a pill and a half" - what dose do you mean? It's reasonable to increase Levo by 25 mcg and unless you have cardiac issues, likely to be perfectly safe, if you were intent on doing so, although not adviseable, to increase even by 50 mcg. But Levo is not an amphetamine say, and perhaps the question is, what would you achieve by doing so - optimal dosing is intended to sustain/maintain us, not "jump start" us; and if it were, we'd all be started off with a large loading dose, which we aren't. It's perhaps not quite accurate to say that it can take 6 weeks to feel better - it takes around 6 weeks to reach a steady state, whereby the amount of Levo you ingest is in equilibrium with the amount eliminated; but you can of course start to feel better at any point between taking the initial, or any subsequent additional dose, and that steady state being achieved. So you might find that you feel improvement with your Dr's suggested dose increase without putting yourself and your body under pressure to take more than a comfortable dose increase.
Thanks for great points. I’m not usually in such a hurry to get where I need to be with my thyroid and recognize that a jump start is not ideal. I’ve been here before and know it’s about climbing back up steadily to the right dosage for me.
I’m stressed out about coping with next weekend’s demands on my body as I am a musician in a band performing back to back gigs for St Patrick’s Day and it requires my peak performance and energy and I’m hoping on my symptoms being much improved between now and then. I have taken one 137 mcg plus half of that today to try to move myself forward. I was wondering about the safety of doing that a few days a week. Maybe it’s way too much and so maybe I’ll cut one 137mcg pill in 4 and take a pill and a 1/4 for a couple of weeks so that I’m staying closer to a 25mcg increase.
Once March is over and my schedule is back to normal. I plan to take 150mcg for 6 weeks and re-check labs and reassess how I’m feeling. Thanks for giving me hope that I may feel better sooner than 6 weeks. That makes sense
Thanks so much! I will follow that advice and hope for the best. In a few days I have two days that mean burning the candle at both ends however and there’s no avoiding it. I’m in a band that plays on St Patrick’s Day and we play a double gig that day and gigs leading up to and after it. I need every ounce of my energy! Please Thyroid, get better fast
Hi musicky,
don't be in too much of a rush to increase the thyroxine,do it gradually if you can, otherwise you could find it is pushing up your blood pressure sky high and giving you palpitations, which is what happened to me!
Try and get plenty of rest if you can!
Yes, you can definitely “jump start” your increase. I was a patient of Dr. Kenneth Blanchard and he would do this all the time. (It’s in his book, “The Functional Approach to Hypothyroism”, page 23).
You “jump start” for 3-5 days at a higher dose (typically a 50% increase, but it could be higher) then come down to the dose you want to be on. This way, you will feel the effects in 2-3 weeks rather than the normal 6 weeks.
In your case, going from 137 mcg to 150 mcg, you could easily do a (minimum) jump start of 200 mcg (50% increase) for 3-5 days, then resume at the new 150 mcg daily dosage.
Hello Milkwoman ,
It's great to hear from you . I was going to say the same as what you said so well . Dr Blanchard was a Genius in the Thyroid Field . In fact he advocated to jump start the dose higher for 3-5 days and go back to the dose you want to be at . Dr Blanchard wrote this in his Great Book that he would use this method for the winter months to jump start with higher dose and then lower to the dose he wanted the patients to be on . The patients felt the results quicker this way .
Thanks so much! I have been meaning to get back with an update. I went a ahead and took 205mcg for 3-5 days in a row which was an increase from the 137mcg I had been taking for years. My doctor had prescribed 150mcg but I was worried waiting 6 weeks feeling so completely exhausted and having a very busy few weeks. Side note- My diet had changed for the better in recent months and I did some research that made me understand how this may affected my absorption of thyroid hormone (as I was now on a high fiber diet) I lost 33ibs and so my whole metabolism has changed. I really believe this jumpstarted me back to feeling a lot better a lot sooner. After 5 days of a very large amount, I began taking 150mcg but quickly began feeling exhausted again and unable to function. I called my Doc and asked that he increase my thyroid to 175mcg. He agreed and now one week later I am starting to regain energy and feel more like myself. I will have labs done in 5 weeks.
Yay!! So glad this helped you and that you are feeling better! Fingers crossed it continues! Thanks so much for the update! 😊
I’m about to do a jumpstart myself! I’ve tried (and tried and tried) to add in T3 but it just doesn’t seem to work as well for me as T4 alone. So, I’m going to do an increase in my T4 via the jumpstart process and see how things go. Fingers crossed for me as well!
So interesting. I wish I generally had more control over my thyroid meds as its so obvious when I am not functioning at my best. We want to feel and operate at our optimum. I was worried the doctor would make me wait 6 weeks for the next increase but he listened to me. I used to need to take T3 with T4 to feel like myself and I had an endocrinologist who agreed to prescribe both. Now years later I feel fine on the right amount of T4 but that right amount seems to have shifted. Will your doctor work with you to jumpstart yourself and increase to the amount you feel you need to be at now? I am living in the USA now and they look at the labs and will work with me to have my TSH around 1 if I push for that. I feel not quite right unless I'm in that ballpark. I so appreciated your advice and insight when I was feeling so awful. I usually feel really chilled and a low, tired and my skin pale and dry and lack focus when my thyroid is off. The jumpstart is a great way to make a quicker recovery but then you need a doc to bump you up and stay there.
KODUS to You musicky . So glad it worked for you jump starting your dose and ripping the benefits . The same works in reverse . If you want to lower the dose you skip a few days of T4 and restart on a lower dose .
Dr Blanchard was a *GENIUOSE* of our times in the thyroid field .
Best Wishes .
I’m in the US too and yes, my endo is a functional medicine doctor who was trained by my previous endo (Dr. Blanchard) and took over his practice when he passed away. She is very receptive to what I want to do.
I’m actually waiting to hear back from her since I just received my latest blood results and we need to discuss how I’m feeling and what to do next. My gut is telling me that T3 just isn’t working as it should and my FT3/RT3 ratio actually went down with the recent increase in T3.
I’ve also been chilled lately (when my hubby is warm) so I know meds aren’t right. Also conserned that with my last T3 increase I’m noticing some bloat or weightiness around my abdomen which instantly tells me something is off.
Your response is timely because I was pondering a jumpstart so I’m going to go for it. I have enough extra Levo to “play” a bit and my doc is okay when I do that as long as I keep notes and let her know.
Good luck to both of us!
Wishing you much success to sort things out for yourself . I'm afraid it's an on going dilemma for us . Sensible guidelines that Dr Blanchard put forth is so very valuable and so very helpful for many of us .
Best Wishes . Spring is on it's way .
Aw, thank you so much!
I’ve been meaning to write you but this winter was just a rough one for me. 😞 Things are getting better but yes, you are so right in that it is an ongoing struggle!
I hope you are doing well!
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