My partner is currently taking 125 micro gram of the levothyroxine ‘mercury Pharma’ brand and since taking this medication has completely lost his sex drive. It’s been over 4 years now and His testosterone levels have completely vanished so it seems. Doctor keeps saying ‘going to the gym will help’... which is a sack of shit because we train 5 days a week for past 4 years and still no change. Does anybody else have this problem? We have been back to re do bloods, etc and no one is doing anything about it. Feeing very stupid and at a loose end, x
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Hikinig
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Does he get copies of his results when he has a blood test? If not, he should. He needs to know exactly what is being tested and exactly what the results are, and keep his own records. If his doctor is not testing his FT3, then he will have no idea if all that levo is being converted into T3 - although, to be honest, 125 mcg is not much of a dose in the first place and he's probably under-medicated, anyway. But, if he doesn't convert well, his FT3 will be low, and that is what causes symptoms like loss of libido. So, that is the first step to take: get print-outs of blood test results and post them on here with the ranges. And let's have a look!
Do you have a reference for that? It's my understanding that it is un-medicated/under-medicated hypothyroidism that depletes testosterone levels, and that replacement with exogenous hormones improves them.
As mentioned he needs his test results, there's a tendency to undermedicate, many doctors believe that once TSH comes down a bit that is enough. The link with levothyroxine may be because it is prescribed when he is diagnosed but hypothyroidism is progressive (usually) and the dosage may not have kept up with his failing thyroid gland. Hypothyroidism can lead to low libido. It's essential to get a copy of all the blood test results to get a clue to the problem.
If his testosterone levels are very low it is unlikely to be due to hypothyroidism and should be investigated separately.
Does he take any supplements or medications? Sometimes they can affect hormones.
Very common to have low vitamin D when hypothyroid
For full Thyroid evaluation he needs TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Last Levothyroxine dose should be 24 hours prior to test, (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
Is this how your partner does his tests?
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
125mcg is not a high dose, especially for a man.
Frequently we are left on too low a dose if GP is only looking at TSH. Common to need very low (suppressed) TSH in order to have high enough FT4 and FT3
Come back with new post once you get full Thyroid and vitamin testing
Training five days a week when hypothyroid & undermedicated or not converting well will also deplete T3.
Better to keep excercise light to moderate until this is sorted-either by being adequately dosed,or resolving an issue with conversion of thyroxine to the active form,T3.
I have suffered the same symptoms as your partner. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism with a TSH of 5.5, I delayed taking Levothyroxine in case my TSH problem resolved, but six months later it had increased further so I decided to trial 25mg for two months as suggested by my doctor. I took the Levothyroxine for two months and returned for my TSH to be retested, it remained stubbornly unchanged, although the T4 level had increased slightly. I agreed that I should stop the treatment and see how things panned out. Around this time I had a sudden...like a light being turned off sudden...loss of libido. I didn't connect this to the medication but to an extremely stressful period in my life, this was 16 months ago and there has been no return of my libido. I have since studied thyroid dysfunction and have found that consumption of Soy products will raise the TSH. My thyroid "problems" only started after I replaced milk with Soy milk, I have since given this up (after a period of 2.5 years) and my TSH has dropped to 3.9 and T4 is higher than ever before.
Later research for another problem drew my attention to the co-incidence of my Levothyroxine use and loss of libido...unfortunately nothing has improved. I wonder how your husband getting on now, any improvements?
Both of you have my sympathies regarding this devastating loss.
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