Teva levothyroxine

[Maggiemay12]

So I was on wockhard brand and couldn’t get the right balance as I felt I wasn’t absorbing it as well as I should .My bloods showed I needed to up them as the TSH was 4.81 and I tried to increase it but I felt really unwell and felt like inflammation in my hand etc . Free T3 was 3.6 so last few years had gone down a lot .Tried Teva brand and I felt great in beginning and definitely felt I absorbed it better and this showed in my last blood test as T3 was up to 4.2 and TSH was down to 3.04 .The range was T3 is 3.1to 6.8 and 0.4 to 4.2 for TSH . I am try to up again slightly because I have constipation so I know thyroid is out of balance still but I get warm and to me that might be over medicating . Any advice .If I’m absorbing Teva better then would I need less than the previous one that I wasn’t absorbing . Thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator]

As you have Hashimoto's and Teva seems better, it's possible you are dairy intolerant

Lactose intolerance is very common with Hashimoto's

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/240...

Lactose intolerance was diagnosed in 75.9 % of the patients with HT

read.qxmd.com/read/24796930...

These findings show that lactose intolerance significantly increased the need for oral T4 in hypothyroid patients.

How much Levothyroxine are you currently taking?

FT3 is only 32% through range

chorobytarczycy.eu/kalkulator

The aim of Levothyroxine is to increase the dose slowly in 25mcg steps upwards until TSH is under 2 (many need TSH significantly under one) and most important is that FT4 in top third of range and FT3 at least half way in range

All four vitamins need to be regularly tested and frequently need supplementing to maintain optimal levels

NHS guidelines on Levothyroxine including that most patients eventually need somewhere between 100mcg and 200mcg Levothyroxine.

nhs.uk/medicines/levothyrox...

For full Thyroid evaluation you need 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 you do your tests?

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

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

[silvisilvi in reply to SlowDragon]

What is folate exactly and why is it important for the thyroid health?Thany you in advance

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to silvisilvi]

Folate is one of the B vitamins. B9

Folate and B12 work together. Both are often low when hypothyroid

labtestsonline.org/conditio...

Important to test vitamin D, folate, B12 and ferritin

[silvisilvi in reply to SlowDragon]

I will,thank you.