I reduced my Levothyroxine down from 150mcg to 125mcg on the advice of my doctor in January of this year as I was getting headaches. No bloods were taken at the time. Six weeks later in March I had a blood test on the 125mcg and tests showed suppressed tsh, free T4 just over range at 16.3 (7.0 - 16.0) and free T3 5.1 (3.9 - 6.0). Have been on the 125mcg ever since. Just wondering though, I started experiencing a lot of hairloss in the middle of April and it’s still going on. I’m wondering if I should go back to 150mcg as a trial?? Or am I crazy?? Just strange that the hairloss started after reducing my dose.
Any advice?
Thank you Sarah xx
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Sarahlouise1980
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Thank you - problem is I had a blood test a few weeks ago and my T3 is now 5.8 which is just under top of the range. The hairloss is bad though and I just can’t help thinking it’s thyroid related.
With a suppressed TSH, over range FT4 and FT3 at 5.8 (3.9-6.0) there isn't really room for an increase in dose, certainly not one prescribed by your GP. However, in reply to your previous post here
Greygoose mentioned that nutrient deficiencies can cause hair loss. In response you said
"Vitamin D low so on loading doses and vitamin b12 and folate both below range so am going to the doctors today."
Are you being tested for B12 deficiency/pernicious anaemia or have you started B12 injections? Are you going to be prescribed folic acid after starting B12 supplementation?
Your hairloss problem could very well be associated with this as I also mentioned in reply to your post here:
The Vit D Council recommends a Vit D level of 125nmol/L and the Vit D Society recommends a level of 100-150nmol/L.
Once the loading have been completed you will need to continue supplementing at a reduced amount so you should make sure that you are retested after you have finished the loading doses so that you know how much you should then take going forward. Most doctors, if they continue prescribing, only give 800iu daily which isn't enough. If GP wont retest then do this privately (link below) and post your new result at the time for members to suggest a new dose to bring your level up to the recommended level and then you'll need a maintenance dose to keep it there, which may be 2000iu daily, maybe more or less, maybe less in summer than winter, it's trial and error so it's recommended to retest once or twice a year to keep within the recommended range. You can do this with a private fingerprick blood spot test with an NHS lab which offers this test to the general public:
Your GP won't know, because they're not taught much about nutrients, but there are important cofactors needed when taking D3 as recommended by the Vit D Council
D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems such as hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, etc.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds if taking tablets/capsules/softgels, no necessity if using an oral spray
Magnesium helps D3 to work. We need Magnesium so that the body utilises D3, it's required to convert Vit D into it's active form. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds if taking tablets/capsules, no necessity if using topical forms of magnesium.
Thank you SeasideSusie, yes I am awaiting another blood test before I can start the injections and folate tablets I’ve been prescribed. I’m so very worried about this hairloss though and estimate I’ve probably lost 50% of my hairs volume. Can low vitamin b12 really cause this much hair loss? So suddenly? x
Recommend you get full Thyroid and vitamin testing
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to regularly retest 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
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
Hair loss is one of the listed side effect of Eltroxin so if you are taking that brand you may just be unfortunate enough to be getting that one. Also you may be experiencing a mild form of alopecia as this is also an autoimmune disorder and one you have one you are prone to developing further autoimmune issues.
I myself have both alopecia and Autoimmune Thyroiditis. The Low vitamin scenario could also be the cause as low Iron levels can have an affect on hairloss.
It's so hard to figure out what is causing hair loss. As everyone has said, it can be medication, it can be iron or B12, it can be thyroid levels, or something completely different! I had two bouts of telogen effluvium from taking PTU for Graves disease. Most of the time telogen effluvium (TE) happens two to four months after taking a drug. Mine started more than a year after I took it the first time and then again about 3 months after started taking it. It stopped after I quit taking PTU. When my started going hyper again 7 months ago, I started taking methimozole and my hair started falling out within a month of taking it.
This time around, I happened to see someone on a forum say that they were losing hair because of an anti-depressant and starting taking Haifluence ( a vitamin). and it helped tremendously. I thought What the heck, might as well try it and within a month my hair fallout was reduced by 50%. By the 2nd month, it had stopped 75%. I've taking it for about 5 months and my hair loss has still been minimal. I buy it off Amazon but I live in the US. People have said they bought it from iHerb in the UK.
I know what you're going through, hair loss is horrible.
You skipped one dose between 155 and 125 mcg T4 . You might want to try to go to the in-between dose 137mcg T4 . You might also try to ask for some T3/NDT and see how that works for you . Has your Dr checked your Iron/ferritin levels too? That might factor in if it's low levels.
considering your levels have gone up and are quite high despite dose reduction have you considered you might be going through a phase where your thyroid is producing more on its own and therefore overmedication is causing the loss? could be totally off but just a thought
I think I’m going to try reducing my Levothyroxine and see what happens. My skin is all of a sudden oily when it has always been on the drier side. I wonder if that’s a sign of too much Levothyroxine?
interesting, i’m not sure but thats a good question. i would think with being overmedicated you would be having at least some other symptoms like heart palps, anxiety, etc. but with your numbers are high as they are i personally would def try reducing my dose in any case. at least for a while, and then just seeing how you feel. to help lower levels quickly ive heard some suggest skipping a dose (or half or two depending how overmedicated you are) before switching to the reduced dose. i have done that and it has helped me a lot.
The only other symptoms I have are the hairloss and occasionally feeling hot and sweaty this happens most often when eating a hot meal or a hot drink. I’ll come over all sweaty.
with your numbers and those symptoms it seems reasonable to me to assume that is overmedication, for the time being at least (not sure of your history), though the hair loss may or may not be related. def think it would be worth a shot to reduce. of course as others have said making sure nutrients/diet are in order is extremely important. i’ve been dealing with hairloss for years now and it has been super difficult so i know how you feel. i hope you figure it out!
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