Tweek my dose

[Biloxi]

Hello everyone!

I've read about some people cutting a levothyroxine tablet in half, or skipping a day to make their dose just right for them. Would someone help me with mine??

When I'm on 100 mcg.

TSH 4.580 (.340-5.600)

T4 FREE .97 (.6-1.6)

T3 FREE 2.93 (2.50-3.90)

When I'm on 112 mcg.

TSH .460 (.340-5.600)

T4 FREE 1.32 (.60-1.60)

T3 FREE 3.22 (2.50-3.90)

My TSH is on the high end of the spectrum when on 100mcg, and on the low end when on 112mcg.

I've heard you feel better when its lower, but its almost at the very lowest of the scale. Should I try skipping a day once a week or cutting a tablet or something? Just to see if I can get it just right? If so, what do you suggest?

Thanks in advance hypo friends!

Ps. Yes, I'm in the USA, we just don't have a group on this site. Well, we do, just that no one seems to ever check it!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Biloxi

Which dose do you feel best on?

Don't get bogged down by numbers and the fact that someone says you "should feel better when....". Go by whichever dose makes you feel better.

Looking at your results, your levels when on 112mcg are where, theoretically, you should feel better.

[Biloxi in reply to SeasideSusie]

I feel really good! The only thing is I wake up at night and can't fall back to sleep easily like I used to for about a week now, that's why I was curious.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Biloxi]

Biloxi

Stay on the dose that makes you feel good. Neither of those sets of results say you are overmedicated.

[Lalatoot]

Biloxi I would be happy with your recent results. If you feel well I would not alter my dose. It is the result for Ft3 that matters not tsh.

[roukounasGK]

Hey,

Have you tried persistently taking the 112 dose for some time? When you change your dose it is bound that you get irritations at start.

That being said, you can cut it in half. Up until 3 years ago or something like that, in my country the only doses available were 100 and 200. So any other dose in between was achieved by cutting the pill in half or skipping a day. For example i was for a long time on the 125 dose. In order to achieve this i took 1,5 pill of 100 for 3 days and 1 pill the rest of the days of the week. As you know, Levo is very slow to be accumulated in your body so it doesn't matter if the dose is different each day, or in different hour so long that it is on the same hour, the same day of the week, with empty stomach etc. consistently.

[efrasinia]

Hi! You wrote when you are on 100 mcg. you have T4 FREE .97 (.6-1.6), i think it is high level. If I understand correctly levothyroxine it is T4. I take levothyroxine sodium 100 mcg. My doktor said that it is a bad idea to take only t4, because t4 is poorly excreted from the body, better is to take t4+t3. She said it is good to take Thybon 100. Maby you should ask your doktor about that medicine. Unfortunately, it is hard to find in my country. I will probably ask my friends to buy in Germany. I also wake up at night and can't fall back to sleep easily, but I am only 3 weeks on 100 mcg. mayby it takes time...

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to efrasinia]

efrasinia

You wrote when you are on 100 mcg. you have T4 FREE .97 (.6-1.6), i think it is high level

A level of .97 with a reference range of .6-1.6 is not high, it is only 37% through the reference range. To be high in the range it would have to be nearer the top, around 80% or 90% which would be 1.4 or 1.5

My doktor said that it is a bad idea to take only t4, because t4 is poorly excreted from the body, better is to take t4+t3. I take levothyroxine sodium 100 mcg

If you are taking levothyroxine sodium that is T4 only, not a combination of T4 and T3. Levothyroxine is T4, liothyronine is T3.

[bd79og]

If you feel well I would leave alone. For me 100 is slightly, slightly too high and I get more migraines. My migraines are usually triggered by low blood sugar so if I slow my metabolism down by one quarter pill (25 mg) once a week that does the trick for me most of the time. I could also eat more but find on the higher dose I will wake with a migraine as I get hungry overnight. Everyone is an individual and it is how you fee that really matters, Good luck!

[SilverAvocado]

Biloxi, there is a large change between these two blood tests, considering the small difference in dose. It makes me a little suspicious more is going on inbetween the two.

Maybe they weren't both taken correctly and in the same way, first thing in the morning fasting and 24 hours after your last dose? Or maybe you have Hashimoto's auto immune thyroiditis and extra hormone was being dumped into your bloodstream at one point. Hopefully you will get a retested fairly regularly and that will clarify a bit.

Is say the 100mcg result looks very undermedicated. But the 112mcg is a result many people would be happy with. As others have said, the blood test doesn't matter if you feel very well on both doses. However, if you have a few lingering symptoms and want to adjust, you do have a tiny bit of room for an increase on the 112mcg. The TSH is pretty irrelevant when we are on hormone replacement, though doctors often overvalue it. The better number to look at when taking T4 is freeT4, you can take this all the way to the top of the range and slightly over if symptoms justify it.

As these results suggest you're very sensitive to an increase you probably want to increase by less than 12mcg per day (already a small increase). You can achieve this by cutting tablets or taking extra on a few days and averaging it out across the week.

[jgelliss]

Your FT4 seems to be low for me. You might not be getting enough T4 . I need a bit higher T4 for my cognitive wellbeing. I do well with FT4 1.3 . You might want to add some T3/NDT to your T4 dose. You might also try to take 112 and 100 T4 alternately and see how that works for you .