I have Graves. I had iodine treatment 2 years ago. GP practice not offering thyroid checks during Covid 19. For a number of weeks I have been sweating profusely and my scalp and skin has excessive lesions/dryness. I take 100mg levo x 4 days a week and 125mg x 3 days a week (after 2 years of trial and error - but readings can still be up and down). My last bloods in October showed Vit D was extremely low/negative, so have taken daily. In absence of blood test, should I assume I'm over on Levo and cut back for a few days?
Thanks,
Gravety.
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Gravety
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What do you mean within range? The reason I ask is because what might be within range might not be what suits you. For example my T4 is top of the range at 0.22 but it suits me but others might find it too high. We are all different and what suits one does not suit all.
Suggest you consider getting FULL testing FIRST ...
Low B12 can cause sweating
Dry skin suggests under medicated and hypothyroid
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially after RAI for Graves’ disease
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins
If you can afford it I’d buy a Medichecks home fingerpick thyroid test that includes vitamin D and B12. Make sure you get the one with vitamin D - I bought the wrong one last time and didn’t get vitamin D. The test comes with instructions and is pretty easy to do. I always do it first thing, straight out of bed so that I’m nice and warm, I jump up and down a bit and have a drink of water before i start and that gets the blood flowing.
That way you will have a much better idea of what is going on before you alter anything you are taking at present. I imagine you will also be testing more than your GP tests for and you will get your test results back in your inbox in a couple of days.
As for ‘within range’ - it might be within range but it if you don’t feel good then it doesn’t sound like it’s optimal for you. You could be right at the top or right at the bottom - the range is enormous, you’re u can feel dreadful and still be ‘within the range’.
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This is my blood test result after Levo was reduced a few weeks ago. Does it look ok?
