Reducing dose

hi, I've reduced my dose of levothyroxine less than a week ago and im feeling a bit weird. Is this normal? Should there be an adjustment period? If anyone has any experience with this please let me know thanks

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

FrancescaD

Why have you reduced your dose, and by how much?

You posted these results a month ago:

TSH is 0.34

Ft4 is 15 (12-22)

ft3 is 4 (3.1-6.8)

The FT4 and FT3 results show undermedication and it was suggested that you increase your dose. If you reduced your dose with those results no wonder you don't feel right.

[Hidden in reply to SeasideSusie]

He kept telling me my tsh is suppressed and to reduce by 12mcg at first to let my tsh go up and stimulate my thyroid to make more t4? I'm so lost I've had enough of feeling poorly i really feel like I've had enough

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

he said it'll be the cause of my early miscarriages,he said my resting heart beat was too high at 84. I'm just sat here crying im exhausted with feeling like crap, either over medicated or under medicated.

[tattybogle in reply to Hidden]

Have you seen this post from 6 months ago Francesca ? It may help put your fears re. low tsh in context.

It's posted by 'diogenes' .

'TSH values above 2.5 in first trimester of pregnancy significantly increase danger of later miscarriage'

If you read the study he is referring to and look at the miscarriage risks for various different tsh levels you may feel more in control of the information you are using to make decisions with.

Listening to GP's and specialists without seeing for yourself the evidence of risks they are frightening you with is obviously not doing you any good at the moment.

If you have difficulty with deciphering the numbers,etc just ask , there are scientists here who will be happy to help.

I'll have a go myself later (after some coffee !)

But at first glance 0.4-2.5 is NOT a risk , its the least risky range , below 0.4 looks less of a risk than >2.5 (for miscarriage).

but look for yourself cos it's too early for my eyes to be fully open

[Hidden in reply to tattybogle]

Thank you so much ill read this carefully

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Hidden]

Low thyroid hormone is often the cause of miscarriage, not low TSH. Low T3 can cause high resting heart rate, as can stress - and you are now physically and mentally stressed

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Hidden]

Your TSH is not suppressed - that would be 0.00x. Lowering levo to make your TSH go up is arse backwards. The reason you are on levo is because you can't make enough hormone on your own regardless of your TSH. I think your doctor is not very knowledgeable and also a bit sadistic. Can you see someone else?

[Hidden in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

I think he is too he loses his temper when I ask questions i think he feels that I'm questioning his knowledge as a doctor. I just want to be healthy ive spent so much time feeling unwell over the last 3 years I've truly had enough.

[tattybogle]

Have you reduced it again from 75mcg ? I would have thought you would have raised it back to your previous 87.5 that you felt good on , not reduced it further .

[Hidden in reply to tattybogle]

I took the 87.5 today and I'll stay on it and find myself a new doctor. I've been on this low dose before and I KNEW it wasn't enough and I felt unwell on it but my doctor always seems to tell me something different. And because I really wanted to get pregnant and stay pregnant I just did what my doctor told me to do. But actually over this last 3 years he's done not much more than mess me about. I've seen a specialist a couple of times and he can't ever understand what my gp has told me to do. My gp about 3 months ago told me to come off levo all together, I told the specialist and he said under no circumstances stop taking the medicine and that I should stay on it for life.

Anyway sorry for the ramble I jusy feel annoyed that I've lost a week of my life to feeling poorly and not my happy self again.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Your very low Ft4 and Ft3 shows you needed dose increase

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

btf-thyroid.org/thyroid-fun...

Occasionally patients only feel well if the TSH is below normal or suppressed. This is usually not harmful as long as it is not completely undetectable and/or the FT3 is clearly normal.

Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, states in Pulse Magazine,

"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.

In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l.

Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.

But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.

This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."

You can obtain a copy of the articles from Thyroid UK email print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor



please email Dionne at

[e-mail]

[Hidden]

I've got my first appointment with the recurrent miscarriage clinic on Thursday (it was postponed due to covid) so I'm sure some time soon they'll be testing me for all sorts and thyroid will be in there. So I'll go back to my higher dose i feel good on and wait for the results in the tests from them. I dont have a choice anyway, I do not function on this lower dose.

Thanks for all the help. I feel so much better already knowing I'm on the right path now