Does my thyroxine dosage need increased?

[SovietSong]

Hi, don’t use these forums much so apologies if I have this in the wrong place.I have been taking thyroxine for approx 15-20 years and for the last couple of those years my dosage has been 150mg daily.For the last three months I have been experiencing pain in left shoulder/upper arm, left hip and the small joints in my hands.Been to GP, sports physio and tried all types of meds during this time none of which helped.Just last week after reading something online I upped my dosage to 200mg and felt improvement almost instantly.Is this coincidence or have I been undermedicating?Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.Many thanx in advance.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

We usually only recommend increasing by 25mcg dose at a time ...and to test first

Do you have any results from before increase?

Perhaps reduce increase to 175mcg per day

Retest FULL Thyroid And vitamin levels 6-8 weeks after any dose or brand change in levothyroxine

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Ask GP to test vitamin levels

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)

Is this how you do your tests?

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

[SovietSong in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi, thank you, very much appreciate your reply.I am currently taking joint care supplex which contains manganese and vitamins C ,D and E as well as a multi vitamin and cod liver oil capsule.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to SovietSong]

Which multivitamin

Not generally recommended on here

Most contain iodine, best avoided if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (hashimoto’s) diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies

Important to stop any supplements that contain biotin a week before ALL BLOOD TESTS as biotin can falsely affect test results

[SovietSong in reply to SlowDragon]

The multivitamin I am taking contains everything that is in B complex apart from B6.No iodine is listed in the ingredients.

[tattybogle]

Your theory may well be right , but you need to be a bit cautious, 150mcg is already a largish dose and 50mcg is a large% to add on to it. It will take about 2 weeks for the full effect of the extra to build up in your blood , and so even though you feel good now , you may end up feeling overmedicated later on.

It would be safer to ;

a) get a blood test on 150 to see what your levels of FT4 and FT3 are to start with , and

b) only increase by a smaller amount ie 12.5 or 25 mcg then wait 6/8 weeks to see how it feels and test again.

[SovietSong in reply to tattybogle]

Many thanks for reply tattybogle.