How long do it take to drop the tsh level?

[1342fire]

Hi all

Just out of interest how long can it take for your tsh to drop down in range!.

I’m 20.6 now.

The reason why I ask I have spinal stenosis

L3,4,5.

And been waiting for surgery

for a long time.

I had a call yesterday to go in on the 9th January.

But I asked about my tsh ?.

because Is High.

they had the anaesthetist consultant call me back about this.

I’ve been taking 25 mg Levothyroxine for six weeks.

( I did not know I had this when I did the pre-op).

I’m having my second blood test done 10.10Monday morning.

The hospital will be checking the results

On Tuesday by the sounds of it

and the Manager would let me know if it’s on.

It’s all depends now how high it will be now if I can get it done by the 9 of January.

But I have got the feeling this can take a long time to sort out?.

Thanks

[jordystreet91]

My personal experience i started taking 25mcg when I had a TSH of 5.1 (0.3-4.2) on the 13th of February 2020 and on the 13th of April 2020 my TSH only dropped to 3.8, as Geeling said post test results for some better answers and opinions, there's a wealth of knowledge here on this forum that helped me out a lot so I'm sure they can help you too.

All the best!

[1342fire]

I will update the new results.

But I think it will be same time

to drop down from tsh20.6

I can’t see me going for surgery in January.

They will have to put me up on more Levothyroxine?.

[tattybogle]

Was the TSH 20.6 result from October before you started on Levo ? If you'd been on a decent dose since then then it would probably have come down quite a lot by now .... however , since they only gave you 25mcg , i don't know how much it will have fallen in your case.

In my case i only had TSH of 6.8, at diagnosis, and after 6 weeks on 50mcg it had fallen to 2.9

....but everyone will have a different response.

I would hope that whatever your TSH turns out to be on mondays test, there would still be enough time for it to fall to something that anaesthetist is happy with before the 9th January, but i would think the chances are much less if they don't increase your Levo dose .

If you still get nowhere with the GP, i'd ask the anaesthetist to have a word with them once they see you latest results... it would be such a shame to miss the operation slot because the GP hadn't put you on a decent dose.

Try not to worry , TSH can move quite a lot within a few days. mine once went up from 0.05 to 7.89 within 14 days when i stopped Levo completely.

[tattybogle in reply to tattybogle]

p.s I think that when i had a planned operation they possibly rechecked my TSH and fT4 as part of the pre op on the morning of the operation.

[1342fire]

GP hadn't put you on a decent doseExactly I’ve made 3 attempts to be fob off

They get all defensive.

The anaesthetist yesterday agreed With me I was on a low dose and wasted time.

They are looking at it on Tuesday.

And going to let me know 🤞

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to 1342fire]

GP gets defensive because they haven’t a clue how to treat hypothyroidism and seem incapable of reading guidelines

Good to hear anaesthetist is fully aware.....they usually are

Spinal stenosis may be due to hypothyroidism, and low vitamin D also contributing factor

Let’s hope they don’t just test TSH and nothing else

[1342fire in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks you for letting me know about this 😉. They are keeping a lookout for Monday’s morning test.

I’m not sure how it has slipped the pre- op

Mind.

But she’s not happy I’m so high.

I still feel like I did before I started on Levothyroxine lol

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to 1342fire]

Well your on half a starter dose ....unlikely to notice much improvement until on 100mcg minimum

Probably higher, based on your weight

As soon as we start levothyroxine, your own thyroid output diminishes further.

TSH (the instruction to make thyroid hormones) reduces so your thyroid stops trying to work so hard

Common to see Ft4 and Ft3 drop even lower if start on low dose

[1342fire]

I did think because I have a lot of pain from my back and Failed hip replacement ( that’s next a revision)🙈I did not notice all this going on.

I’m dizzy cold and have headaches

And put lots of weight on over the last 7 months