Thyroid change since stopping contraceptive pill

[queridalady]

Hi everyone. Something interesting has happened to me. Brief background. 7 years ago I started losing a bit of weight and felt hot all the time then developed a swelling in my neck that made swallowing uncomfortable. GP took bloods and my T4 was at the top of the normal range and TSH was less that 0.01. They said I had an overactive thyroid. But wanted to test again in a month to be sure. Worst month of my life. Seemed to lose all control of my emotions etc but the swelling went. When retested my TSH was 37 and my FT 4 was unreadable. My thyroid had had a surge and then dropped to underactive. It has been the same ever since. I have always had trouble getting FT3 and FT4 to a good level. I have always just been above the bottom of the range. Anyway I had been reading how the oestrogen/ progesterone pill can block thyroid conversion and I was thinking of coming off it anyway so I stopped the pill. After a short while I started to feel that swelling in my throat again and weakness in my muscles. Went for my annual blood test and low and behold my FT3 and FT4 are at the top of the range and TSH less than 0.01. So my GP said I was over medicated which I agreed with and has said to drop my levo from 150 to 125. So here's my query. A few days ago I had a feeling that I must have become overactive because the swelling felt the same as before so I reduced my dose to 100 and it has started feeling better. So do I continue at 100 or go to 125 as the GP suggests. I just want rid of this thick feeling in my neck. Unsure what to do for the best. Any thoughts?

Many thanks.

[jrbarnes]

If you feel better at 100mcg then I'd stay there. If you become slightly hypo you can always alternate doses. Only you know what makes you feel normal. 😁

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Bloods should be retested 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

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)

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Thriva also offer just vitamin testing

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off down to £26.10 if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/

Also vitamin D available as separate test via MMH

Or alternative Vitamin D NHS postal kit

vitamindtest.org.uk

[queridalady in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you. I do all this 👍. Medichecks are great.