Hi. I have been on 150 mcg of Thyroxine for 20 years. I am 54 and male. What prompted the switch: I recently started getting a lot of itching and hives on my arms particularly and other areas. I consulted a homeopath and found I was likely experiencing allergic reaction to Thyroxine. The treatment appears to have worked mostly. Ok so how much Metavive to take equivalent? A week now since the switch on 40mg a day and I am now noticing the underactive feelings I used to have before taking thyroxine. Sluggishness, apathy, mental cognitive and memory issues plus mild anxiety. The last 2 days I upped it to 2 x 40mg per day and I hoping it will improve as a slow release catch up. I am alaso taking Sea Green capsules x 3 a day for iodine.
Is 40g x 2 per day enough Metavive for someone who was on high strength thyroxine of 150mcgs per day? What are your thoughts? And how do I regulate my health? I am not using our national health service any more since the covid scandal and cannot trust them anymore. Going it alone and self medicating feels a tad daunting so any tips and books / articles sgested would be very helful thanks.
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DavidOl
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I don't know anything about Metavive, but I would have thought the manufacturers should be the best people to advise you on dosing. Metavive is'n't supposed to contain any thyroid hormone so I don't understand how it can replace your levothyroxine.
There is no declared hormone content in Metavive, it works for some people but not all. All you can do is experiment and see if it works for you.
As you have been on Levo for 20 years, presumably you got on OK with it before. Have you had a change of brand which coincided with the start of your hives and itching? Or anything else that changed around that time? There is one brand of Levo that many members react to (Teva).
Iodine is not recommended unless you have been tested and found to be deficient. Iodine solution used to be used to treat overactive thyroid before the current radioactive iodine treatment, so it can make hypothyroidisn worse. If found to be deficient after a non-loading urine Iodine test, then iodine should be supplemented under the supervision of an experienced practitioner.
Thanks. I have been ok on Levothyroxine until a few months ago. Thanks for the Iodine advice. I've not had a blood test for a few year's at least so I do need to find someone locally to help.
Did you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing done before changing from levothyroxine
Did you always get same brand of levothyroxine
Which brand?
Accord (previously Activis) brand has been causing some members issues when its name changed- though manufacturers swear ingredients are the same
Teva brand upsets many people
Low vitamin levels tend to result in poor conversion of Ft4 to Ft3
Low vitamin D likely at this time of year unless you are supplementing
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
Presumably with hives you have Hashimoto’s
Ask GP to test vitamin levels or test privately
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)
If/when also on T3, or Metavive make sure to take last third or quarter of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
I also have reacted badly to the change of Levothyroxine from Actavis to Accord. I came out in a terrible rash, unbearable. I have been feeling I'll for about a year and had tests for everything. But since going on liquid levothyroxine for a week, I am feeling so much better, and no more itchy rash. Hope you find what suits you. Forgot to say I have been on 150mg levothyroxine for 14years Actavis brand with no problems. But Accord have taken over and my allergic reactions have returned.
If you type 'metavive' into the box marked 'Search HealthUnlocked' (top right on my screen) you'll find posts from people who've tried it (and some who've given it up).It was trial and error finding your dose on the old version of Metavive, even more so with the new version.
Honestly, I’m not convinced a switch to Metavive is going to work for you—unless of course your homeopath knows something about Metavive that I don’t. There’s no way of telling how much active thyroid hormone in Metavive. What might work when taking your current batch probably won’t work when you order a new batch. They don’t publish the hormone content.
It’s far more likely that you’ve been chronically underdosed on levothyroxine for a while, which has caused gut absorption problems.
What were your blood test results on 150mcg of levothyroxine? Was your TSH lower than 1.0? Was your FT3 high in range? If your homeopath didn’t bother getting all of your thyroid hormone levels tested then I wouldn’t really trust their advice.
Taking iodine isn’t advised unless you know for sure that you’re iodine deficient (rather unlikely if you’ve been on 150mcg of levothyroxine)
Did they test your levels of folate, Vit B12, ferritin and Vit D? What were the levels?
Levothyroxine in itself isn’t an evil drug. It works, at least partially, for nearly everyone who needs to take it. For those who’ve taken it for a long time and haven’t kept an eye on their nutrient levels, there may need to be some supplementing to do to get those levels into optimal range so that your liver and other organs can do an optimal job of converting levothyroxine into the active thyroid hormone T3. That’s what optimal thyroid hormone replacement is all about—getting decent levels of T3 available to your cells. Some may actually need to take T3 (liothyronine) to get a good outcome (but because it’s outrageously expensive here in the U.K., doctors are reluctant to prescribe it).
Some brands of levothyroxine contain fillers which cause issues for some hypothyroid patients. Teva is often the culprit (but for others, they find it’s the only Levo which suits them).
I think we need to know a lot more about your thyroid journey before we can help you very much.
Thank you all for you help and advice. It has prompted me to find an independant health clinic to get blood tests. I can't do this on my own. My brain is super fuzzy and the amount of information is a lot to process.
I’d highly recommend reading the book Hashimoto's Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back by Dr Izabella Wentz.
I bought this book a few years ago read it and then forgot about it. I’ve picked it up again and finding it really helpful. The thing with Hashimoto’s is that simply replacing thyroid hormone doesn’t make everyone feel better. It’s an autoimmune issue not a thyroid issue. There’s a couple of protocols which aren’t difficult that you can follow which really help.
I’ve been taking Metavive and whilst I feel better on this generally than Levothyroxine I still don’t feel as well as I should. So really it comes down to addressing different areas in the body which Hashimoto’s affects and drive the autoimmune response which affects the thyroid.
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