Underactive Thyroid/HRT

[Munting]

Hi. Does anybody have any knowledge/thoughts on underactive thyroid and HRT?

The current state of play is:

Tomorrow I will be doing a Medichecks Advanced Thyroid test after being on Levothyroxine for 7 weeks and am following the pre blood test protocol for that as I take my medication in the evening.

I stopped using the HRT patches 2 months ago after being on them for a year because I wanted to see how I went. The patches stopped my hot sweats, but they’ve come back with a vengeance (as I guessed they would) and I will be seeing an NHS Endocrinologist on the 23rd September so wasn’t sure whether to hold off going back on the patches until after seeing him?

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

Which brand of levothyroxine

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

If you normally take levothyroxine at bedtime/in night ...adjust timings as follows prior to blood test

If testing Monday morning, delay Saturday evening dose levothyroxine until Sunday morning. Delay Sunday evening dose levothyroxine until after blood test on Monday morning. Take Monday evening dose levothyroxine as per normal

REMEMBER.....very important....stop taking any supplements that contain biotin a week before ALL BLOOD TESTS as biotin can falsely affect test results - eg vitamin B complex

[Hidden]

Sorry, no reply to your question but a question of my own since you have been on transdermal HRT: did you notice it affecting your thyroid meds in any way? I am asking because I was told transdermal estrogen would not affect thyroid meds; only oral HRT would. But while on Oestrogel/Lenzetto I noticed that my SHBG and TBG levels rose slightly, although the doctor assured me that only happens with oral HRT. I have also noticed needing more thyroid meds lately. Not surely if it´s related, but curious to find out if this has happened to others on transdermal HRT.

[hyporeb in reply to Hidden]

I’ve decided it does.

I’m 50, with hashis. I have been on Evorel patch and Utrogestan for about 10 weeks now. I specifically chose the patch for the transdermal reason and while a couple of weeks ago I might have said I don’t think it is affecting my Thyroid meds - I am beginning to think maybe it is.

I feel so much better for having HRT but I am also now gradually starting to feel more of what I call my ‘Thyroidy symptoms’.. (which of course are not dissimilar to menopause symptoms 😩). Have not done my bloods yet because I really wanted to give it at least 3 months on the HRT before I tested - but my next step is to increase my levo slightly and see what happens.

[FancyPants54 in reply to hyporeb]

It does seem to be that a few of us need to increase our thyroid meds even with transdermal oestrogen. But I'd not let it worry you, the increase won't need to be much.

[Hidden in reply to hyporeb]

Interesting, that is also what I have been suspecting lately...!

[Munting in reply to hyporeb]

Hi everybody, thanks for your responses and in a roundabout way you have actually been very helpful 😃

I was symptomatic with underactive thyroid, but hadn’t been diagnosed at the time. I went on the Everil Conti patches and it was brilliant for the tropical moments but made my (now known) thyroid symptoms worse.

I’m therefore definitely going to wait to get my blood test results and discuss it with my endocrinologist during my first appointment at the end of this month, because I’ve read 3 articles that state HRT tablets can affect your thyroid if you are hypo or hyper, but I think patches can too.