Was this test done as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test?
Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription
What vitamin supplements are you currently taking
When were vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 last tested
Do you have autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto’s, diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies
Suggest you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing done NOW …..Before reducing dose
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested.
Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s or Ord’s thyroiditis)
Low vitamin levels common as we get older too
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 and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
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 all relevant vitamins
If TPO or TG thyroid antibodies are high this is usually due to Hashimoto’s (commonly known in UK as autoimmune thyroid disease). Ord’s is autoimmune without goitre.
About 90% of all primary hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto’s. Low vitamin levels are particularly common with Hashimoto’s. Gluten intolerance is often a hidden issue too
Not a bad call from your GP to reduce Levo, given your symptoms and high FT4 result. However as Slowdragon has perfectly said, you don’t have the full picture without an FT3 result. Can you do this privately, your GP would need persuading to do it and sometimes even that decision is out of their hands and labs will just refuse/ignore doing it.
Good that he’s following it up with another blood test. I’m not very knowledgeable about these things but did they test for other things too? …like anaemia or infections or other blood markers? I think feeling tired and losing weight can signal a number of things.
Good Morning, as always Slow Dragon gives great advice. Do you have any b12 results? I think this should be checked ASAP. Do you have other symptoms? B12d.org is a good info source and has a symptoms check list.
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