I don’t particularly feel myself, blood pressure is high at times, had headache for a week it’s eased now, I have also noticed palpitations and a little out of breath when climbing 2 lots of stairs, feel spaced out, Im 60 yr old female, try to follow a gluten free diet, take vitamin D and a probiotic due to IBS, I follow a good diet and try to keep active. The list goes on .
My medication had changed to Teva even though they know I react, so finishing off Northstar accord until I get my new prescription, any advice would be appreciated
Best wishes
Aniba
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Aniba
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Your August results show a very slightly over range FT4 and a nice, normal TSH. You can't know if you're overmedicated unless FT3 is also tested at the same time as TSH and FT4, it's the FT3 level that tells us if we are overmedicated.
My medication had changed to Teva even though they know I react
Always check the contents of your bag at the pharmacy counter. If they give you Teva then hand it back, refuse to accept it, tell them they know you have adverse reactions to it - remind them if they have this noted on their records or if it's written on the prescription. If they can't supply non-Teva brand then ask for your prescription back and take it elsewhere to get your normal brand.
If a patient reports persistent symptoms when switching between different levothyroxine tablet formulations, consider consistently prescribing a specific product known to be well tolerated by the patient. If symptoms or poor control of thyroid function persist (despite adhering to a specific product), consider prescribing levothyroxine in an oral solution formulation.
Physicians should: 1) alert patients that preparations may be switched at the pharmacy; 2) encourage patients to ask to remain on the same preparation at every pharmacy refill; and 3) make sure patients understand the need to have their TSH retested and the potential for dosing readjusted every time their LT4 preparation is switched (18).
Suggest you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing done 6-8 weeks after being on Accord (boxed as Almus via Boots or Northstar via Lloyds)
Beware Northstar 25mcg is Teva ….if/when you get increased to 125mcg
Can’t see any thyroid antibodies test results or vitamin results
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 at least once year minimum
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 autoimmune thyroid disease. Low vitamin levels are particularly common. Gluten intolerance is often a hidden issue too
Hello Aniba, have you chatted with your doctor, It took me a while to get use to them but my doctor soon had me on 100mg alternate days with 125mg it’s been like that for a few years, at first I took levo at night and now it’s is in the morning and suits me better, I’m on levothyroxine, I don’t know if it helps, but would be wise to chat with your doctor.
Hello Aniba. I agree with most of the responses you have had to date. When my prescription was increased from 50 to 75 and was felt terrible I never connected it to the increased dose of medication as my blood tests had indicated that I was under medicated. I was hardly able to function on any level whilst taking 75 each day. After about 3 months I looked, almost idly, at the side effects of levothyroxine and realised I had every single one on the leaflet. I went back to 50 and shortly felt very much better. My GP accepted the situation but decided as 3 monthly blood tests still indicated under medication that I couldn't convert the levo T4 to T3 so put me on 10mgs liothyronine daily in addition to the 50 levo. Apart from the issues of cost this has been great for me and I now take Levo 50 and 75 on alternate days and contimue liothyronine at 10 mgs a day though I have to obtain this privately with a private prescription. It took at least 3 years for me to settle into this pattern andI now feel fine. I just think we humans are complicated and some of us don't always quite fit what is normal for most. I always specify brand of levo. Hope you get sorted.
Thank you that’s interesting to know, the Endocrinologist team advised it may take up to two years to get meds stable as you say some of us don’t always fit what is normal.
Hi Aniba I had slightly over FT4 and what they called normal TSH but it was borderline. My heart palpitations increased until they were occurring regularly. This got the doctor’s attention, they did another set of tests and found that I had become hyperthyroid. So I’d suggest keeping an eye on the palpitations as I think they can be an indicator of over medication - before the doctors interpret it as that.
overmedicated ? could be , ft4 is high ...but some people feel better when it's high ...... so the only real way to know if YOU are overmedicated is to reduce your dose very slightly for a few weeks and see if you feel better. (or not )
I became slightly overmedicated on 125 mcg even though i'd been OK on that dose and a higher one for years.. reducing to 112.5 mcg has now improved things ,,but it did take several weeks to know if i felt better or worse .....
You could just ask GP to prescribe some 50s and 25's so you can alternate 100/75 each day. (87.5mcg /day)
Or you could get a blood test before changing anything .
Or you could even DIY using the 100mcg's you've got if you don't want to get the doctor involved yet :
by taking 6 tablets instead of 7 over a week .. this makes a dose of (600mcg / 7 = 86mcg/day )
(if you don't fancy a whole day without any at all , then cut a 100mcg in half and take 50mcg on 2 days )
Then ask GP to change prescription later of you do feel better.
Well i have only ever taken Levothyroxine, and usually it turns out with me that Im undermedicated , after a while, and i have to go to the gp and have a blood test and top up!
I would just ask your gp , as they know a small amount about the thyroid, I seem to be finding out the hard way how many other things the thyroid can affect in your body .
Thank you Astro, if it wasn’t for Thyroid uk and this forum I wouldn’t have a clue, it’s shocking and also frightening how the thyroid can effect the body it’s like a domino effect, my doctor asked me years ago if there was a thyroid problem in the family and now I have one.
At first glance with the fatigue your Iron deficient levothyroxine depletes iron stores, it's why some start on levothyroxine feel fine for a while then the fatigue, palpitations etc returns with a vengeance...
The other one could most likely be vitamin D, and or Magnesium, vitamin D is magnesium dependent.
As for your low TSH in comparison to your FT4 it either needs a bit more time to come down or something is blocking it...
You need to check your Iron, copoer zinc, these 3 work together and often out of balance. Check vitamin D, this too comes with fatigue and muscle pain, bone oain, and loads more potential symptoms...
Also at your age, well a lot younger too, people are often low in stomach acid, it's needed for more than breaking food down, it also makes nutrients absorbable, and adds an ionised positive charge to the nutrients to be absorbed by an alkaline body, (opposites attract) to raise stomach acid use BetaineHCL with Pepsin, I use Solgar off of Amazon
You may want to research these nutrients, and symptoms of a deficiency, things might start to add up for you...
Hello Aniba. I have very similar results to you and I'm also wondering if my dose is too high. I take 75/100mcg on alternate days but I've been suffering the same side effects as you describe. I've also had very bad lower back ache and what feels like an irritated bladder so I've cut back to 50 yesterday and took nothing the day before. I don't feel any real difference yet and I don't like to mess about with doses without medical supervision so I'm going to ring the Dr today for advice although as a lot of people on this forum know, that can sometimes not be very helpful. I started levo in May after feeling increasingly unwell for over a year. The blood test showed TSH of 161 and negligible T4. I had every symptom of very severe hypothyroid, hoarse voice, thinning hair, difficulty swallowing, balance problems, tinnitus, gut issues etc. I quickly improved after starting on 50mcg, increasing gradually to current dose but now the levo seems to be making me feel hyper and very anxious. I weigh 52 kg (lost a couple of kg after starting levo) and not very tall, and wonder if it's too much for me. The backache can be awful and the whole pelvic area feels achy. I am similar age to you so it's not menstrual related. I hope you get sorted but I just wanted you to know you are not the only one with those symptoms if that helps at all.
Thank you LuLu, sounds like there’s a lot of us out there trying to get the right dosage, I take Levothyroxine at night, but I started to split the dose am/pm and seem to be ok at the moment, although I have noticed my heart races just turning over in bed, it’s bazaar, hope you got on well with the doctor, this forum is so helpful
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