I became frustrated with still feeling awful on Levothyroxine treatment, having 'OK' bloods but still all the symptoms. So I experimented upping my own dose from 100 to 200, felt great, but my bloods were out, and my GP politely suggested I go back to 150. Which I did. Gained weight, tired again, memory issues etc...
So now I'm getting desperate and considering a private GP to see if I need T3.
In the meantime, I came across L-Tyrosine food supplement on Amazon and bought some. I started on 3 tablets. Felt great during the day, energetic, lively, but the first night I had very disturbed sleep. On the second day I tried two tablets. Still felt lively, slept better.
But I did some googling and read that taking LTyrosine as a food supplement could suppress thyroid function.
So now on Day 4 and I'm quite confused, as I immediately feel better after taking it, mood wise, energy wise, less stiff in moving, less joint pain. Wife thinks it's a placebo effect ie all in my head.
Wondered what anyone else thought? I can see L-Tyrosine is also an ingredient in 'Thyroid Support' multi-vitamins, so I might give them a go next.
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SeanKey
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Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription
Which brand
Are you really careful to always take levothyroxine on empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after
No other medications or supplements within 2 hours
What vitamin supplements are you currently taking
Do you know if you have autoimmune thyroid disease, also called Hashimoto’s diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies
What were the blood test results on 200mcg levothyroxine
How long have you been back on 150mcg levothyroxine
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after any change in dose or brand of levothyroxine
Suggest you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing to see exactly what is going on…..either now….or 6-8 week after starting L -Tyrosine
Always test as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
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)
Autoimmune thyroid disease with goitre is Hashimoto’s
Autoimmune thyroid disease without goitre is Ord’s thyroiditis. Both are autoimmune and generally called Hashimoto’s.
In U.K. medics never call it Hashimoto’s, just autoimmune thyroid disease (and they usually ignore the autoimmune aspect)
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
Oh, never under-estimate the power of the placebo! And, if it works, why not? At least a placebo does no harm - which is more than you can say for most doctors! But, no, I don't think it's a placebo.
But I did some googling and read that taking LTyrosine as a food supplement could suppress thyroid function.
Well, yes, it might, if your thyroid is functioning. I can't say, I don't know enough about it. But, if you're taking 150 mcg levo, your thyroid won't be functioning, anyway. Reducing the TSH by taking exogenous thyroid hormone will have put your thyroid out of action. So, the L-tyrosine won't have any effect on the thyroid itself.
But, you should realise that L-tyrosine is not a hypo treatment. It might make you feel better, but it won't increase your thyroid hormone levels - or decrease them, come to that. You can only replace a missing hormone with a hormone.
So I experimented upping my own dose from 100 to 200, felt great, but my bloods were out,
What exactly were your blood test results on 200 mcg?
I have to say that it's really not a good idea to increas by 100 mcg in one go. Increases - and decreases - should be maximum 25 mcg every six weeks if you don't want to stress your body. But, it rather sounds as if that dose was right for you, even though your doctor didn't like your results. Doctors can be wrong.
OK, so what your doctor didn't like was the low TSH! Silly man! You were in no way over-medicated so no need to reduce your levo. Never allow your doctor to dose by the TSH, it's the best way to keep the patient sick! Insist you want to go back up to 200 - but preferably 25 mcg at a time.
the best paper on this that I have seen indicates that a TSH of 0.03-0.5 is best on therapy. Above that is insufficient and below MAY or MAY NOT indicate slight overdosing
Interestingly, patients with a serum TSH below the reference range, but not suppressed (0.04–0.4 mU/liter), had no increased risk of cardiovascular disease, dysrhythmias, or fractures. It is unfortunate that we did not have access to serum free T4 concentrations in these patients to ascertain whether they were above or within the laboratory reference range. However, our data indicate that it may be safe for patients to be on a dose of T4 that results in a low serum TSH concentration, as long as it is not suppressed at less than 0.03 mU/liter. Many patients report that they prefer such T4 doses (9, 10). Figure 2 indicates that the best outcomes appear to be associated with having a TSH within the lower end of the reference range.
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