I had my thyroid bloods taken on Mon 24th Jan 2 months after reducing from 100mcg to 75mcg due to being overmedicated. My Dr cannot speak to me until Monday. As always any advice would be greatly appreciated. I was fasting and within the 24 hour period since I had taken my last dose of Teva Levothyroxine.
Hi greygoose actually feel a lot better no more fatigue, muscle weakness or acid reflux. Do you think the TSH will come back to within normal range or would I need a slight increase. Does it mean much that the Thyroide Peroxidase is increased from 2 months ago. Hope you are well?
One can never tell with the TSH, what it's going to do. But, worth waiting longer to see.
In any case, the low TSH is not the problem, because TSH doesn't make you feel anything. If you were feeling bad on your previous dose, it could have been because your FT4 was too high. But, it would be nice to know what your FT3 is doing
No, it doesn't mean much that your antibodies have raised. They fluctuate all the time.
. Do you think the TSH will come back to within normal range or would I need a slight increase.
An increase (in levo dose ?) would make you TSH go lower, not bring it back up into range.
Depending on GP , they may still say you are overmedicated with these new results, and may ask you to reduce Levo further because TSH is still below range, but hopefully they won't , because it's not all that low and your fT4 is well within range
(TSH 0.01 would be really low ... 0.1 isn't)
See my reply to this post (3rd reply down) healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... feeling-fine-but-tsh-is-low for link to a study and other posts discussing low TSH /risk.. This should be helpful if they want to reduce Levo further and you don't want to ,( or you agree to try and it makes you feel worse.)
Hi SlowDragonI am not lactose intolerant its the brand that the GP prescribed to me last June. I take Vitamin D. My coeliac test was negative. I take B12 oral spray and vitamins were tested in October. Hoping to speak to my GP next week.
Many people find Levothyroxine brands are not interchangeable.
Many patients do NOT get on well with Teva brand of Levothyroxine.
Teva contains mannitol as a filler, which seems to be possible cause of problems. Teva is the only brand that makes 75mcg tablet. So if avoiding Teva for 75mcg dose ask for 25mcg to add to 50mcg or just extra 50mcg tablets to cut in half
But for some people (usually if lactose intolerant, Teva is by far the best option)
Teva, or Aristo (100mcg only) are the only lactose free tablets
Most easily available (and often most easily tolerated) are Mercury Pharma or Accord
Mercury Pharma make 25mcg, 50mcg and 100mcg tablets
Accord only make 50mcg and 100mcg tablets
Accord is also boxed as Almus via Boots, and Northstar 50mcg and 100mcg via Lloyds ....but Accord doesn’t make 25mcg tablets
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).
Levothyroxine is an extremely fussy hormone and should always be taken on an empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after
Many people take Levothyroxine soon after waking, but it may be more convenient and perhaps more effective taken at bedtime
No other medication or supplements at same as Levothyroxine, leave at least 2 hour gap.
Some like iron, calcium, magnesium, HRT, omeprazole or vitamin D should be four hours away
(Time gap doesn't apply to Vitamin D mouth spray)
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
you have high antibodies this confirms autoimmune thyroid disease. Technically it’s Hashimoto's (with goitre) or Ord’s thyroiditis (no goitre).
Both variants are autoimmune and more commonly just called Hashimoto’s
Poor gut function with Hashimoto’s can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten. Dairy is second most common.
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but a further 80% find gluten free diet helps, sometimes significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal
As coeliac result is negative you can consider trialing strictly gluten free diet for 3-6 months.
Always worth trying…..Likely to see benefits. Can take many months for brain fog to lift.
If no obvious improvement, reintroduce gluten see if symptoms get worse.
The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported
In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned
Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.
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