Levothyroxine

[Peterperfect]

Hello, I’ve been on Levothyroxine for about 8 yrs now, was on 200mg at one point but gradually my doctor has brought it down to 75mg I have had side effects from these tablets but now I’m desperate to come off them, I can hardly walk with leg pain if fact my muscles hurt all over, I get very tired and my eyes have deteriorated. Can anyone tell me have they just stopped taking the tablets and did you feel a lot better! Thankyou Paula

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Lalatoot will hopefully come along and respond but in the meantime do read her post here:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

What you're proposing is not a good idea. Obviously something is wrong if you were on 200mcg Levo and it has been reduced to 75mcg. If your 75mcg is a Teva tablet then this could very well be part of the problem. Teva is a brand that many members have adverse reaction to and if you've not had side effects before and do now it could be due to change of brand.

However, it would help us to help you if you could give us some more information, eg why was your dose reduced, what were the test results that the reduction in dose was based on, can you post your results with their reference ranges (ranges vary from lab to lab so we need the ranges that came with your results) and we can hopefully untangle the mess for you.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Levothyroxine is a replacement thyroid hormone because your own thyroid is no longer making enough hormone itself

Levothyroxine is not a medication, but a replacement thyroid hormone

Like a diabetic needs insulin…..a thyroid patient needs levothyroxine

However 75mcg is a very low dose

You may be/likely are on too low a dose

Which brand of levothyroxine are you currently taking

How long have you been on just 75mcg

When were vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 last tested

On levothyroxine we must have GOOD vitamin levels

Being under medicated on too low dose levothyroxine results in low vitamin levels

Low vitamin levels tends to lower TSH

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change or brand change in levothyroxine

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 hardly ever refer to autoimmune thyroid disease as Hashimoto’s (or Ord’s thyroiditis)

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally before 9am 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

List of private testing options and money off codes

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off down to £26.10 if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/

NHS easy postal kit vitamin D test £29 via

vitamindtest.org.uk

[pennyannie]

Hello Paula and welcome to the forum :

When first diagnosed with hypothyroid did the T4 - Levothyroxine initially work well for you and alleviate the symptoms that you were dealing with ?

To have been prescribed 200 mcg and now been dropped down over a period of time to 75 mcg would likely be the reason for these current symptoms :

What explanation has been given for these continual dose reductions.

Do you have any thyroid blood test results and ranges to share with forum members ?

[tattybogle]

just clarifying in case Peterperfect does not know ... 'Lio ' is T3 ( the 'active' form of the T4 in levothyroxine) so you do still take some thyroid hormone .You may stay perfectly well on T3 only, some people do ,

But just stopping levothyroxine when not taking any other form of thyroid hormone is not likely to end so well.

[Lalatoot]

Paula for 5 years I was wrongly medicated. I was on too low a dose that just kept my blood test levels within normal range. I didn't know any better and the doctors didn't either. I suffered with lots of symptoms, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, anxiety and panic attacks, and only kept going thanks to adrenalin.I decided that it was levo that was causing my symptoms because the GP and the endo said my results were normal. So I all but stopped the levo as you can read in the link.

I became very ill. My TSH rose to the 40s and my ft4 and ft3 were bottom of their ranges. The good thing was that it made me learn about the thyroid. It made me pushy with doctors and allowed me to get better treatment.

I am still not able to do much of what I would want to do but I think this is down to the body needing years to adapt and recover rather than the thyroid medication being wrong.

I would advise folks to read up on this site so you can speak confidently about thyroid problems and can back up what you say with evidence. Then forget any respect you once had for medics and question what they are doing to you.

Folks on here are happy to support you so rather than stopping the tablets, please share the results of thyroid blood tests and see if we can help you get better health.

Don't do as I did as it was an experiment I wouldn't repeat.