Here are my latest thyroid blood results and having had my dose halved in Mid-march surprise, surprise(NOT!!!),having warned the doctor what would happen if they halved the dose,my results are as follows
TSH - 14 (0.35 - 5.50)
Previous result 14/02/2022
TSH - 0.03 (0.35 - 5.50)
FT4 - 12.5(10.0 - 20.0)
Previous result 14/02/2022
21.6 (10.0 - 20.0)
Dosage halved as I was rapidly losing weight and it was concluded that I was over-medicated.
Whilst I realise that dosage increase is required and urgently, I feel I may struggle to get the doctor to see the urgency as he was the same doctor I consulted in February and March and any advice or guidance would be most welcome as,I'm back to feeling exhausted, constipated, cold and have terrible brain fog which I've been terrified could be(and still could be) dementia.
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sobs1962
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Oh my goodness- shaws SlowDragon SeasideSusie . Your doctor is an imbecile and you should try and find another one. Them jerking your dose up and down is not good for your health as you know. Take charge and don’t allow this fool to muck you about anymore. Your FT3 is the definitive measurement of thyroid hormone, as that is the bioavailable form. FT4 has to be converted to FT3 for your cells to be able to use it.
. The range of tests (or lack thereof) in the NHS are purely down to ignorance and financial constraints.
Has he responded to results? I’ve tagged in a few folk so you can get some advice this is terrible.
Sorry I can’t be more help than to confirm that your doc is an idiot.,
Thanks for reply, yes he clearly doesn't understand how sensitive thyroid function can be and if he refuses to increase my Levo, then I will be demanding to see another doctor inthe practice but it means I have to take of 2 different brands as I cannot take Teva as they make me feel sick and dizzy,due to the mannitol, but try getting them to understand that,even the woman in Boots, said to me that all Levo is the same and it makes no difference which brand it is, why do other people think they know you better than you, it really annoys me?
just checking are latest results these ones : (i think you might have put the fT4 in the wrong place in your post )
TSH - 14 (0.35 - 5.50)
FT4 - 12.5(10.0 - 20.0)
Previous result below from 14/02/2022 (the ones that led to reduced dose ~because fT4 was over range ,and they were worried about your weight loss)
TSH - 0.03 (0.35 - 5.50)
fT4 21.6 (10.0 - 20.0)
ok so the latest results with TSH 14 /fT4 12.5 show that 50mcg is definitely not enough ,.. but don't worry ,the GP will be able to see clearly from these results that 50mcg is not enough . They should now put dose up a bit .... since the 100mcg you were on previously was perhaps too much , and 50 mcg is clearly too little, they need to put it halfway in between and try 75mcg now .
Don't worry .. they will see it needs increasing a bit . The TSH will tell them , and the rather low fT4 also confirms it .
explaining why dose was reduced , we thought it maybe just needed a slight reduction ... unfortunatelt GP / or endo ? disagreed due to extreme weight loss and said a more rapid reduction was needed, ... well we now can see we were right and smaller reduction would have been a much better idea.
Thanks for reply and I certainly hope you're right or I'm likely to have a meltdown and embarrass myself and others and don't want to do that unless it's absolutely necessary and if someone could post the link to the percentage through range calculator, that would be really helpful too.
thyroid.dopiaza.org/ here it is . it's too soon to start worrying that the doctor/endo won't increase the dose, before you've even talked to him/ her ..... talk to them about the result first . then let us know what they say
Yes weight has stabilised now but don't want it going back up again, which it inevitably will if my thyroid levels stay as they are and that'll have an extremely detrimental effect on my mental health.
Hi Sobs. I've recently been advised to lower my dose from 100 as my results were very similar to yours. The Dr said to reduce to 75. After a couple of weeks I felt awful, similar to before being diagnosed. I rang the Dr and he suggested alternating 75/100. I don't like alternating so I'm on 87.5 by taking 75 and half a 25. Halving your dose is ridiculously drastic. I can't think why your Dr would do that. Ring them up and agree a better (higher) dose. They check your blood again in 6-8 weeks anyway so it's not a huge risk whereas the drastic reduction has probably sent your body haywire.
My thoughts exactly, but it feels like they are deliberately keeping people ill for some totally unknown and warped reason, probably not true but that's how it feels.
Yes. They do seem to be scared of levo and yet will quite happily give prescriptions for BP drugs, statins, antidepressants etc with huge side effects which they ignore.
Completely agree, I'm on highest dose Atorvastatin 80mg and it can induce, diabetes, dementia, rhabdomyolisis to mention a few and the drug companies have everyone brainwashed into believing they are "safe" drugs, they are making so much money, they can bribe anybody into anything.
Yes, still taking both lansoprazole and propranolol and I realise that they both inhibit conversion but need them as,have bad anxiety and lansoprazole is to protect my stomach as on Clopidogrel,which can cause stomach ulcer if stomach is not protected, so kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place and there were a few blood tests that have come back abnormal including my liver and kidney function tests,so just hoping he's not going to just ignore those. He appears to have very poor knowledge of thyroid function and may not pay attention to my symptoms and the FT4 result has been marked as NORMAL, as it's within range,this is the problem with using a range from people with no thyroid problem,the whole thing is so frustrating and I asked why the NHS won't test FT3 and was told because it doesn't tell them anything useful and I daren't do a private blood test as once I start bleeding, it takes hours to stop,not that a finger prick would cause fatal bleeding but it causes me no end of stress.
Sobs1962 . the fT4 is marked as normal . that's correct .. because it is in range ... the normal comment for fT4 does not mean anybody will think your results are normal .... TSH is presumably clearly marked as 'over range/ abnormal isn't it ?
So you don't need to get caught up in worrying about the 'normal' comment about fT4
TSH results are taken into account , not just T4/T3 results .
You're over thinking everything , and giving yourself problems to worry about that haven't happened yet.... when you have spoken to the GP/end about these results ... then come back and tell us what they said .. just ask them to put your dose back up a bit to 75mcg .
I'm fairly sure they will agree , because your TSH is so high and your fT4 is low end of normal .
Has your extreme weight loss stopped now ? (as that was why they reduced the dose so much .. too much obviously )
Weight loss, has stopped now, but I think it may be starting to go back up again, have just weighed myself on my weight watchers digital scale and I am 8 Stone 9 and 7/8 don't know what that is in kg as the scale doesn't have a kg setting I don't think but if it does, I don't know how,to set it as my brain isn't capable of doing anything technical since my stroke in January.
Just converted my weight and is coming out at just over 55kg, which means it's stayed stable for 2 months now, but really don't want it go back up as I'm happy being this size despite the fact that my husband says I'm too thin. I was previously a size 14 and am now size 8/10, being bigger makes me feel extremely depressed and sometimes even suicidal as I've never been happy with the way I look and it really seriously affects my mental health in a very negative way.
Currently taking Igennus vitamin B complex 2 daily, Better You vitamin d +k2 oral spray,take actimel daily and Calm vitality magnesium powder as a drink at night but mainly to prevent severe constipation as it appears to still be working even though my thyroid function has got worse again due to being on too low a dose of Levothyroxine,just hope the doctor actually listens to me instead of just giving the impression that he knows everything and I, know nothing because I know my body better than any doctor on the planet. As far as doing all the tests you mentioned, I'll be very surprised if they do all of them but I do know that the latest tests show neither my liver nor kidneys are working properly, so let's hope that he at least gives me the chance to get my point across.
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
None of this surprises me but my problem is whether the doctor knows or even understands this, especially as,they all seem to think hypothyroidism is easy to diagnose and simple to treat and as far as statins are concerned, despite knowing that they probably do much more harm than good,doctors are still giving them out like they're sweets, but I doubt if any of that will occur to them, so let's just hope he does or I'll be demanding to see another doctor, but my kidney function tests have been "abnormal for 6 years now and nobody has done anything about it, so that tells me that they're not seeing the link between hypothyroidism and kidney and liver function, which doesn't bode well for me.
Thank you for the articles and links. I've found them particularly relevant personally. I had an AKI shortly before being diagnosed which has now fully resolved.
Many of us have lost faith in doctors to understand how important it is to be prescribed an 'optimum' dose that alleviates all of our clinical symptoms and that is usually a TSH of around 1 with both FT4 and FT3 towards the upper part of the ranges.
For your TSH of - 0.03 (0.35 - 5.50) to increase to 14 (0.35 - 5.50) points clearly to the fact that your adjustment in dose was incorrect and that is yet another GP who is poorly trained.
We go to the GP expecting that they have 'some' knowledge about how to treat hypo patients but many of us discover that they have little and patients can develop more unpleasant symptoms.
The other responses from members are more accurate and helpful.
Yeah, you're right, it's so frustrating and makes me so angry at times and I don't deal with anger well, so God help anyone who rubs me up the wrong way, as they're likely to get it with both barrels(not literally) 😆
I hope you get treated and prescribed what suits your health to improve. I can understand your anger as we do expect doctors/endos to know how to diagnose and treat people who have a dysfunctional thyroid gland.
I am thankful to Thyroiduk who helped me restore my health before this forum began.
I'm glad you're in better health now,but I think I'm definitely going to have to change my GP practice to get the proper standard of health care I would hope for and everyone deserves.
It's truly unbelievable, we're putting our health in the hands of someone so completely clueless, the people on Health unlocked have more knowledge than someone who has done 6 years medical training, scary very scary!!!
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