How long did it take for you to feel better?

[Experiment1982739903]

Ive read that it takes about 6 weeks for you to get maximum effect from your levothyroxine dose... Have you experienced or heard of people still seeing improvements after 6 to 8 weeks? I've heard a few say it took 3 months for them to feel best... I would love to read your experiences.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Whenever I make a change to my dose, I find that testing at 6 weeks isn't enough time for levels to settle, more like 8-10 weeks for me. For an impatient person that can be very frustrating!

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks a lot for your comment🙏. I'm very impatient as well 😅. I actually increased the doses before my doctor told me I could because I feel much better when I increase. I'm so tired of being unwell as I've suffered through teenage and adult life...Long story short, I was on 50 about 3 months ago and now I'm on 300. I've felt better the past two weeks and feel no hyperthyroid symptoms. But the lab tests show that my TSH is unreadable now and my T3 and T4 are above range. My doctor wanted to put me back on 200, but I argued and he agreed to only cut it to 250 for now. So now I have to be content with 250 and just wait to feel better.

[jade_s in reply to Experiment1982739903]

Whew that's a big jump in a short period. I've made that mistake before. Problem is, you can easily miss your sweet spot if you don't raise in small amounts. Symptoms of over-replacement can overlap with hypo so you may keep going higher and higher thinking you're still hypo, but in fact you've gone in the wrong direction. I never believed it when people said it can take 6 weeks or even 10 weeks to feel the full effect. Wellll I learned it the hard way. Anyway you might be fine but just wanted to say, there's much truth to the hard earned wisdom here, so do keep that in mind

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to jade_s]

Thanks so much for sharing. Yes it looks like I may have to go in reverse a little to find the sweet spot... I'm just very concerned about being under medicated as I hear the stories here and I'm exhausted of feeling bad...When I first started levothyroxine on 25 mcg I felt so amazing and everything was normal. I thought I had found the cure. I thought I didnt need zoloft anymore. A few days later after stopping zoloft my bad mood returned. I've been able to decrease my zoloft as I increased levothyroxine but still cant get off of it...Anyways that's just a bit of my background

[jade_s in reply to Experiment1982739903]

That's very promising. You will get there

[tattybogle]

a couple of years ago i had 3 very small Levo dose adjustments in relatively close succession , which made it easy to compare the time it took to settle and improve/ or not . i reduced from 125 to 112.5 (even though i felt ok, because my fT4 was very over range and rising) ... for the first 5 weeks ,i felt changes in all sorts of things every few days /week , mostly for the worse to be honest ~ as though i was undermedicated, constipation etc ~ but by week 5/6 i was starting to feel "oh, maybe i'm starting to feel ok again ..and by week 8-12 , i was thinking "this dose is actually ok "

Then it was reduced to 100mcg (GP's insistance , eventually i agreed to try it ) .. firsts 5 weeks .. same thing ~ felt undermedicated ~ but by week 6 /7 .. instead of improving as previously , the initial undermedicated feeling had continued and had got much worse.

Went back to up 112.5mcg ... my undermedicated issues, (constipation / being a zombie !) had resolved quite quickly within 2/3 ? weeks ,, but other improvements continued very gradually over a long time .. by about 4 months i remember realising i now regularly slept much better than i had for years on 125mcg when i'd got used to very light/ broken sleep.

So i now think reductions can be quite difficult for the first few weeks, even if the lower dose does end up being an improvement in the long run .

And i think symptoms for the first 5 weeks should be largely ignored , wait for week 6-8 . and then unless it's rally obviously getting worse at that point .. stick it out for another month to see if do feel gradual improvements before deciding whether the new dose is an improvemnt over the previous one .

**A note of caution about large increases, and reducing.

I did the same as you when i started on levo ... if i felt it 'wearing off' , i increased it myself to try higher dose for a while, and if i felt better then i asked GP to test and prescribe increase if bloods were still in ok range .

Was put on 50 mcg for 7 weeks...,increased it myself to 100mcg for 5 months .... increased it myself to 150mcg bloods still ok, so stayed on 150mcg for about a year .. felt a bit rubbish again so tried 175mcg for a month but this time it didn't feel better ,so got tested ... TSH now <0.001 and fT4 was way over top 36 [13-26]

GP said don't take more than 150 , blood looked ok , but and then a year later later he said it's still a bit too much please reduce to 125 .. well, i think i only tried 125 for about 3/4 weeks , it was a horrible few weeks so i put it back up having firmly decided 125mcg was not enough .... So i then spent 15 yrs on 150mcg .

Knowing what i do now (that the first 5 weeks are likely to feel crap anyway , and the surprising improvement in my sleep i noticed following a longer time on a slightly lower dose, and other long term issues with muscle pain that gradually disappeared at the same time ) ... it would have been a much better idea 20 years ago to try the doctors suggested 125mcg for much longer than 3/4 weeks.. and if that really wasn't enough after 2 or 3 months , it would have been a good idea to try 137.5mcg for a good while too, before insisting i wanted to be on 150mcg.

If i'm honest ,,, and it pains me to admit it ,, i do wonder if i slightly overmedicated myself on 150mcg for 15yrs .

Sorry this is waffly and uncorrected .. just noticed its past my bedtime so hope it makes some sort of sense.

x

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience...That makes me think twice about rushing the dose too high. Now that makes me want to give the lower doses a real chance...So I guess there's no way of speeding this process up. Have to take it slow and careful...I think I'm remotely close to where I need be now. It's so hard making decisions with hypo depressed brain😅. I don't want to rely on doctors who profit from my sickness🤦‍♂️. Thanks for sharing again👍.

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to tattybogle]

Also I have sleeping issues too... When I was on only 50 mcg for two years it was soooooo bad. I could never fall asleep at the same time. Somedays I would sleep during the day and be awake at night. I had to take long naps during the day... It improved as I increased my dose.

[Pearlteapot in reply to tattybogle]

excellent post tattybogle The idea of sleeping better is particularly attractive! I'm dying to put my dose up ASAP as still got the hypo headaches and fog by mid-afternoon. But as Johnny Depp said so pompously yesterday: "Veritas numquam perit. Truth never perishes. " 😱😜

[Josephineinamachine]

tattybogle gives wise advice. Something about turning the Titanic and not oversteering as I remember. I oversteered and felt rubbish for way longer than I needed to! Had to go back to square one. And remember to wait - which is REALLY difficult when all you want is to feel better again. Over and under medicated symptoms overlap so much it can be difficult to feel the difference. I now leave it between 2 to 3 months to retest, if not longer. Good luck! X

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to Josephineinamachine]

I think my mind was just set on getting to a high dose because I felt sooo bad before starting levothyroxine that I must need a huge dose. I wasnt aware that over and under medicated symptoms overlap so that's something I will look into more 👍... I'll have to wait a few months to feel the full results since I've raised my dose by 150 mcg in only two months.

[Josephineinamachine in reply to Experiment1982739903]

I think that’s very common - we have bad symptoms therefore must need large dose. But I think the dose we need is more about body weight as well as how we respond to the hormone. I felt the same…and then realised that I needed less rather than more. I’m still trialling though! Still haven’t quite got there I don’t think… 🤔

[Lulu2607]

Hi. I was very hypo before starting levo last year and it took months to feel the true benefit and get my numbers in range. Because I'd been so ill (lost all body hair and a third of my head hair, broken eyelashes, puffy face, watering eyes, sky high cholesterol etc etc, the full gamut) I did get some initial relief from the start but then it's been a slower process to get on an even keel. I've found it's quite hard to get my optimum dose right so I'm still at that point now. There's no quick fix with hypo and it will depend on your personal circumstances as to how quickly you feel better. There's a lot of factors to take into account eg how long you've been hypo, any other medical issues, whether it's autoimmune etc.

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to Lulu2607]

I'm glad you got some relief at the beginning. Hope you get some more... Are you on a gluten free diet? I suspect gluten is the main cause of my issues but dont know for sure. That's just my hypothesis.

[Lulu2607 in reply to Experiment1982739903]

Hi. I went gluten free after being diagnosed hypo and my worst stomach issues resolved quite quickly. I see I had developed the classic symptoms of leaky gut as it had got really bad. Even before my hypo issues became full blown I'd known for a while that barley (eg barley malt is in everything) made me feel sick and some bread types also so maybe that issue was always there as an intolerance. I know gluten free doesn't help everybody but it's worth a try. It's exhausting trying to work out what's what when you are hypothyroid that's for sure, but it's worth the effort if you can find what works for you.

[fiftyone]

when i first took levo I felt completely different within 10 days. It was amazing. If I lower my dose very slightly, I feel ill again within 10 days.

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to fiftyone]

Glad you are feeling amazing now😁👍. What were your symptoms before you went on levothyroxine?

[fiftyone in reply to Experiment1982739903]

I felt so tired,so difficult to do normal things. Remember going to the beach with my husband and very young daughter. Grandads were playing with their kids. I just lay there tired out. Went to my doctor for 4 years complaining. Thankfully I visited a locum one day and he diagnosed me. Before it felt like I was always looking through a glass sheet. A few days after starting levo, the sheet went and I could see the world clealy, as it was.

[helvella Administrator]

Six weeks isn't how long it takes to get a maximum effect.

It is an estimate of how long it takes for blood test results to stabilise.

A lot of impact occurs sooner, but can continue for a long time.

One trivial example. I find inadequate levothyroxine causes me not to sleep as well.

If I increase my dose, I might even find my sleep improves the following night.

But, especially if there has been a considerable period of under-dose/poor sleep, it can take weeks/months to really feel as if I am sleeping better every night and fully recovered from the under-dosing.

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to helvella]

Yes I will keep this in mind that improvements can keep happening after 6 weeks. Thank you👍

[Batty1]

Its taken me 5 years with lots of med changes.

[adin]

For me it's a little different, I feel any change of dose immediately, in two or three days but it must take a few weeks for the full effect.

[tattybogle in reply to adin]

i forgot to mention that bit in my reply.... like you, i do 'feel the difference' straight away, within the first or certainly the second day ..... but it's just that what those days feel like . (and the next few weeks) , isn't what the dose will feel like once it's properly settled. ie. If i reduce, it usually feels undermedicated straight away , but then it may feel ok again after a few weeks ..and if i increase , it usually feels overmedicated straight away, but then may feel ok after a few weeks .

[adin in reply to tattybogle]

I still haven't found my optimal dose, when I feel good physically I don't feel good mentally and vice versa.

[Experiment1982739903]

Thanks for all your comments. I suddenly dont feel well enough to respond but I appreciate it SeasideSusie helvella adin tattybogle Batty1 fiftyone Lulu2607 Josephineinamachine jade_s Pearlteapot

[Josephineinamachine]

❤️ I hope you feel better soon. No need to reply.

[Experiment1982739903 in reply to Josephineinamachine]

Thank you❤. Hope you are doing okay... I'm on a rollercoaster right now. Some days my mind feels clear and I'm talkative and lively. Then the next day I cant think straight and just want to isolate ...But it sure beats feeling brain fog and anxiety all the time like I used to... I just have to wait to feel normal more consistently.

[Josephineinamachine in reply to Experiment1982739903]

Yes, it’s frustrating not to be able to rely on knowing how you’ll feel every day. Difficult to plan and also when you have a good day followed by a bad day the bad day seems even worse. One thing I have learned is to allow myself to feel unwell and to have loose commitments as much as possible! Take care and give yourself permission to rest today.