Newly diagnosed underactive thyroid

[Sleepman]

Hello all, Thought I would share my story as I start my journey and ask for comments,

50 odd year old man

Diagnosed 3 Oct 22. TSH 79! and L4 < 3 .

50 mg dosage day 6 . 6 to 8 weeks for next bloods

Teva brand drug - read the negative feed back on here. I am writing a daily log of of how I feel and progress. I see that NICE guidelines suggest 150 mg as a dose.

Needed down day today (Sunday) - sleepy. Generally a bit better this week.

Expecting vitamin B12 (was actually fine) or diabetic - did not know about thyroid. Iron fine

Now just in diabetic range and cholesterol up since last check in Feb.

weight gone from 95 to 100kg in last 6 months

Strict gluten free for 11 months prior to diagnosis as Mum Celiac . Also underactive thyroid - not sure why I did not connect the symptoms.

Healthy eater generally

Negative test on antibody for celiac. Nov 2021

Guts (loose/gas bloating ) now sorted but still no energy and lost mojo - life not the same joy

Feeling pooh for ? For how long ? Several years.

puffy face, numb hands and fins and needles.

Fatigue, taking days to recover from stuff

Worst thing "The brain fog" when tired and asking for accommodations needed from family

Good days and bad days. No energy weekends doing nothing .,. but recover from work.

So cold all this lovely summer. Not been kayaking or in water/sea - not me at all!

[GlowCoach Administrator]

Welcome. Looks like you've been doing some great homework which will stand you in good stead for this condition. It's not surprising you haven't been up to par this summer, not at all. Now you know the reason though and can work on it and things will get better in time. Just its a slow healing journey. Cut yourself a lot of slack in the mean time!

Be sure to take your levo on an empty stomach with nothing for an hour afterwards. When it comes time to get retested, make sure its a 9am or earlier appointment (can book it now maybe, get in early) and no Levo for 24hrs before that. Take Levo that day after blood test.

[Regenallotment Ambassador]

Hi and welcome, oh you poor thing, you must feel dreadful. It’s a slow road to recovery (it’s taken me 12 months to get to 100mcg) and will take a lot of self advocacy to get things moving along. If you put the ranges of your results (TSH, T4 & T3) you will get some fantastic advice here from others. I discovered I had to give up dairy too. My vitamins needed to be higher than ‘normal’ to be optimal for wellness. I’m on Teva, suits me but lots of people don’t like it. Keep posting, we’ll be interested to hear your progress. Make peace with the fact you won’t manage all the fun stuff for a while, I’ve had to make adjustments and deal with the emotional side of accepting this. It’s not easy. Sending you all the best 🦋💚🦋

[greygoose]

Hi Sleepman, welcome to the forum.

I see that NICE guidelines suggest 150 mg as a dose.

Nah, that's not how it works. No-one can 'suggest' a dose. You have to find the right dose through trial and error. You started on 50 mcg, which might have been a bit low for you? 75 might have been better, but whatever. The thing with hormones is that you have to start low - and this goes for all hormones - and work up slowly, giving the body time to adjust between increases. Recommended increases are no more than 25 mcg every six weeks, until you reach your sweet-spot. That might be 150 mcg - who knows - but it could just as easily be 200 mcg. You mustn't rush it.

Expecting vitamin B12 (was actually fine)

What do you call 'fine'? Do you have the numbers? You say that you have pins and needles - in your hands? - that is often a sign of low B12. So, best to give us your results and ranges so that we can advise. Very important to get vit D, folate and ferritin tested, too. And, how about antibodies? Have you had those tested?

You have a lot of hypo symptoms, but that's only to be expected as you are only on day 6 of a low starter dose. It takes time - can take a lot of time - to find the right dose and get things working again. But you'll get there.

[Sleepman]

Thank you for your thoughtful replies

Greygoose - trying to attach bloods

all -I will certainly keep posting and sense checking. Only started reading forum today.

Not sure they actually tested vitamin levels on re reading.

Glad/reassured no one reacted strongly to TSH of 79 as very, very high or more urgent.

I read it can can 6 months for TSH to drop to steady level.

bloods latest

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Sleepman]

sorry….these are not readable

Can you type up results and ranges for

Vitamin D

Folate

B12

Ferritin

[Sleepman]

Sorry for delay been away from home with work. Plodding on ... 10 th tablet today

ferritin 291 (15 to 200) umol/

folate 8.4 (3 to 20)ug/

vitamin d and 12 seems to say not deficient but no numbers.