cold turkey!

[Mag999]

I have been on 75 mcg thyroxine for 4 months, should have had blood tests but always delayed, should be done next week to see if dose needs adjusting. now I’ve been without for 4 days as they didn’t make up my prescription on time and feel very odd, shaky, palpitations weak and soooo irritable

I should have some by the end of the week, do I need to build up from 50 again and is there anything I can do to feel better in the meantime

Thanks

[shaws Administrator]

It's not 'good enough' that the pharmacist doesn't have the thyroid hormones replacement you require.

I think it is disgraceful as we, hypo patients, need our replacement of thyroid hormones to be ready when we've finished one prescription and not have to miss daily doses.

If there's another pharmacist nearby, I think I would switch my prescription over to them.

There's not much you can do if you don't have a reliable pharmacist. The one I use - if there's a problem they try their utmost to source the dose I need.

If there's another pharmacist nearby I would ask if they have any in stock and ask your pharmacist to contact them and request your dose and switch to them in future.

[Mag999 in reply to shaws]

it’s the pharmacist at our gp practice. To be honest they have been more reliable than local chemists as I can’t take teva brand and I did a 30 mile route round 5 chemists none of whom had it or could promise to get it!

I will ask why they are over a week late with the tablets, try and prevent it happening again

[Aniac in reply to shaws]

Yeah this is deffo unacceptable. You shouldn't run out of such a med. From personal experience 2 or 3 days starting backup at normal amounts has been fine, but never gone longer.

[tattybogle]

No , don't start at 50 again , continue to take usual dose ASAP.

the chemist should have been able to provide a few tablets as a stop gap. (assuming it's not a particular brand of levo you absolutely must have).. bit late now , if you will definitely have some by the end of the week .

i've never had too much bother getting my regular chemist to give out a few Levo tablets as a stop gap if i've forgotten to get repeat prescription in on time .. even had some from a different chemist when ran out on holiday once.

if this happens again don't go without , go to a chemist and explain you've totally run out.

yes ...you will feel rough , and will probably feel rough for a few days even once you get back on them .. Not a lot you can do tp help other than get your Levo as soon as possible .. so be very careful for the next few days . don't be driving , and be careful crossing the road .

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Thyroid test will be skewed if been without levothyroxine

But might work in your favour for getting next dose increase in levothyroxine to 100mcg

Request testing vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 too if not tested recently

[Mag999]

got my meds now started yesterday at 75. Just feel so odd I don’t know if it’s thyroid or something else. Muscle pain fatigue headache diarrhoea low mood and this weird all over tension. Fed up.

[tattybogle in reply to Mag999]

Hi .. don't panic.... it's to be expected .... a week without anything is a big change while T4 levels slowly fall lower and lower, and it will take at least another week having re-started for your T4 levels to build up to where they usually are ....so you can expect to feel 'wrong' in all sort of ways for at least another week. The body has complex ways of compensating for sudden changes in thyroid hormone level, and they take a bit of time to resettle once the dose in restored ..... the low T4 may have increased your fT3 levels temporarily, (because your TSH will have gone up quite dramatically as the T4 level fell ~ if you still have a thyroid the higher TSH will have made it try it's hardest to produce more T3 , and it will also have increased the rate of conversion of T4 to T3 in your cells/ organs , to try and compensate for the lower T4 )

... symptoms will begin to improve now back on stable dose . however it may feel 'too much' at first.. so don't be surprised if you get a few unusual headaches in the first few days, or find your bowel habits going temporarily haywire.

note . missing Levo for a week will seriously mess up any thyroid blood tests for quite a while ..so unfortunately you will need to re-arrange the upcoming thyroid blood test for 6 weeks after you have restarted as any TSH/ fT4 results will be totally incorrect until the fT4 levels have built up again (about 10 days) and the TSH has then had enough time to re-adjust itself to the fT4 levels (about 6 weeks).

[Mag999 in reply to tattybogle]

thanks for that, this is horrible, I’m barely functioning and I just get anxious I’ve missed something. Will rearrange blood test🙄 annoying as I’m already 2 months overdue.