Does alternating higher/lower doses of Levothyroxine on alternate days affect TSH?

[bluejourney]

I got a raise In Levothyroxine dose for Christmas! However the doctor recommended to take 75 mcg one day and 100 the next. I would prefer to take the same dose every day, but I’m wondering if anyone knows of any research to suggest whether taking a lower dose every other day means that your TSH is less likely to get suppressed.

[Lalatoot]

It is unlikely to affect your tsh. T4 is a storage hormone. In theory we could take 1 large weekly dose, though nobody does as it would be harsh on the body.

My body didn't like alternating doses. I split tablets to take the same amount daily. You could ask for 50mcg tablets and take 1 tablet one day and 1.5 tablets the next day.

[TSH110 in reply to Lalatoot]

I’ve read that some do take a weeks worth in one go with no ill effects!

[Poniesrfun in reply to TSH110]

I know this has been done in nursing homes with patients difficult to medicate. But I would wonder how this might affect conversion/T3 levels.

[TSH110 in reply to Poniesrfun]

don’t know but if it takes 6 weeks to get it into an active form perhaps the effect is minimal. There was a paper looking at pill cutting and if the marginally different daily dose of Levothyroxine had any effect but it didn’t. I also think there was a paper suggesting weekly dosing in certain cases eg patients struggling to take correctly every day (most of us if some papers are to be believed!🙄) but I haven’t found anything of direct relevance.

I did not like taking alternate day dosing but I never felt well on Levothyroxine full stop. I take NDT now, same dose every day. I feel really well on it.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Taking every other day doses hasn't got anything to do with a suppressed TSH unless you're taking too much anyway. It's just a way of getting an inbetween dose of 12.5mcgs when we don't have tablets that go that small.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Looking at previous posts

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Your lactose intolerant and on lactose free levothyroxine and gluten free too

Which brand of levothyroxine

Teva?

Or

Aristo (100mcg only)

If you got 25mcg Teva you could cut in half to get 87.5mcg daily

Are you now taking a daily vitamin B complex to improve folate

[bluejourney]

Hi Slow Dragon. Thanks for your reply. I don’t take a vitamin B complex. My folate seems ok - December results:

serum folate 16.5 ng/L (3.89-19.45)

B12 122 pmol/L (37.5-150) ((I take 1000 ug per day)

Vitamins B1, B2, and B6 tested a couple of months ago and were half way through range

Vitamin D 75 nmol/L (50-200) (take 1500 IU per day - higher doses give me tinnitus).

CRP 1.94 mg/L (0-5)

TSH 1.69 mu/L (0.27-4.2)

FT3 4.29 pmol/L (3.1-6.8)

FT4 15.4 pmol/L (12-22)

Only thing on NHS blood count was:

Lymphocytes (L) 0.86x10 9/L (1.2-3.65x10 9/L).

The doctor raised my Levo 12.5 mcg, so now 87.5.

I already split my Levo, so think I will carry on doing so.

[Hidden in reply to bluejourney]

SlowDragon

Bluehourney, you didn't 'reply' to slow dragon so I've tagged her here so she will be notified you've responded

[bluejourney in reply to Hidden]

Thank you.