Levothyroxine dosage and weight loss.

[lucylocks]

Hi

My daughter was taking 150mcg. levo.

She has been dieting and has lost 3 stone in weight, now weighing 10 stone 3lb.

She has been suffering from terrible sweating and insomnia, when she does eventually fall asleep she wakes up with the bed sheets drenched.

Last week I asked her if she was still taking 150mcg. and she said she was.

I thought because of the weight loss she was possibly now on too much levo.

Instead of reducing the dose she stopped taking any levo. for four days, then restarted at 100mcg. which she has been taking for a few days now.

The sweating has decreased somewhat, but she now feels dreadful, she cannot sleep at all, feels really anxious and irritable and says she feels frightened.

Her period is due and she suffers from PMT. but how she is feeling is far worse than how she normally would feel when her period is due.

Can any please advise if the four days without levo. then re starting on 100mcg. would be making her feel as bad as she does.

Thank you.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

That’s probably too much of a reduction in one go

Ideally she would have been reducing dose levothyroxine SLOWLY as the stones fell off

How about initially reducing to 125mcg daily

Retest in 8 weeks……even that’s a big reduction in dose over a week

When did she last test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 ?

What vitamin supplements is she taking

Perhaps get thyroid and vitamin levels tested now

Monitor My Health also now offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65 

(Doesn’t include thyroid antibodies) 

monitormyhealth.org.uk/full...

[lucylocks in reply to SlowDragon]

She takes all the recommended vitamins and more besides, her iron is always low even though she supplements, because of really heavy periods.

As I said she stopped all levo. for four days then restarted at 100mcg. which she has been taking for five days, should she increase to 125mcg. now?

I have ordered her the test.

Thank you.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to lucylocks]

I would increase to 125mcg yes

[lucylocks in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you.

[PixieElv]

could you daughter go through (peri)menopause? It started at 40 with me…

[lucylocks in reply to PixieElv]

Hi

Yes we did think of that, do you mind me asking did you have any tests to confirm you were going through the peri(menopause)

Thank you.

[PixieElv in reply to lucylocks]

I had tests but the oestrogen tests are pretty unreliable as they need to be done on a certain day of your period and even then they are not very reliable as your hormones fluctuate wildly during menopause.

GPs now go by symptoms and age to diagnose menopause. Your daughter might want to find out if your GP surgery is associated with a menopause clinic. Or if there’s a GP specialising in menopause.

She may find though that with the hormonal fluctuations, HRT isn’t suitable for her. That was the case for me. One months my oestrogen was <60 (post menopausal) the next it was 1200 (twice what’s normal and pregnancy levels). It was such a horrible rollercoaster, I stopped taking HRT and focussed and the Thyroid issues.

But at least she had a diagnosis and that helped me to cope with it.

[lucylocks in reply to PixieElv]

Thank you, yes we are concerned about estrogen in HRT there is family history of breast cancer, so we have always wanted avoid estrogen,

I hope purchased a private thyroid test for her so we will take it from there.

I hope you find the help you need to feel well.