levothyroxine

[Meerkat1234]

Advice please. SlowDragon advised to go up slowly levothyroxine 37.5 a day. Dr rang and said 25mcg one day and 50 mcg the next. What do I do.A prescriber is ringing me on Friday. Don’t know what to say.

[pennyannie]

Hello Meerkat :

T4 - Levothyroxine is a storage hormone, a prohormone so, in itself, pretty much inactive.

You could by a pill cutter ( as many of us do ) and chop the 50mcg tablets into 4 making 4 x 12.50 mcg and then take 25mcg + a quarter tablet every day.

If your dose is only in 25mcg tablet form - simply chop one blister pack into 2 - thereby making 2 x 12.50 mcg to add one of these to your 25mcg every day.

What ever is easier for you to do - it's the end same goal :

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

I just don’t know what to tell the prescriber as I am not doing the way the doctor said.

[pennyannie in reply to Meerkat1234]

If you are taking 37.50 mcg every day - it works out the same as taking 25mcg one day and 50 mcg the following day - so if this routine suits you - just say you have a pill cutter and are taking 37,50 mcg a day :

It works out the same - or am I missing something ?

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

It does work out the same but means I take the same every day rather than going up and down. I tried to do it the doctors way and had a pounding heart and felt terrible. SlowDragon advised me to do it like this for six weeks then take 50mcg a day. This way my body has the same dose.

[pennyannie in reply to Meerkat1234]

Yes - I understand - so just tell the prescriber this is what you have done :

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

Hello pennyannie. Thank you for replying and that you understand. I am so hypersensitive to all medication because of my Autism and ADHD.

[pennyannie in reply to Meerkat1234]

Do you have a particular T4 brand that you stay on all the time ?

I know there are some issues for some forum members from certain brands ?

There is also a liquid T4 - though more expensive - so presume not readily offered by your primary care doctor .

'm sure since SDragon has been replying to you already she has explained much already and you can trust her 110% as I do:

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

I take Wockhardt brand but that could be a problem to get as the doctors have said they won’t write that brand which I know they should do by the guidelines. I didn’t know there was a liquid one. SlowDragon hasn’t replied to me as yet. Thank you for replying and your advice and help. Take care 😊

[Imaaan in reply to Meerkat1234]

Hey,

Just explain it to them the way you explained it to us. That 50mcg is too much for your system and you would like to go forward with 37.5 a day because its easier on your heart.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to Imaaan]

Hello Imaaan. That is true it is too much for my system to take. I just don’t know what to say about whose advice it was because it wasn’t mine.

[Imaaan in reply to Meerkat1234]

The less you say the better at times. You don't really owe anyone an explanation of where you got the advice from. Just tell them that 25 is too little and 50 is too much for you and that you need to try an in between dosage.

All the best.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to Imaaan]

Thanks for the advice Imaaan. I will say what you have said. All the best back to you.

[Lalatoot]

Meerkat, My body doesn't like alternating doses. I couldn't take 50mcg one day and 25mcg the next. I explained this to my GP and they provided me with with enough 25mcg tablets so I could take 37.5 each day - that was one whole tablet and a half tablet.

My body also didn't like it all at once so I took the whole tablet, 25mcg in the morning and the half tablet 12.5mcg at bedtime. This was gentler on my body.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to Lalatoot]

Hello Lalatoot. Thanks so much for your reply. You have made me feel so much better. Did you get up to 50mcg eventually?

[Lalatoot in reply to Meerkat1234]

Oh yes. I now take 100mcg per day - 50mcg in the morning and 50mcg at night.

If you get 25mcg tablets you could take one in the morning and half at night just now. Then when you need to increase again you could split the remains half tablet in two to get a 6.25mcg dose and that way increase really slowly. I did that. I got a pill cutter. It is more important to take increases slowly than to worry about the accuracy of your pill cutting!

[Meerkat1234 in reply to Lalatoot]

Your reply is so reassuring to me. Thank you for telling me how to do it. Do you feel well now because I feel terrible at the moment.

[Lalatoot in reply to Meerkat1234]

I was hyperthyroid for 8 years. In the end my thyroid was killed off and I became hypo because of this. I was on levo alone for 4 years but now also take a little t3 because I have no thyroid.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to Lalatoot]

Did you have to have an operation because this is a real fear for me.

[Lalatoot in reply to Meerkat1234]

No I had to swallow a radio active iodine pill that killed my thyroid off.

You are not the same as me. You have hashimotos which is underactive already. My problem was the opposite - my thyroid went haywire and was producing too much by way of hormones - I was hyperactive.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to Lalatoot]

I didn’t realise that you had a different problem. Thanks for helping me today.

[Lalatoot in reply to Meerkat1234]

You are welcome.

[tattybogle]

You don't actualy have to say anything at all Meerkat.. they are prescribing 37.5mcg /day (in the form of 50 / 25 alternate) .

They are only prescribing it like this because tablets happen to come in 25mcg .. if there was a 37.5mcg tablet they would be prescribing you that every day .

They don't like officially 'telling' patients to cut tablets in half to get same dose each day because :

~ they think it's too fiddly to bother with.

~ too difficult to cut if the tablets don't have a score line on them .

~ they think you might either get a muddle, or drop some on the floor , and therefore not get the right dose .

~ because there's no guarantee the T4 is evenly distributed within the tablet , so you might cut it exactly in half , but one half could have 18mcg and the other half only have 7mcg.. so if you cut up loads of tablets al at once you might have a week of 7's and end up under dosed. (however this 'potential problem' is really not relevant if you only cut one at once and take the other half the next day .. and anyway it's rather illogical to be worring about that when they are happy to tell you to have 50 one day and 25 the next anyway).

So ....if you choose to take 37.5mcg/ day by cutting the 25mcg in half to get the same each day rather than alternating up and down... it genuinely makes NO difference to them .. or to your blood results.

They honestly won't know whether you have taken 50 / 25alternate or 37.5 each day unless you tell them .... the only person who will know how you choose to take your 37.5mcg dose is you... and you are the one who might feel better if you take the same each day .. you are the one who might feel weird/ unsettled if you take 50 one day and 25 the next..... not them .

So take it however you want to.. and if you don't want to discuss that part with them ... don't.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to tattybogle]

Hello tattybogle. Thank you for your reassuring advice. I am learning so much for all you kind people on this forum. You are all so kind. Thank you for explaining all this to me tattybogle. You have really helped me. I am new to all this and wouldn’t have known anything without this forum. You have really helped me today thank you. Take care 😊

[pennyannie]

Here there again :

Just thought - do you know how to find all your previous questions and replies ?

OK - you need to go to Your Profile - and you can get there 2 ways :

1 - press on your face icon alongside your name here on any reply:

2 - press on the icon top right on this screen that says ' More " and follow the option to Your Profile where you can reread everything you have written on this forum.

If you want to know about any other forum member just press their icon alongside their comments - and bingo - you have their profile page :

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

Hi I didn’t know any of that pennyannie. I have lost a lot of the information that I have written. I am a complete technophobe 😂. I have lost blood test results somehow. I also posted a lot of information which only went to SlowDragon and I don’t know how I did that. I have never used a forum before. Thanks for telling me. I will try to do what you have said. Take care of yourself 😊

[pennyannie in reply to Meerkat1234]

I'm in a similar boat - no worries - have a go -

I purchased my little laptop so I could come on this forum and start my learning curve - you are not alone :

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

It’s a whole new world to me that’s for sure. Definitely a new learning curve for us both. Thanks for helping me today. 😊

[pennyannie in reply to Meerkat1234]

No worries - that's what it's all about and now I'm much improved i come back on to give back the help i received, where I can -

There's always someone around and it's better than bottling things up :

This is a safe place.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

Thanks for your kindness. I feel very alone at times and I am very grateful. I am very good at bottling my emotions up.

[pennyannie in reply to Meerkat1234]

Snap !!

[Meerkat1234 in reply to pennyannie]

I have a family but they can’t understand what we go through. We are two worriers together. Well you have certainly helped me today, thank you so much.