Increase dose or maintain?

[EclipseMoon]

hi all,

I’m on 75mcg of Levothyroxine for Hypothyroidism caused by Hashimoto’s.

Latest result 1.92 tsh miu/L (range 0.3-5.5)

My medication review is on Thursday, originally I thought I’d need to bring my TSH lower to feel well, but I now feel a million times better on 75mcg with no more symptoms of hypo. So I think at this point I should advise my GP that I’m happy to stay at this dose and monitor my TSH levels going forward with dose increases as necessary.

What would you all advise?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Noone can really tell you anything from just a TSH result. Your FT4 & FT3 could still be low in range and although you feel OK now you wont in the future.

Its essential to test TSH, FT4 & FT3 together.

Test at 9am or earlier, last Levo 24 hours before blood test, fasting, only drinking water before the test.

How are your key vitamins ferritin, folate, B12 & d3?

What are you supplementing with?

Most people need their TSH at or below 1 to feel well.

[EclipseMoon in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thanks, what’s important is how I’m feeling.

Bloods are always just before 8am, no meds and fasting. I’ve had my FT3 & 4 tested privately late last year and shared the results in my earlier posts, they seem to be ok.

Supplements I take B vits, D, K, C omegas and ferritin. I’m now completely gluten and dairy free, made a massive difference to my health. I’m thinking I’m at the monitoring stage now, seems like increasing at the moment wouldn’t have a benefit as I feel well and have no more symptoms.

[humanbean]

If you are going to discuss this with a doctor who has control of your doses, perhaps you can say that you are happy with your dose now, but if this changes before your next NHS test you would like the option to raise your dose.

You might find this link of interest, and the table below, bearing in mind that the data is based on the TSH of people with no known thyroid disease :

web.archive.org/web/2004060...

I forgot to says, the table comes from this paper :

Prevalence of thyroid disease, thyroid dysfunction and thyroid peroxidase antibodies in a large, unselected population. The Health Study of Nord-Tr ̆ndelag (HUNT)

It used to be freely available but is now hidden behind a paywall.

TSH by age and gender

[EclipseMoon in reply to humanbean]

Thanks for sharing this is helpful information

[HealthStarDust]

If you are feeling well, then do not change dose but rearrange another test between 8-12 weeks and make a judgement then based on primarily how you feel. It’s not unusual to feel well before feeling worse thus indicating a dose increase.

[EclipseMoon in reply to HealthStarDust]

That’s a good idea!