Book on hypothyroidism as I wait for Levo to kick in?

[Piggle08]

Hi all, and thanks for having me here.

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in October and started on 25mg Levo per day. Last week I saw my GP for (I think) an unrelated matter. She looked at my blood results from December (TSH 2.35, down from 4.39 in October, and T4 9.2, up from 7.9 in October) and told me to increase the Levo to 50mg per day. She’s said to return for further bloods at the start of April.

Several people have recommended this forum and so I’m just having a read around. I think I’ve understood that there’s no point in my having further bloods until I’ve been on the 50mg for at least 6 weeks, and also that when I have the bloods done it should ideally be just before 9am having consumed nothing but water since waking, and not having had a dose of Levo for 24 hours.

I’d very much like to find a book to read in the meantime, to try to understand how all this TSH, T4, T3 etc works. It also sounds as though B12, Vit D, Ferritin and other things are relevant. I’m currently clueless. All I think I’ve picked up is that my TSH should be approximately 1. I don’t know this site well and it may be that there are FAQ saved posts somewhere, but if there are I’ve not been able to find them. If not, though, a book should help.

Can anybody recommend a book, please, and/or point me to any saved posts that help newcomers to thyroid issues like me to get their heads around how it works?

Many thanks for any pointers.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

welcome to the forum

The forum is run by Thyroid U.K.

recommended charity for thyroid patients in U.K.

Suggest you start here

thyroiduk.org/if-you-are-hy...

Thyroid tests

thyroiduk.org/testing/thyro...

vitamins

thyroiduk.org/if-you-are-hy...

[Piggle08 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks! 👍

[DippyDame]

Welcome.

This may help

thyroiduk.org/further-readi...

[Piggle08 in reply to DippyDame]

Thank you 😁

[pennyannie]

Hello Piggle and welcome to the forum :

I found Your Thyroid and How To Keep It Healthy - written by Dr P - Barry Durrant-Peatfield a very useful book.

The book was written for and to equip patients better to get the best treatment for themselves.

Thyroid UK - the charity who supports this forum has a library page within its website and the above is just one of many you may like to start dipping into.

thyroiduk.org

[Sleepman]

I found tuk leaflet pack useful and concise.Slowdragon and the other admins posts are very inciteful.

I was scared by this forum when diagnosed. Don't be. Most are fine and simple. If you are not in the easily treated category then this forum will help.

As a recent underactive.

1. Biotin vit b7 messes with blood results. Stop a week before tests.

2. Do not expect good help from gp. Your dose being increased quicker is typical.

3. I would do private blood test to find T3 levels and antibodies levels.

If autoimmune type then it is good to know. If T3 levels low then you maybe a more complex case

4. Write down state of your symptoms and when you change meds or blood results. Write down what to do next and when. Brain fog and fatigue symptoms made it important for me to write it down.

[Anthea55]

Hi Piggle08, I agree with pennyannie . Dr Peatfield's book is excellent. If you prefer it there is a Kindle edition. I've got both Kindle and paper.

[radd]

Piggle08,

Welcome to our forum,

My reading go-to's are-

'Your Thyroid and How To Keep It Healthy' By Barry Peatfield (only £1 on eBay atm)

'The Root Cause' by Isabella Wenz

'Why Do I still Have Thyroid Symptoms?' by Datis Kharrizian.

Additional good reading is anything by Dr Lowe, Dr Blanchard, Suzie Cohen, and many others likely found in the Thyroid UK bookshop.

[samaja]

All books by Izabella Wents are good

Paul's Robinson's The Thyroid Patient's Manual spells out all the basics you need.

And asking a lot of questions here will help too

[Tayn]

My latest read …. “Rethinking Hypothyroidism”

author Dr Antonio C. Bianco MD - published Nov 2022