Diagnosed with possible subclinical hypothyroidism and put on 25 levothyroxine (Also struggling with meno and have exciting CFS/ME, FM, hypermobility, IBS)
After 12 week raised it 50 levothyroxine, that was last Wednesday & I feel like shit!
Saw the GP the week before (about falling over) & my blood pressure was raised for the first time ever and it also dropped when I stood up. I had an ecg and everything is 'fine'
My relationship with my gp is poor and when I was stubborn about wanting to be tested in 6 or 8 weeks she responded by wanting me to go on statins
Currently: I am so tired, my heart is racing, my bp is high (I've been asked to monitor it) my appetite is fluctuating, I have a regular headache, I'm not really thirsty and staying in bed all day is a very attractive option & my anxiety is fairly high
Could 50 levothyroxine be too high for me? Could something else be going on (meno? These aren't normal CFS/ME relapse symptoms for me)?
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KatyMac68
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Mercury Pharma make 25mcg, 50mcg and 100mcg tablets
Mercury Pharma also boxed as Eltroxin. Both often listed by company name on pharmacy database - Advanz
Accord only make 50mcg and 100mcg tablets. Accord is also boxed as Almus via Boots,
Wockhardt is very well tolerated, but only available in 25mcg tablets. Some people remain on Wockhardt, taking their daily dose as a number of tablets
Lactose free brands - currently Teva or Vencamil only
Teva makes 25mcg, 50mcg, 75mcg and 100mcg
Many patients do NOT get on well with Teva brand of Levothyroxine.
Teva is lactose free.But Teva contains mannitol as a filler instead of lactose, which seems to be possible cause of problems. Mannitol seems to upset many people, it changes gut biome
Teva is the only brand that makes 75mcg tablet.
So if avoiding Teva for 75mcg dose ask for 25mcg to add to 50mcg or just extra 50mcg tablets to cut in half
But for some people (usually if lactose intolerant, Teva is by far the best option)
Aristo (currently 100mcg only) is lactose free and mannitol free.
If a patient reports persistent symptoms when switching between different levothyroxine tablet formulations, consider consistently prescribing a specific product known to be well tolerated by the patient.
Physicians should: 1) alert patients that preparations may be switched at the pharmacy; 2) encourage patients to ask to remain on the same preparation at every pharmacy refill; and 3) make sure patients understand the need to have their TSH retested and the potential for dosing readjusted every time their LT4 preparation is switched (18).
Yes I can't test privately; I've run out of money as I'm not working
I'm saying no to new meds (statins) while I am getting used to the new levothyroxine
I've done tonnes of blood pressure tests and they are all high so I'm getting ready to refuse high blood pressure meds too - I need to keep side effects/improvements one medicine at a time
Personal anecdote : I couldn't tolerate Levo when I first started taking it. In my case the main cause was very low iron and ferritin (iron stores). You could ask your doctor for a full iron panel - not just ferritin like they usually do - and get a copy of the results from your surgery when the results are in, then post them here, including reference ranges.
Please note that iron supplements that the NHS prescribes can be bought in pharmacies in the UK without a prescription, and they aren't hugely expensive. (Under a tenner for a box of 84 ferrous fumarate 210mg when I last bought them.)
Low iron can cause fast heart rate aka tachycardia. If low iron gets bad enough it can cause chest pain. Of course, if this chest pain is investigated and the doctors don't find a blockage in the heart to explain the chest pain they tell you that you have non-cardiac chest pain and they decide this is caused by anxiety or hypochondria. (That's what happened to me anyway - I had to fix my own low iron/ferritin, and hey presto! it cured my recurring chest pain.)
I take 2 floradix three times a week and a daily methyl folate
The last time my ferritin was checked it was lovely I think (i'll double check)
Anxiety and hypochondria, how kind of them - I'll bet you felt special! I got "functional leg pain" before my fibro diagnosis! Not that fibro is much better as a diagnosis!
Folate is a vitamin often discussed in connection with vitamin B12, as helvella said. Another rarely used name for folate is Vitamin B9. The body needs adequate levels of folate in order to make use of Vitamin B12.
Your level of >20 micrograms/L is very good. It would be useful to know what your B12 level is too.
Iron is not a vitamin it is a mineral.
Haemoglobin A1c is used by doctors to diagnose pre-diabetes and diabetes, Your level is well within range so you aren't pre-diabetic or diabetic.
There is another reference to a Haemoglobin (Hb) test in the FBC (Full Blood Count) but it isn't measuring the same thing as Haemoglobin A1c. The Hb in the FBC is used by doctors to determine whether someone is anaemic. Anaemia is diagnosed when Hb is below range.
There are multiple causes of anaemia, but by far the commonest one globally is low iron. But it can also happen with low B12 and/or low folate, and other conditions :
Doctors rarely test an iron panel in my experience, they only test ferritin (iron stores). This means they can miss indications of low iron, particularly if you have inflammation or infection anywhere in your body, because inflammation and/or infection raise ferritin making iron look better than it really is.
This all means that doctors will rarely treat iron deficiency if there is no anaemia. But iron deficiency should be treated with or without anaemia.
But iron deficiency should be treated with or without anaemia.
Just as well airline pilots don't behave like this. Supposed to be flying at 30,000 feet but actually descend to 3,000 feet and only then decide to increase thrust and climb again. It would be one thing if they didn't realise they'd dropped to 3,000 feet (imagine a faulty altimeter) - but altogether another if they'd seen 20,000, 10,000, 5,000, 4,000 and just ignored until the Ground Proximity Warning System alerted them.
I take floradix regularly, but I think testing will have to wait until we have enough money
I take methyl folate too and ubiquinol - plus the normal magnesium, zinc, potassium, d, k2 - I flirted with rosehip for a bit but I was on the wrong progesterone so that needs a new trial
Oh and a probiotic
Diabetes is the one thing i thought id develop - my childhood gp regularly tested me for it and was confused into adulthood why I wasn't- so I assumed type 2 would arrive and not yet!
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