after having my children in 2013 and 2015 I have never been the same person. I have suffered with every single symptom of hypothyroidism.
in the end i actually went hyper for a few years which other than the hair loss and lack of sleep I thought I’d become well again. Well, little did I know I would fall into feeling absolutely terrible in October last year, unable to function, sleeping 18 hours a day, joint pain, severe hair loss, toe nails falling off. I saw an endocrinologist in February and had some bloods done. I eventually managed to get levo for low t3 and t4 at 50mcg but now I feel as if I’m going hyper.
I had high tpo antibodies at 486 and low t3/t4. TSH wasn’t massively impacted at 3,16 but I still felt horrendous. Any advice.
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Holaguapa
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So we can offer better advice, can you share blood test results (with ranges in brackets) for FT3 and FT4 in addition to TSH. Plus key vitamin tests (ferritin, folate, vitamins D and B12)
If your GP is unable to complete all the above, you could look to do this privately, as many forum members do, for a better picture of your thyroid health. I’m unsure of private testing companies in Spain, so can’t advise on this.
TSH should always be under 2, with most members indicating they feel best when this drops significantly below 1.
50mcg is a starter dose of thyroid medication, so highly likely you will need more.
When you say you ‘went hyper’ do you mean that you had hyper- like symptoms (eg weight loss, tremor, palpitations, fast heart rate etc)? Many members with hypothyroidism (myself included) have experienced such a ‘swing’ but invariably needed more not less Levothyroxine. This is not the same as ‘hyperthyroidism’.
Ignore the testosterone and SHBG out of range, I’ve been marked as a man instead of female. On these results my TSH wasn’t too bad but on the ones before it, it was showing 3,16 thanks.
I can confirm I experienced some of those 'hyper' symptoms when uploading levothyroxine. You may be very sensitive to meds and just need to go slowly. It took me 12 months to get comfortable on 75mcg.
Not my place to advise. But if - for example - you might have had thyroid issues for a while, your system will have adapted to it. To an extent. So a burst of thyroxine can cause an initial imbalance. It's what I found anyway. So, you might ask your GP if you could titrate up more slowly. Perhaps have 2 X 25mcg tablets and go slowly up to the 50 a day.
With a TSH above 2, I certainly wouldn’t want to reduce Levothyroxine. I like to increase slowly over time to achieve my ‘sweet spot’ where I feel most well. I add 12.5mcg daily at first until well tolerated.
Please can you provide the date of the test results. What time of day was the blood draw? Did you take Levothyroxine prior to the blood draw or after?
Regarding other bloods, I will tag in SlowDragon who is very knowledgeable.
thanks so much for all your help. These were taken in the morning around 8:30 on the 24th January and returned to me on the 29th but I’d literally had no sleep as I was also doing cortisol tests and after 11pm I became wired. These were prior to starting it. They weren’t my worst TSH and T3/T4 and it actually looked pretty good that day. Except for the antibodies.
My toenails appear to be growing on the levo, I actually lost one as it lifted off, also my smell and taste are coming back day by day, something I lost around 2 years ago. I also have energy (but I feel as if it’s too much energy) and my hair is growing back in as in my eyebrows (yey) I’ve still not lost the total puffiness in my face yet.
The condition might have no relevance to you at all, but so few people have heard of it I thought I would bring it to your attention in case it struck a chord with you.
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