hi guys ! Hoping you can help me please
I’ve had to reduce my levothyroxine because I was over medicated. I decided to reduce by minute amounts at a time to avoid side effects so I’ve only reduced by 6mcg but going to reduce to 12 depending on bloods.
the problem is my heart is racing ! And I’ve got zero appetite now. I didn’t have a racing heart before , is this a side effect of reducing that will go away the same way it does when you increase and have that adjustment period ?
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I imagine the symptom will settle. Impossible to say.
Thank you
Your welcome.
Blood test results can only tell us so much, and the more you are able to learn about your own symptoms while under or over medicated the better stead you will be in. Pay attention to those symptoms and nuances.
However, given how such a small amount Levothyroxine can make a huge difference on how we may feel, it’s logical to assume new symptoms are attributable to that change.
Thank you. Yes I am quite shocked at how much of a difference a reduction in just 6mcg has made.. I guess it’s made me a little anxious too. I typed my question into google and stumbled upon HealthUnlocked and just wondered if anyone had experienced the same thing really.
What tests were done to confirm over medication ?
Hi there , I had the usual 3 🙂
And what were the results ?
Hi , the results were my tsh is now too low, and ft4 and ft3 over range.
I was just wondering if my symptoms I’m now having were to be expected, it’s only been a few days so perhaps I should just wait it out.
tsh is now too low, and ft4 and ft3 over range.
Whether this is because of the so-called hypo swing/hypo flare, or down to overmedication is irrelevant. The way to treat it is the same which is to withhold dose and resume on a lower dose. It seems to me you are definitely doing the right thing.
As someone who has twice been overmedicated, I can share when lowering dose (although I probably lowered mine by too much as it was half of the orginal dose) this did result in further new symptoms. The new symptoms settled with increase doses and change in brand. Hard to say which made the actual difference. Or, because it’s thyroid, it could have been something else altogether. It’s doubtful to me it was the latter.
Hopefully your symptoms will settle. Hang in there and I do hope you return to let us know how you got on.
Edit - tidied typos and added more information.
That’s interesting, thank you. I’ll give it a few more weeks then and see how it goes. It’s good to have found others who take the same medication and might know how I feel.
I will check back in, thanks again.
No worries. And, welcome to the forum.
Hello Madilane and welcome to the forum :
Can you share what your blood tests were that resulted in this dose reduction as otherwise there is not enough information here to say anything - one way or the other:
What symptoms were you dealing with prior to the dose reduction, there is no information on your profile page as to your diagnosis and possibly other health issues.
I wonder if your GP based their diagnosis on TSH rather than the important labs of FT4 and FT3....it happens all the time.
How much levo are you taking?
We really need to see your lab results before we can accurately comment.
You are legally entitled to request copies of results from reception, at your surgery.
Post any you can get your hands on.
I wouldn't be convinced about this diagnosis/ dose without a (full) thyroid test to include....
TSH, FT4, FT3 ....minimum.
But ideally to include vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin...and thyroid antibodies TPO and Tg
hi DippyDame , thank you for the responses I’m not sure how to tag you all into this reply. Sorry for the lack of info I didn’t think.
I am hypothyroid and I’ve been taking levothyroxine 100 for 5 years.
My symptoms that lead to my dose being reduced were pretty much just a massive insatiable appetite , tiredness and some changes with my skin and hair.
It seems like the replies are leaning very much towards me having the wrong information about reducing , why is that ?
I understand that you’d like to see the lab results , but I was hoping we could assume that my endocrinologist is correct and that my dose needs reducing. My tsh was too low and ft4 and ft3 both too high.
I don’t have any vitamin labs to report on but I take vitamin d3 and an iron vitamin that contains vit c. Been to totally ok up until now
I'm afraid you can't assume anything and if you trust your endocrinologist why are you here asking for an opinion but not prepared to give us any information ?
What is the reason for your hypothyroidism that requires your treatment to be managed by an endocrinologist rather than your primary care doctor -?
Do I assume your post is not as straight forward as it reads ?
Oh my goodness , what an awful response 😞 sorry if I’ve upset you somewhere ?
Do I have to not trust my endo to be here ? I didn’t see that tick box when when I signed up ?
I was hoping we could assume that my endocrinologist is correct and that my dose needs reducing.
Wrong advice from endos is what brought most of us here. Shocking but true. Med students spend very little time on this subject
So, absolutely not an awful response from pennyannie....just an honest one!
Thyroid disease can be a highly emotive subject and those of us who have ( often) decades of lived experience have frequently suffered at the hands of clueless medics.
You would think that years of medical training would equip them to deal with all that is presented to them.....sadly it does not!
If all was rosy in the thyroid garden then thousands of patients would not be turning up here (like you, and many years ago, me.) Arrivals are usually in desperate need of help after being treated by " the experts"....most of the time they receive the help here that enables them to move on and recover.
It turned out that I have a rare thyroid condition and without this forum my body would have continued to slowly shut down....so if I and others sound protective of the forum that is a reason why.
The only thing about your post that is upsetting is that you feel under par in the care of the experts who are supposed to improve your health
The fact that you have arrived here ( sorry I should have said " Welcome" sooner!) suggests you have doubts about your care.
My tsh was too low and ft4 and ft3 both too high.
A low level of TSH and high levels of T3 and/or T4 usually means you have an overactive thyroid or are overmedicated.
Or as pennyannie has already asked...do you have Hashimoto's disease?
BUT...
Since you haven't posted actual lab numbers we have no idea what constututes " too high".
We're all here to help...just ask
Thank you dippy dame.
I can definitely see it’s very emotive, if that’s the excuse for rudeness maybe they shouldnt be commenting on this page if they can’t stop lashing out at others for no reason. The response sounded slightly aggressive to us. We weren’t sure what “am I to assume your post isn’t as straight forward as it reads” means ? It is a absolutely that straight forward why wouldn’t it be ?
I’m sorry to hear people get the wrong advice from their endo’s, that must be extremely frustrating ? I understand that. But it’s unfair to assume all professionals are wrong surely ? And in response to her further question “why are you here then” it was because I’ve only just lowered my dose and I’m not due to see her again for another 6 weeks, so i thought I’d just ask what I thought was a really innocent simple question on a page if stumbled upon.
I’m not sure what you mean ? I am 100% happy with my care , what gives you the impression that I’m not? I’ve been very happy on levo for 5 years , I couldn’t be without it.
I can ask her the same question in 6 weeks time I just asked on here first simply if it was a common symptom of reducing , and it appears it is so perhaps I should wait it out a little.
To add to this , I’ve received TWO inbox messages agreeing with me that the responses are a little rude.
I feel I must reply...
Members have tried to help where it is now clear help was not required... and for that have been variously referred to as " aggressive" and "lashing out" and " rude".
On the forum we are used to people having problems, some of which are not fully revealed in their initial post.
The questions we might ask are not an invasion of privacy but are intended to find clues as to what may be actually causing the problem.
You commented...
the problem is my heart is racing ! And I’ve got zero appetite now. I didn’t have a racing heart before , is this a side effect of reducing that will go away the same way it does when you increase and have that adjustment period ?
You say that you asked " an innocent simple question".
Yes! On the face of it....it was exactly that.
But the answer is not simple....in fact it depends on a number of possible contributing factors which have been explained already. In order to help we enquired about what those factors might be..
It would be utterly irresponsible of us to offer a reply that did not have a solid foundation or if incorrect could cause you further problems.
I'm sure you would not countenance that
You opened the conversation and asked the question, therefore we could only assume that you hoped for advice/ help/ a response.
The problem was/is that without more detailed information it is impossible to give a simple answer.....in truth, any reliable answer.
Òffering reliable answers is what we aim to do here
The collective knowledge of well informed and experienced members, many of whom have researched the subject for years and acquired in-depth lived experience, far outweighs that of many endocrinologists.
I can assure you that members do not "assume all professionals are wrong"....that would be rediculous.
However, when wrong advice is offered to patients (and you would be surprised at some of the errors that endos do make) and those errors are recognised by members, it is part of the forum's raison d'etre to address erroneous advice.
On a voluntary basis, members give up a great deal of time trying to help and support those with problems .....and it is regretable that they might be pilloried for trying to help.
I'm sorry you felt hard done by and I'm sorry in your very first post that you felt the need to respond as you did.
This is a highly respected forum connected to the highly respected ThyroidUK.
I never once said invasion of privacy either? You came up with that one on your own. Are you reading the correct post ?
I also don’t feel hard done by, something else I haven’t said ? the response was rude and abrupt.
But I did give the factors? I don’t understand ? and those were, I had reduced my levo by 6mcg due to being over medicated. It can just be as simple as that you know? Not everything has to be your endocrinologist is wrong , your wrong your dose it wrong everything’s wrong.
No, the question was mine to ask, and that was, can a racing heart be a symptom of reducing your levothyroxine dose.
Your opinion on the forum appears to be subjective. I’ve received a lot of inbox messages about this thread, the fact they’ve had to send me the messages of support privately makes me highly doubt this forum is entirely friendly. I think a few spoil it by being rude but certainly not all and I’m thankful for that and value the information/ time they’ve kindly given to help me
I 'm sorry if my comments have upset you -
with the information given if your TSH too low and your T3 and T4 over the range -
it's likely a Hashimoto's Auto Immune disease - ' flare in symptoms ' - do you know if you have this disease generally diagnosed when first started on T4 - Levothyroxine through over range TPO antibodies. ?
How was it determined that you were overmedicated?
Please post latest thyroid blood results long with reference ranges for each test.
Members here find they need to raise key vitamin levels to OPTIMAL (not just in range).
When hypo we get low stomach acid which means we cannot absorb vitamins well from our food, regardless of a great diet. For thyroid hormone to work well we need OPTIMAL levels of vitamins. Have you recently or could you ask your GP to test levels of ferritin, folate, B12 & D3? Private tests are available, see link for companies offering private blood tests & discount codes, some offer a blood draw service at an extra cost.thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...
There is also a new company offering walk in& mail order blood tests in London, Kent, Sussex & Surrey areas. Check to see if there is a blood test company near you. onedaytests.com/products/ul...
Only do private tests on a Monday or Tuesday to avoid postal delays.
It can make the world of difference how you take your thyroid blood test.
Did you do the test as per the protocol recommended here? Recommended blood test protocol: Test at 9am (or as close as possible), fasting, last levo dose 24hrs before the blood draw, last T3 dose 8-12 hours before blood draw & no biotin containing supplements for 3-7 days (Biotin can interfere with thyroid blood results as it is used in the testing process).
Testing like this gives consistency in your results and will show stable blood levels of hormone and highest TSH which varies throughout the day. Taking Levo/T3 just prior to blood draw can show a falsely elevated result and your GP/Endo might change your dose incorrectly as a result.
hi Jaydee1507
Thank you for the kind response.. can I reply tomorrow please , I’m a little bit upset at the moment from some of the replies. I’ll come back tomorrow, just didn’t want to sign out without replying to you first. Maddy x
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Palps on reduced levo
Is it normal for your heart to race and other symptoms after carbimazole has reduced your t4 levels? 
Too much levo or T3?
Scared to stop levo, scared to raise levo, pretty bad symptoms, what to do.
Symptoms of hyper but TSH of hypo?!
