new member

[Preciouspearl]

hi everyone l joined this group today was wondering could l get any advice, am 38 been recently diagnosed with underactive thyroid l am currently on 100mg of Lev tablets but l still feel tired l have put on so much weigh in past few years and didn’t know what was causing it, I have bought the semuglutide injections to help me lose weight but they are leaving me really sick can anyone give me any advice on anything am new to all this, I am so exhausted have 3 young children have no motivation at all and feel for my kids 🥹🥹

[greygoose]

Hi Preciouspearl, welcome to the forum.

Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to give us a lot more information than that for us to be able to help you. For example:

- how long have you been on 100 mcg levo? It's quite a low dose so you are probably under-medicated. just the fact of taking the tablet is not going to help you, it needs to be the right amount.

- when did you have your last blood test?

- do you have the results of your last blood test? Always, always ask at reception for a print-out of your results for any blood test. It's your legal right to have them and you need to know exactly what was tested and exactly what the results were, and to keep you own records noting dose and symptoms.

Hypo weight-gain has very little to do with appetite are how much you eat, so unlikely a drug like semuglutide is going to help you lose it. It's to do with lowered metabolism - and being on the right dose of the right thyroid hormone replacement can help with that. It's also unlikely to be fat, more likely to be water retention. So, once again, only the right treatment can help.

Your problem is likely under-medication but it could also be to do with poor conversion. Levo is the thyroid hormone T4. T4 is basically a storage hormone that doesn't do much until it is converted to the active hormone, T3. If you are a poor converter, you could have good levels of T4 in the blood, but low levels of T3 and therefore still hypo.

So, if you know the results of your blood tests, do post them here and let us have a look, and the hive-mind will see what it can come up with.

[Preciouspearl in reply to greygoose]

ok thank you very much god l didn’t understand the amount of info on this or l was aware of sorry so l am going next week to get bloods redone so l will ask for a copy of the blood results thank you again 🙂

[greygoose in reply to Preciouspearl]

No problem. Doctors don't understand all the intricacies either! That's why so many thyroid patients are suffering.

When you as for a copy of your results, do not accept a hand-written once - too many risks or errors! It's a print-out you need, straight from the computer's mouth, so to speak. And please post the ranges as well as the results, because they vary from lab to lab.

[Forestgarden]

Hi there, you've come to the right place to get some answers. Firstly, don't give yourself a hard time about feeling so exhausted, or about your weight. Its all due to your thyroid not functioning as it should. As a very rough guide you'll be on about 1.6mcg levo per 1kg of body weight, so if you know your weight you can work out how much levo you should be on. Is 100mcg about right? But, really this is just a starting point. Drs will have you believe its such a simple thing to treat - pop this tablet once a day and all will be well - but its often not that straightforward. As greygoose says, give us some more info and we can help you move forward.

[Preciouspearl in reply to Forestgarden]

Ok that’s great thank you so much ☺️

[SlowDragon Administrator]

welcome to the forum

100mcg isn’t a very high dose

Which brand of levothyroxine are you taking

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change or brand change in levothyroxine

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested

Also both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once to see if your hypothyroidism is autoimmune

Is your hypothyroidism is confirmed as autoimmune ?

Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum

Low vitamin levels are extremely common when hypothyroid, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease

About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease, usually diagnosed by high TPO and/or high TG thyroid antibodies

Autoimmune thyroid disease with goitre is Hashimoto’s

Autoimmune thyroid disease without goitre is Ord’s thyroiditis.

Both are autoimmune and generally called Hashimoto’s.

Significant minority of Hashimoto’s patients only have high TG antibodies (thyroglobulin)

20% of autoimmune thyroid patients never have high thyroid antibodies and ultrasound scan of thyroid can get diagnosis

In U.K. medics hardly ever refer to autoimmune thyroid disease as Hashimoto’s (or Ord’s thyroiditis)

Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins

Post all about what time of day to test

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing

thyroiduk.org/testing/

Medichecks Thyroid plus BOTH TPO and TG antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes BOTH TPO and TG antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/testing/thyro...

Link about Hashimoto’s

thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

thyroiduk.org/signs-and-sym...

Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test

support.medichecks.com/hc/e...

Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee

Please add most recent results from GP

Far too often only TSH is tested

[Anthea55]

If you want to learn about your thyroid, a good place to start is the Thyroid website at

thyroiduk.org/

[SlowDragon Administrator]

so l am going next week to get bloods redone

Make sure you book early morning appointment, ideally before 9am, only drinking water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

You need (ideally) TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 tested

Plus coeliac blood test, if your hypothyroidism is autoimmune

[FallingInReverse in reply to SlowDragon]

Preciouspearl adding to the above blood test advice… if you take a multivitamin or anything else with biotin - you should stop 3-5 days before you test. The thyroid blood tests use biotin as part of the analysis process, so if there’s biotin in your blood it may interfere with the reliability of the results.