It is now 9 months since I started LT4 being titrated up and last weeks blood test show I have finally hit optimal levels. My GP has agreed to test again in 3 months to check I remain stable (on 125mcg.)
Now, I am sure that because of various symptoms etc; my thyroid had struggled for at least 20 years if not longer. I only ever had two tests in that time for FT4 and both times they were at the very bottom of the relevant reference ranges.
so, my question is really, after so many years of struggling, now my hormone levels are showing optimal, can I still expect further improvement in my body? Does it still need time to adjust?
I certainly feel much better in many areas now but some things are still not quite there. I have some days where I feel really energetic but these are still the exception rather than the norm.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any thoughts and insight.
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Myristica
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Retest again in another 8 weeks INCLUDING vitamin levels
Likely to see further adjustment over coming months
Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription
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)
Thank you for your reply. Perhaps I should have explained further, I started on 25mcg and was having 6-8 weekly tests, titrating up each time and have been on 125mcg since early April. I suggested 12 weeks now to see if my levels are stable, why do you think only 8 weeks though and that I would still probably require adjustment over the coming months? Surely there must be a point when I would arrive at a suitable dose?
Yes, I have been on the same brand (Accord) except for the very first couple of prescriptions and every test I have had before 9am etc;
I have had B12, Folate, D and ferritin measured after diagnosis and unlikely to get those done again so soon. TPO were negative and as you probably aware, TG are not offered on the NHS.
I cannot really afford private testing at this time.
Yes! For me I was 9 months sub-optimally treated (left on 50 Levo and dr threw his hands up when I didn’t feel better), then I found this board and took the last 9 months to arrive at 100 mcgs Levo and 10 T3 a day.
I feel like 9 months is probably a magic number : ) same for me where I feel sooooooo much better than ever, but still have my “lost days” when I am completely useless and take a lot of naps.
My symptoms started in 2015, 7-8 years before diagnosis and starting Levo.
I am now really tuned in to the idea of all the compensation my body did over those years, until in Aug 2022 it just couldn’t do it anymore.
And so, although not scientifically sure about all the mechanisms, I figure if it took 8 years to nose dive, then it will take a couple years to dig out.
That’s one of the many shames of how we are treated. We are made to think one Levo pill for a few weeks/months and we “should” feel better, and when we don’t we are unintentionally or intentionally gaslit to think there is something else wrong.
This winding road of ups and downs for me, and I think everybody (?) on this forum is totally normal and just the way it works.
Ps. Also - for me, and others, diagnosis often comes around the time peri/menopause hits, just to throw another completely u predictable variable in the mix at the same time.
My first ever TSH and FT4 test would have been around menopause time about 20 years ago but of course back then as I was working it was likely drawn later in the day non-fasting.
This may not be relevant to you specifically, but your post title ‘time to heal’ made me think of some of the studies I have read recently on liquid thyroxine achieving better thyroid levels and symptom improvement quicker than tablets.
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