Heat does it cause problems

[Castroll]

Hi allBoth ankles and knees swollen does this often happen with underactive thyroid I am on 75 to 100mg daily which I alternate as recommended by you lovely lot which has helped me become stable and feel better for last year

I do have inflammatory arthritis also and am on DMARS for

Any advise tips will be welcome

X x

[SlowDragon Administrator]

suggest you get FULL thyroid and vitamin test done

Test day after taking 75mcg dose

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)

Do you always get same brand Levo at each prescription

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

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

what vitamin supplements are you taking

Is your hypothyroidism autoimmune

[Castroll in reply to SlowDragon]

Hello thanks for the reply I always thought mine was derived from autoimmune disease like my arthritis but don't remember the GP actually talking about how it came to be

I have never been tested for vit d, foliate or ferritin

GP only tests me once a year

I take it D in winter and cod liver daily

X x

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Castroll]

Come back with new post once you get results

Ensure you test early morning and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Many (most?) thyroid patients need to supplement relatively high dose vitamin D daily all year

[Castroll in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks all noted I will get in touch with GP

[SlowDragon Administrator]

previous post 11 months ago showed you needed dose increase in levothyroxine

TSH should be under 2 as an absolute maximum when on levothyroxine

gponline.com/endocrinology-...

Graph showing median TSH in healthy population is 1-1.5

web.archive.org/web/2004060...

Comprehensive list of references for needing LOW TSH on levothyroxine

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

If symptoms of hypothyroidism persist despite normalisation of TSH, the dose of levothyroxine can be titrated further to place the TSH in the lower part of the reference range or even slightly below (i.e., TSH: 0.1–2.0 mU/L), but avoiding TSH < 0.1 mU/L. Use of alternate day dosing of different levothyroxine strengths may be needed to achieve this (e.g., 100 mcg for 4 days; 125 mcg for 3 days weekly).