Lower dose Lower mood😓

[MissDemeanour191]

Hi I've lowered my dose of Levothyroxine from 125mcg to 100mcg experimenting! As thought I was going into 'hyper' territory. TSH well under 1.0 for quite some time too. However, and I've noticed this before, if I lower my dose, my mood plummets. I just start feeling a bit 'numb' for want of a better word. Enthusiasm plummets too. Bit like how I felt when was first diagnosed years ago. Have heard you don't need, or shouldn't take high dose of levo when get older anyway, effect on heart, bones etc. But, honestly, think I should go back to 125mcg, as feel rubbish! Have private medicals annually, and for few years now, ECG always shows 'Left Axis deviation' Is this caused by being hypothyroid? Like a lot of other side effects? Does anyone know? Any advice would be appreciated.

[tattybogle]

how many wks have you been on lower dose ? the first 5/6 wks it's hard to know how it will feel once body has properly acclimatised to new levels.

[Dahliasanddaisies]

It's quite a big decrease, 175mcg a week. Maybe try a smaller amount and then retest? Alternate 125/100?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

What were Ft4 and Ft3 results and ranges BEFORE reducing your dose

That’s a big dose reduction

if Ft4 was over range ……

You could have reduced by 50mcg PER WEEK

reducing by 12.5mcg to 112.5mcg 4 days per week and staying on 125mcg 3 days

Retest 8-10 weeks after any dose reduction

Test vitamin D, folate, b12 and ferritin levels too after any reduction

[MissDemeanour191 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi TSH 0.21 FT4 20.3 T3 5.1Iron 21.4 TIBC 52 vit b12 36pmol/L

Vit D 82.

GP wants chat with me, obv re reducing dose. Have gone back up to 125mcg as feel much better on this dose.

My T3 in the past was low always around 3. something it's now over 5, best it's ever been!

The 2 issues I really need help with/advice on are: fluid retention, especially in boobs and legs....have read others, women obv, who have noticed boobs got bigger on higher dose of Levo...maybe it's the fillers? Don't know. And....this 'Left Axis deviation' which always shows up on my ECG. Is it 'thyroid' related?

[kiefer in reply to MissDemeanour191]

"And....this 'Left Axis deviation' which always shows up on my ECG. Is it 'thyroid' related?"

Yes.

"Yes, thyroid disease can cause left axis deviation (LAD) on an electrocardiogram (ECG). LAD is an intraventricular conduction disturbance that's characterized by a leftward deviation of the mean electrical axis. Other ECG findings associated with hypothyroidism include: Low voltage complexes, T wave inversion, Bradycardia, Right bundle branch block, and QRS prolongation."

"Hypothyroidism can also cause other cardiac issues, such as impaired cardiac function, left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, and diastolic dysfunction. In fact, echocardiography studies have commonly reported LV dysfunctions in adults with subclinical hypothyroidism. However, the mechanisms of this relationship are not yet fully understood."

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

"There are a variety of causes, including left anterior fascicular block and left ventricular hypertrophy"

Left ventricular hypertrophy occurs in about 20% of untreated/undertreated hypothyroid patients.

Levothyroxine, (at the optimal dose), appears to significantly improve cardiac structure, function and mechanics in those with subclinical hypothyroidism.

Levothyroxine 125mcg/day isn't a high dose. What causes bone and heart issues is a Free T3 level that's consistently above your upper range. However, by taking too much Levothyroxine and going beyond your body's set point, this causes Deiodinase 2 to become less active. This will show up as a reduced T4 →T3 conversion. Ubiquitination.

thyroidpatients.ca/2018/12/...

Fluid retention can also be a symptom of less-than-optimum thyroid function.

[MissDemeanour191 in reply to kiefer]

Hi Thank you so much for that. Although worrying! It's in a kind of way, a relief to know it's Thyroid related. And, really helpful, another weapon in my armoury, IF I get back to my GP who wants to reduce my dose. Mind, they haven't been back to me, when I put in my repeat script, they'll issue me with 125mcg, they always do! I feel best on 125mcg, anything less, feel rubbish, so common sense really. Both my parents, had heart problems in later life, Atrial fibrillation, and my mum, tricuspid regurtitation problem, sometimes wonder if it was undiagnosed thyroid issues, or just 'old age'. And, thank you again, for your very informative post!

[C70rol]

does anybody have a link to information on the reducing of thyroid medication as we get older, at least from over the age of 80 ?

[tattybogle]

Re. your heart query , i collected some links to thyroid/ heart info on this post , can't remember what's in them as it's ages since i did it , but some of them might be worth a read: healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...