Advice needed again

[Andypandy30]

Sorry I'm just so not clued up about thyroid .due to having so much anxiety with the jump from 75 to 100 mcg .would it negatively affect me to take 75 again every other day to try to get up to daily 100 again.the doctor frightened me by saying my TSH was very high and i needed to go staight to 100 mcg to treat it

[Buddy195 Administrator]

I have found it better to increase in increments of 12.5mcg, alternate days at first, moving to daily when well tolerated. When I’ve increased by 25mcg in one go I found my anxiety levels spiked. I’m now ‘more tortoise than hare’ when adjusting thyroid medication.

[Andypandy30 in reply to Buddy195]

Hi how do I do this .so 75 one day and then add 12.5 to that the next

[Buddy195 Administrator in reply to Andypandy30]

I took 75mcg and 87.5mcg alternate days until well tolerated, then moved to 87.5mcg daily. Once 87.5mcg was well tolerated, I alternated this with 100mcg, then trialled 100mcg.

Some members are able to make adjustments in larger increments, but this did had adverse physical and mental effects for me.

[greygoose]

Doctors are clueless about thyroid, but they do seem to get a kick out of scaring their patients witless. What does he think the TSH is going to do to you? Nothing. It's just an indication that your thyroid hormones are low. Which isn't a good thing, but even so, increasing faster than the patient can cope with is not a good thing, either. So, don't let him scare you. Go at your own pace. At least he's given you an increase, which has to be a good thing, right?

[FallingInReverse]

When I went from 75 to 100 I took about 4 weeks to get there. I was 75 a day and then started swapping some days for 100. I think I did two days the first week… then added until on week five I was 100s every day.

I THEN waited another 6 weeks to test to ensure I had settled at a stable level.

I am now working up to 112.5 a day … and am so in tune to the increase in these early weeks. Even that little bit! I am holding on until at least week 6 or longer until I assess whether its good or if I’ve overshot.

So just sharing my experience … the lower and slower I go, the better. And every time after week 6 I always start to feel so much calmer.

[Andypandy30 in reply to FallingInReverse]

So do you think it is safe for me to drop back to 75 on some days .I mean so I can still try to get up to 100 by the end of thev6 weeks .it will just take longer is that correct

[FallingInReverse in reply to Andypandy30]

So for me and I think many of us its not just how much… but the mere act of changing … that creates those volatile symptoms/feelings.

We often read about people zig zagging and giving their blood chemistry a bit of whip lash that just prolongs it.

So the whole key to this is to aim for your best guess of your optimal dose and hold on through the symptoms for 6-8 weeks while the hormone build up to a steady stable level.

Taking more hormone is like turning an ocean liner around. You tap the wheel and a week(s) later the boat starts to turn. So when you zig zag those ups and downs have a delayed effect and you never give your body a chance to settle down.

So.

We can help you answer what to do, just remind us the recent history of your blood tests and dosing.

What dose are you on, for how long, and what/when was the last TSH/FT4/FT3?

[Andypandy30]

Thank you .I was always on 100 mcg until a thyroid blood test as the surgery kept ringing me to get it checked .he then put me on 75 mcg and I never felt right on this dose and started to have all my old symptoms back .I was then given another blood test on the 3rd august and they increased me to 100 mcg straight away .so have been on this dose from then due to a high TSH .not sure of result T4 was 14 .he just spoke to me again and said to continue with the 100 for another two weeks despite the anxiety and not to mess about with my dosage so what to do now

[FallingInReverse in reply to Andypandy30]

So you’ve been on 100 every day steady since 8/3?

And how long were you on 75 before 8/3?

[Andypandy30 in reply to FallingInReverse]

I was on 75 for 7 months prior to that I was on 100 for years

[Andypandy30 in reply to FallingInReverse]

I have had alot of anxiety with this increase and not a great appetite and lost weight but anxiety is the worst