Thyroid dosage

[mamajacks]

Hi, I am a 56 year old female with an underactive thyroid. I was diagnosed around 24 and I am currently on 300 mg a day. I was wondering if anyone else is currently on the same dose.

[helvella Administrator]

It is a higher dose than most take.

Very often, such high doses are at least partly due to absorption issues. That is, the dose has been raised because they cannot absorb sufficient of the levothyroxine when taken at the doses most find OK.

Can you let us know more about the background to being diagnosed and reaching where you are?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Which brand are you taking

Do you always get same brand

Do you take levothyroxine on empty stomach and then nothing else apart from water for at least an hour after

Very important to test thyroid levels correctly and fully

TSH, Ft4 and Ft3

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)

And test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once a year

Have you had autoimmune thyroid disease confirmed by high thyroid antibodies

Are you on gluten free and/or dairy free diet

[crystalcat10]

Hi , I'm currently on 350mcg . i was diagnosed 40 years ago .

im not happy with the situation i dont feel great and think i need to be on combination T4/T3

but its been made clear in no uncertain terms by 2 Endocronogists in 2 different health authorities that's not going to happen .

[bikebabe]

I had 300mcg t4 from my late teens to 35 yrs old (hypo from birth) and after being discharged by hospital no GP checked my bloods for a good 10 years. I was reduced to 200 when I moved up north by a GP who actually tested my blood and it stayed ok til menopause. It was reduced gradually down to 125 due to continually out of range blood tests and palpitations. I think my body got so used to high t4 dose it didn’t convert to t3 properly. And because I had hypo symptoms despite being ‘in range’ my GPs eventually conceded to refer me to endocrinologist who I chose from the list provided on the TUK website. Thanks to him Ive been good on a mix of 100mcg t4 and 10 of t3 though it Took a while to get it right. Try again using the Thyroid uk list to source a referral to an experienced endocrinologist and use the argument of being desensitised by too much t4 over many years It’s worth persisting to get it right. Can private message me if you want.

[mstp]

After 15 years of being on thyroxine, my body stopped converting it to the usable format of t3. GPs won't do anything, but fortunately, in those days, we had Dr Peatfield, who would help. He worked out what was happening and advised me to stop levo and buy my own t3. Fortunately, I was in a position to do that and have been doing so for the last 12 years. Basically, in this situation, levo goes into your blood but not to your cells. This is why Drs find positive blood test results. If only they'd test t3 they would find it at the low end but many will not do it. You may or may not need to stop your levo but I would think you definitely need to begin taking some t3.

[serenfach]

At one point I was on 325 Levo, with the consultant saying I was skipping doses, but my T4 and T3 were low. He refused to up the dose. My lovely GP then put me on a small dose of T3 and dropped my T4 to 200. This was a while ago, would not happen now! I felt the difference within days! I now take NDT as my GP retired and the other doctors in the practice were making noises about taking away the T3.

Being "in range" does not always suit them when they have their own agenda...