Increased Levo

[CAB123x]

hi all,

Persuaded my GP to increase my levothyroxine to 100mcg from 75mcg, is it common to feel worse before better after increasing dose? It’s been 1 week on an increase of 25mcg and I don’t feel good at all!

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Well done on achieving an increase.

It is very common to feel worse before you feel better with a Levo increase. Be kind to yourelf and give it a good 5-6 weeks more to see improvements.

Have you yet tested and begun supplementing low vitamin levels?

We need optimal vitamins for our thyroid hormone to work well.

[CAB123x in reply to Jaydee1507]

How long usually does it take to notice any benefits from the increase in your experience

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to CAB123x]

3-4 weeks+, all very individual and some might take longer.

Do you have your vitamin results to share with us?

[CAB123x]

All vitamin levels were ok I don’t have them to hand x

[SlowDragon Administrator]

which brand was 75mcg

Which brand is 100mcg

Do you normally take levothyroxine waking or bedtime

You could try splitting dose …..50mcg waking and 50mcg at bedtime

Previous post ….vitamin results

Ferritin: 42 (23-300)

Vitamin D 80 (50-120)

Ferritin on low side.

Look at increasing iron rich foods in diet

Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption

List of iron rich foods

dailyiron.net

Links about iron and ferritin

irondisorders.org/too-littl...

davidg170.sg-host.com/wp-co...

Great in-depth article on low ferritin

oatext.com/iron-deficiency-...

drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypo...

This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.

[CAB123x in reply to SlowDragon]

I actually feel so much worse today, it’s been 8 days of increasing dose and I’m feeling like a zombie. Any idea why? Is this normal or common? X

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to CAB123x]

Completely normal I'm afraid. I know thts hard to fathom but its really true.

Feel better soon.

[CAB123x in reply to Jaydee1507]

Gosh I felt better before I even started taking levothyroxine x

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to CAB123x]

which brand is your 100mcg ?

Is it same brand as on 75mcg

You could try splitting dose …..half in morning and half at bedtime …just for few weeks while you get use to increase

[CAB123x in reply to SlowDragon]

The 25mcg is mercury pharma and the 50mcg are accord

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to CAB123x]

And what’s your 100mcg tablets

Or are you taking 2 x 50mcg

[CAB123x in reply to SlowDragon]

They are accord (taking 2 x 50mcg)

[FallingInReverse]

hi CAB123x !

How are you feeling today?

I haven’t read your whole history, but I can say that when I increased from 50 up through the 112 I’m at now, I did so in 12.5 increments.

Can you remind me of your most recent tsh, ft4 and ft3?

And although you say your b12, folate, and d3 are good, if you haven’t figured out optimal for yourself that is something you should tackle methodically.

[CAB123x in reply to FallingInReverse]

Hi FallingInReverse I’m not too bad, just very tired and feeling dissociated/depersonalised if that makes any sense at all?!

So when I was on 75mcg and before increasing to 100mcg my results were:

TSH 2.52 (0.25-4.25)

t3 4.9 (3.1-6.8)

T4 15 (12-22)

Xx

[FallingInReverse in reply to CAB123x]

Well you clearly need the increase! So have confidence you are headed in the right direction.

SD asked about your brand change (I have no experience with that as I get the same brand every month) so hopefully you can rule exipients and other allergens out as a cause .

I still think you need to be more on top of your actual vitamins and minerals. There’s no way to know if those are possibly causing symptoms unless you know your actual results/ranges. You really need to find those results.

In my own personal experience my fatigue has come and gone over the years as my body has settled into having enough thyroid hormones. Just this past month for example I took a dip after being terrific for a few weeks. And in general I’m doing really well. But ups and downs are common especially in the early days and even later on.

Dissociation/disconnected I’ve seen my daughter experience personally with iron anemia. And of course depression is a standard symptom with low thyroid hormones - like yours. So consider that a symptom too, keep an eye on it as an indicator, and over time it should dissipate.

I’ve noticed lately a few posts from newly treated people about what we mean when we say “it takes 6-8 weeks…”

I’ve seen confusion that one should actually feel better after 6-8 weeks.

It’s not that it take 6-8 weeks to feel better. It takes 6-8 weeks for a change in dosing to settle to a steady level in your blood because Levo has a 7 day half life.

But it could take several/many 6-8 week dose titration periods until you reach full replacement dose. It took me a year+.

You are still quite under-replaced. I don’t know how long ago you were diagnosed but if it’s been less than a year I’d say - hold on for the ride! Your getting where you need to but it’s a bumpy one!

Jaydee1507 were you the one with the squiggly line graphic showing how the healing process really goes? I think if it often and can never find it : ) a picture really dies say a million words for that one!

[CAB123x in reply to FallingInReverse]

Ferritin 43 (23-300)

Vitamin D 80 (50-120)

B12 930 (187-883) above high

Folate 8 (3.1-20.5)

I take vitamin B complex and selenium but haven’t found an iron tablet that is specifically for ferritin because my red blood cell count was borderline high to xx