I am just over a week into 75mcg of levo, my 12 weeks on 50mcg went pretty well with no nasty side effects and definitely seen an improvement in symptoms.
But this time round I am having absolutely horrendous indigestion, currently sitting up in bed as its just too painful and uncomfortable to lie back. This is the third day, took some antacids around 10pm - did not help. I do feel a little more anxious too. Is this just a side effect of the higher dose and will it settle? How long should I ride it out/is there anything that will help?? I honestly don't think I've had it as bad as this before!
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weedee41
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Inadequate thyroid hormones are known to slow gut mortility. Hence the constipation, impaired bile output and low stomach acid, all of which makes the gut vulnerable to inflammation and infections.
Improving levels of thyroid hormones help gets things moving again but depending on how long you were left hypo will influence how much damage was incurred and how quickly it will reverse.
Many of us end up having to address gut infections such as SIBO, candida, etc and supplement probiotics, digestive enzymes and HCL Betaine (stomach acid) until our gut starts working properly again.
Alternatively, being hypo-hashi with inadequate thyroid hormones can make our immune system over-reactive, and there are plenty of members with intolerances to the fillers within their thyroid meds. This can present in multiple ways and includes gut issues.
Funny you say that, I've actually just taken fluczanole (i think!) as I have had redness at the corners of my mouth for months which got worse. I've been using daktarin the past week and its improving, hence taking a capsule incase its something underlying coming out on my skin. I didn't even think to put the two together. I've also started taking a probiotic again, i stopped as i thought I was taking too many supplements. I'll see if things improve soon, just so disappointed as I had been feeling good and had some energy back.
My tablets are the exact same brand (Mercury) so i don't think its those as I was absolutely fine on the 50 dose.
It would help if you were more specific about your symptoms.I assume you were given 25 and 50 mcg tablets. Are the 50 mcg tablets the same brand as when you were on 50 mcg daily?
It could be that you are sensitive to the excipients in the new 25 mcg tablets so I suggest you switch to taking one and a half 50 mcg tablets for a few days. You can split the tablets by snapping them or using a sharp blade. Alternatively, you can take one 50 mcg tablet one day and two the next day.
After say six days you can switch to taking three 25 mcg. tablets daily for six days. This will tell you if the 25 mcg tablets are causing the problem. Different brands a nd doses of tablets can have different excipients which upset some people.
Otay be nothing to do with thyroid so if it persists you should check with your doctor.
75mcg dose is probably the hardest dose to get use to
Itâs probably high enough to in effect turn your own thyroid hormone output off, but not enough to offer you full replacement dose
Likely to need further increase after next test
Retest 6-8 weeks after dose increaseâŠ..test early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
Ahh, ok, i didn't realise that. But yes, that makes sense albeit not what I wanted to hear...my FT4 and FT3 results were actually lower than their initial starting point at last testing so i think this is exactly what it could be then. I certainly still feel a bit better than before starting, i even have some fuzzy regrowth on my baldy bits! So i can live with another couple of months of night time gaviscon and i'll keep my diet as plain as I can until it passes. Thanks đ
my FT4 and FT3 results were actually lower than their initial starting point at last testing so i think this is exactly what it could be then.
Yes Levo doesnât âtop upâ your failing thyroidâŠ.it replaces it
on starting/low dose results frequently show drop in Ft4/Ft3
OnwardsâŠâŠ.and upwards
We see many members struggle to push through the 75mcg dose and on to higher doses
approx how much do you weigh in kilo
Even if we frequently start on only 50mcg, most people need to increase levothyroxine dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps (retesting 6-8 weeks after each increase) until eventually on, or somewhere near full replacement dose (typically 1.6mcg levothyroxine per kilo of your weight per day)
Adults usually start with a dose between 50 micrograms and 100 micrograms taken once a day. This may be increased gradually over a few weeks to between 100 micrograms and 200 micrograms taken once a day.
Some people need a bit less than guidelines, some a bit more
TSH should be under 2 as an absolute maximum when on levothyroxine
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: 0.1â2.0âmU/L), but avoiding TSH <â0.1âmU/L. Use of alternate day dosing of different levothyroxine strengths may be needed to achieve this (e.g., 100âmcg for 4 days; 125âmcg for 3 days weekly).
This is interesting, I'm roughly 67kg so seems it will be at least 100mcg. I thankfully still have another month and a half before I start my phased return, so I have the time to battle on, and should be able to do my next increase just as I'm starting back. Glad now that i know that. Interesting though as my mum has been left on 75mcg by our GP for about 30 years (she's just told in range, be on your way) and she is at least 100kg! And she has struggled for years. Though probably be no telling her, I ended up going private but she has full faith in them - unlike me.
To be honest slowdragon, she's someone who likes being 'ill' these days so I'm not sure she would push. But I'm going to pass on that info and see. She has always been tired and very hard to motivate for as long as I can remember - and extremely overweight. Hopefully the more I moan about my awful experience she will see.
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Thyroid Removed, being on Levothyroxine, feeling horrendous 
Throat problems
Has Armour gone downhill?
