Overmedicated

[duckie21]

When you are overmedicated with thyroxine and feeling terrible with chest pain etc and blood tests say your over . Can you stop meds for a couple of days before reducing your dose . I stopped for a day and felt a little better started again the next day and felt terrible again .

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

As levo lasts in the body for around 2 weeks it will take a while for any reduction to have an effect. Its probably better to reduce the dose and wait for things to improve otherwise you will end up swinging under replaced.

What were the blood results along with reference ranges?

What are latest vitamin results and what are you supplementing with?

[duckie21 in reply to Jaydee1507]

T4 16-0 (7-16) TSH 0.44 (03.5.0) T3 4.9 (3.6-6.5) I take all the right vitamins that are recommended. I only ever feel better when T4 is around 12-13 . I get heart issues when it gets near 16

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to duckie21]

When you took that test did you leave 24 hours between last dose of Levo & the test?

These results do not show that you are over replaced. FT3 only 43% of range, needs to be 60-70%.

Have you tested vitamins lately as there may be something you are low on.

[duckie21 in reply to Jaydee1507]

Yes no meds before test and I have regular tests to check my vitamin levels. My T3 is never great but can't take t3 as I have heart issues all caused through my thyroid .

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to duckie21]

So what are your latest vitamin levels? If you're not tolerating Levo well and also not converting well then likely they are on the low side.

[duckie21 in reply to Jaydee1507]

I take all the recommended doses . I only weigh 50k so can't get to carried away as my b12 and folate are usually on the high side . I take good levels of magnesium ,selenium, etc

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to duckie21]

Ferritin & iron are commonly low with hypo.

[radd]

duckie21,

Yes, definately leave off meds for a few days, especially as you’ve previously suffered heart attacks. Levo has a long half life and so some will remain in your body for a while.

People often report feeling better when coming off problematic Levo but you do need those hormone long term. Maybe restart meds in a few days on a lower dose if labs have been showing as over-range, and ask your GP for some up to date labs to see what is going on.

I hope you feel better soon 😊

[duckie21 in reply to radd]

Thank you those are my thoughts also

[radd in reply to duckie21]

duckie,

Levo gave me heart issues too, although not heart attacks. I had enormous bangs in the middle of the night and once one during the day that was so big I nearly fell over. It was all terribly frightening made worse by disbelieving medics.

By the time I had a 24 hour ECG tape I had reduced T4 and added some T3 meds which cured all heart issues. I would recommend you look into this even if you have to buy the meds yourself.

[duckie21 in reply to radd]

So you are saying t3 helped with your heart issues. My doctor says t3 makes it worse . Mind you I haven't much faith in her

[radd in reply to duckie21]

duckie21,

Yes, I'm saying reducing my FT4 levels and raising my FT3 levels a little bit stopped me from having any further heart issues. The heart needs the ‘right’ amount of T3 to function correctly so too much or too little can have dire consequences.

Low thyroid hormone can also indirectly cause heart issues through encouraging high cholesterol & fatty acids build up, high BP, elevated homecysteine (impaired absorption of VitB’s and decreased liver enzymes levels), being overweight, etc, that in turn may cause clogged arteries, heart disease, stroke, heart attack.

Endos are reluctant to prescribe T3 meds for heart conditions as mistakenly believe all people can convert enough T3 from T4, eliminating the need for T3 meds. Many of us only require an extra little bit of T3 to even the T4:T3 ratio out to an amount we function best at.

[duckie21 in reply to radd]

Thank you it's good to hear there are others having the same problems and how they overcome them 😊

[greygoose]

Yes, doctors say T3 makes heart issues worse, but quite frankly, what the hell do they know!?! They know next to nothing about thyroid and are terrified of T3 because they don't understand what it is and don't want to prescribe it, so they make up all these horror stories.

In reality, the heart needs lots of T3 and too little is more likely to affect your heart than too much.