Hello , I've not been here for quite a while but I need some advice, please. Do any of you lovely people out there know if there is a co-relation between lowering my levo dosage from 100 to 75 ( been on 100 for over 10 years but GP lowered it because of blood test about 6 month ago) and my type 2 diabetes result and cholesterol levels going up despite taking statins and metformin. Keep telling my GP that I don't feel so well on the lower dosage.
Could the lower dosage cause that?
I'm grateful for any advice. Thank you.
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Tillysnanna
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If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
Request GP do FULL thyroid and vitamin testing
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)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins
If you normally take levothyroxine at bedtime/in night ...adjust timings as follows prior to blood test
If testing Monday morning, delay Saturday evening dose levothyroxine until Sunday morning. Delay Sunday evening dose levothyroxine until after blood test on Monday morning. Take Monday evening dose levothyroxine as per normal
Was your GP lowering your dose based on your TSH? If yes, this was ill-advised. You should also have been given the option of perhaps lowering your dose by 12.5mcg (so taking 75mcg every other day) in the first instance, if at all. In any case, your GP should have looked at your T4 and T3, which were very likely both within the normal range, so no need to tinker. But don't they just love messing with doses based on TSH.
As you know T3 is your active thyroid hormone and responsible for your metabolism. If we do not have sufficient amounts of T3, your body cannot process dietary components such as glucose or cholesterol, and therefore these levels will rise. Now if you have been on 100mcg levothyroxine for a while, this is what your metabolism had available and was providing you with a certain level of T3. Now that you have lowered your dose, the T3 levels are subsequently much lower as well, meaning that glucose and cholesterol levels have increased as a result, as you are not optimally treated (if you ever were in the first place!).
Hypothyroidism is a known cause of high cholesterol levels and even the NHS guidelines say that you should treat the hypothyroidism first to normalise cholesterol levels.
I would ask for your original dose to be re-instated again. As a guide, the NICE guidelines say, that you need around 1.6 mcg levothyroxine per kg of body weight. So if you weigh 63kg, you would need around 100mcg of levothyroxine. It is not an exact science, as some people are okay with less and others might need more, but it gives you an idea.
No worries, I hope that you can get your dose re-instated again, be firm and quote the guidance - even the GP cannot argue with this! Good luck and I hope you will feel better soon!
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