Starting Levo help!

[Sasah]

Si with lates TSH of 4.6 and 4 month after an hemi and with symptoms i spoke with GP aboutbstarting Levo. After my ENT discjarged me as wond looked good and said i had no need for meds. I was also refuses a endo refferral. Luckily my GP is kind. After a chat i decided i wanted a full set of blood before instart. TsH, T4 alll vits... he is accodating and requestes these along with an antibodies test. Unfortunateltlybhe can't do t3 or he would. I can't have these for a few weeks as i have a 90 day window.

Discussion on dose and he recomendes 25... from advice here i said how i 50 has been suggested. My worrybis i wpuld like this as top up so u priduce some of my own natural hormone.

So my question will 50 switchniff my own production? If so i have been misingormed from an actual endo. Also wouls it be worth do 50 one day and 25 the next. I am quite anti meds so this is destroying me.

[Tina_Maria]

Well no one here is particularly fond of medication and we would rather not need them - however, if your body is not capable of providing you with the thyroid hormones you need, you simply have to replace them, if you want to be well. There is no way around that.

The normal starting dose in people below 65 without cardiovascular disease is 25-50mcg levothyroxine according to the prescribing guidelines:

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/hypo...

Whichever dose you will start on, it will reduce your normal thyroxine production, but that is not relevant, as your thyroid cannot produce hormones in the quantity you require, so it is useless and would probably give up in the long term anyway. If you start with 50mcg, you might feel the reduction of your own thyroid hormones less acutely, should your T4 level still be around halfway or at least a third through the range; if your T4 is already very low, it might perhaps be better to start with a lower dose, so the increase is more gradual - but it is up to you.

Once you start, you need to make sure you get tested every 6-8 weeks, so you can titrate your levothyroxine upwards as you need. It will be a longer process over 6-12 months, until you reach your final replacement dose. Be patient, there will be ups and downs along the way, but it is doable; we have all been there. And if you want to be well and remain well, then you will have to take your thyroid medication for life, as it is an essential hormone and you simply cannot live without it!