Has anyone else's thyroid become more underactive when their medication was increased? (I am on 75 mcg of Levothyroxine per day).

[Auntbessy]

I have had my dose slowly upped every two months since June 2012, starting on 25 mcg per day.

[Moggie]

What makes you say that you are beoming more underactive? Are your symptoms increasing? If so then it obvious that 75mcg's of T4 isn't enough as it is quite a low dose. Have you got any results you can post (with ranges)

Moggie x

[Auntbessy]

Thanks for responding Moggie. Yes I am feeling more and more tired and my carpel tunnel syndrome is playing up again (had a lot of probs with this before I started any treatment). I started with a T4 of 6.5 with very high antibodies when I intially went for tests, then it went to 6.9 and now it is 9.2. Do you know how quickly you can ask for a higher dose of levothyroxine? I have been on 75 mcgs for 2 weeks now.

[Clarebear in reply to Auntbessy]

Was that your Ft4 result or your TSH result? If it was your Ft4 then it is slowly moving in the right direction ie increasing and you should be becoming a bit less hypo. If it is your TSH then it would indeed indicate that you are becoming more hypo and need an increase. Please can you confirm which it is and post the other results together with the ranges? Thanks. Xx

[nostoneunturned]

Can we have your blood test results plus ranges, please?

First reaction is that 25mcg is an unusually low starting dose and that 75mcg, still a small sounding dose, has only been achieved in 6 months, so your dose has been increased by only 50mcg in that time. This low dosage could actually be responsible for your lack of progress but supplying the details asked for above would be a great help.

[Auntbessy]

OK, will fish out my results. As I am new to all of this..do you mean the range as in all my results from June till now as in T4, TSH and the antibodies?

[nostoneunturned in reply to Auntbessy]

Yes, everything please, it all helps as labs have different ranges for the various tests owing to them using different analysis methods so different ranges.

[shaws Administrator in reply to Auntbessy]

Hi, just a small point, if you wish to reply to a particula comment you have to press the blue Reply to this and another box appears and you press the yellow reply when finished and the person is notified otherwise they may be unaware and not reply back to you.

[Moggie]

My doc started me off at 150mcg's so your 75mcg's wouldnt have been any good for me. I think your doc is being over cautious and should have realised your dose was way to low seeing as your TSH is still rising. I would be going back straight after xmas and asking for an increase, sooner if you think he will be open to this. You need to keep on at him about your symptoms getting worse and ask him to treat you not by blood tests alone.

Moggie x

[Auntbessy in reply to Moggie]

Sorry for the very delayed reply! Been working a lot and trying to juggle a lot too! Thanks for your advice before xmas. Things came to a climax when I had really painful carpel tunnel and injured my wrist on top of that. So I did up my dose to 100mcgs even though doc needed persuading and have been feeling better since then. Had some promising blood results the other day too. My TSH is now 0.8 : )

[Moggie in reply to Auntbessy]

Glad your on the mend.

Moggie x

[Auntbessy]

OK so...

The range for my tests are:

t4 12-22

tsh 0.27-4.2

1st test results were:

t4 14

tsh 6.5 (sorry got it round the wrong way!)

2nd results were:

t4 15

tsh 6.9

3rd results were:

t4 11.8

tsh 9.5 (got that one wrong too!)

[Dannia in reply to Auntbessy]

You need your FT3 results too.

I felt good on alternating days of 62.5mcgs/50mcgs of Thyroxine for 12 months after a partial thyroidectomy, then 3 months ago I started to get tireder and started getting dizzy spells, lose balance, my body would feel like lead including my head, hair loss, dry skin, etc loads of symptoms I didn't have before.

I checked out STTM and it advised on what labs to take, (Moggie has said have you had your VitD, B12, and Full Iron panel tested) I had all these done, and also saliva testing for my adrenals, all came back crap, my B12 is especially bad. I have been supplementing now for a while, and particularly the iron has made a difference, no more dizziness, heavy body, tiredness has gone and hair loss stopped and new growth has started.

I now take T4 50mcgs, but have also added T3 and this is helping my brain fog and lack of concentration and afternoon slump. You may need T3 if not converting well.

[Auntbessy in reply to Dannia]

Hi Dannia,

Thanks for all your advice. I started taking vit d and b12 including selenium and think it has really helped. How did you get T3? Also, did you do your adrenal tests at the docs?

[Dannia in reply to Auntbessy]

Hey Aunt Bessy

Glad to hear things are getting better for you, I'm actually now on NDT and doing well. I didn't come off T4/T3 because it didn't work in case you wonder, it was just because I was waiting for the largest bottle of the NDT I wanted before I started.

I'm not sure about posting information re: sources but I will private message you with the info.

As for the adrenal test, I live in Bulgaria, and I can order all the tests I want through the private labs which are all over Bulgaria.

I know you can order yours online, but I don't have the information for this. (Genova Diagnostics seems to ring a bell)

Hopefully someone will chip in with this info.

[Moggie]

So your T4 is at the bottom of the range and your TSH is to high - conclusion - your not on enough Levothyroxine. I would be asking for an increase to at least 100mcg's and then a re-test in 6 weeks.

Have you ever had your VitD, B12, Ferritin or Iron tested. If any one of these are not high enough they your body will have trouble converting your medication to the T3 in desperately needs. If you have had these tested the please post the results on here (with ranges) if not I would be asking the GP to test for the.

If you want a more details explaination regarding converting T4 to T3 have a look at meggie67's question just above your's as I have just answered her.

Hope this helps

Moggie x

[Hidden]

Your fT4 is too low. Mine was also around 11 last time it was tested and the doc increased my dose of Levo.

(I am also on T3 so my fT3 was ok. My doc wants both to be safely in range, which I like).

Your fT4 being too low has logically raised your TSH: your results make complete sense and simply mean you need a higher dose.

I agree with the others in that 75 mcg is a very modest dose, you could probably do with 125, try that and test in 8 weeks' time.

I think that happens quite often, I mean that your thyroid will continue failing so until your dose is high enough,, the THS will rise and fT4 drop.

koala

[Dannia in reply to Hidden]

Only increase slowly from 75 to 125 though, see how you feel after each increase.

[shaws Administrator]

This what Dr Lowe says re low dose of levothyroxine. Cursor down to question April 22, 2007

web.archive.org/web/2010122...

[Auntbessy in reply to shaws]

This link was really really helpful and explained better than anything how the body intially responds to medication. Can't believe my doc didn't know this!?

[shaws Administrator in reply to Auntbessy]

Dr Lowe knew all about the metabolism in the body and could detect it was 'out of kilter'. I doubt if many GP's know the clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism which, before the TSH test, patients would have been given a trial of thyroid hormone.

[Muffy]

When given thyroxine, the pituitary gland produces less thyroid stimulating hormone, so this could be the reason as, 75mcg is quite a low dose (as Moggie says above.). Consequently, your body is producing less of its own thyroid hormone.