Does anyone here have an underactive thyroid?

TomsMom

melbury wrote: »

By the way, have you ever heard of anyone getting menopause symptoms when they started on thyroxine? I know that lots of younger people take it, so obvioulsy this wouldn't apply to them, but just wondered if the tablet can have the effect of hastening you into menopause if you are teetering on the brink of it

No Melbury, I haven't heard of this. Once your thyroid stabilises again when on thyroxine everything in your body that wasn't working properly when you were hypo should start working properly again so it doesn't make sense that thyroxine might hasten menopause.

Menopause can happen at any age although the usual is early to mid 50s nowadays. There are always exceptions to the rule though. I don't know what age you are but if someone is in their late 40s they could be in the peri-menopause stage when strange things can start to happen!

TomsMom

juno wrote: »

I have really really dry skin, especially on my hands. I've got blood tests in June, but is there anything I can do til then? I've tried moisturising and it helps for a short while, but now it's getting ridculous how often I need to do it.

When I was undermedicated the skin on my legs was so dry that when I took my trousers off dry skin would shower over the floor. I never had it anywhere else though.

kassikoo

Hi Everyone i am new to the board, i am underactive thyroid and i saw my GP the other day and i asked if i was correct in saying my ft3 and ft4 needs to be leveld out but he said no the most important thing is my TSH level as i wanted these tests doing can anyone advise please. thanks kassikoo:eek:

TomsMom

kassikoo wrote: »

Hi Everyone i am new to the board, i am underactive thyroid and i saw my GP the other day and i asked if i was correct in saying my ft3 and ft4 needs to be leveld out but he said no the most important thing is my TSH level as i wanted these tests doing can anyone advise please. thanks kassikoo:eek:

Is there a reason you wanted them done? Are you still experiencing symptoms?

If you are well and think you are getting on fine with your present level of thyroxine then leave things as they are, going by symptoms is better than going by blood test results as far as the patient is concerned.

If you are still experiencing symptoms, what tests have you had done and what are the results?

kassikoo

Hi TomsMom i am still having symptoms as i have been haveing when i was diagnosed 9months ago i was TSH of 4.49 and ft4 of 13.6 i was started on tyhroxine of 25mcgs then 50 and now 75s my TSH is now 2.69 and i feel tired pains in my joints keep getting a very uncomfortable neck, feels funny when i swallow sometimes and like a bruised feeling as if someone has tried to strangle me. I have requested an autoimmune antibodies test and the gp has agreed to that which is good and he said i could have hashimotos and yes your right thats what i've been tolld before to go by your symptoms rather than just your results, i just wondered if anyone had any other advise to give thanks again Kassikoo

TomsMom

kassikoo wrote: »

Hi TomsMom i am still having symptoms as i have been haveing when i was diagnosed 9months ago i was TSH of 4.49 and ft4 of 13.6 i was started on tyhroxine of 25mcgs then 50 and now 75s my TSH is now 2.69 and i feel tired pains in my joints keep getting a very uncomfortable neck, feels funny when i swallow sometimes and like a bruised feeling as if someone has tried to strangle me. I have requested an autoimmune antibodies test and the gp has agreed to that which is good and he said i could have hashimotos and yes your right thats what i've been tolld before to go by your symptoms rather than just your results, i just wondered if anyone had any other advise to give thanks again Kassikoo

OK. I don't know if you have read through all of this thread but if not then look at page 5, post #93 which I think will help you understand about blood test ranges and post #95 - towards the end - which suggests getting the book "Understanding Thyroid Disorders". That's a start.

As far as blood tests go, your GP really should be doing FT4 as well as TSH. It's generally considered that most people feel best with a TSH of below 2 but around or below 1 is better still. It is important that the FT4 test is done and taken into consideration. FT3 is very rarely done, usually only by an endo. Your FT4 at 13.6 is very low in the range and there is plenty of room with both your TSH and FT4 for you to try an increase in meds and see how it goes.

If you want to know more then there are a couple of sites https://www.thyroidUK.org which I suggest you look at first and if you want more information then http://thyroid.about.com (an American site with lots of info).

PoorKat

Hello, I've been treated for Hypothyroidism for almost 3 years now on 100mcg of Levothyroxin. The pharmacy kept changing my brand and I feel like I did better on a different brand. Have any of you experienced a difference between your levothyroxin that just ends in BP and the stuff that ends in BP Ph. Eur. The kind I'm on now is "Alpharma (Almus) Levothyroxin 100mcg BP". I'm within normal ranges with T4 14.3 and TSH .37 but GP has prescribed 25mcg extra (due to symptoms) and this has come as "Goldsheild Levothyroxin 25mcg BP Ph. Eur". I've experienced a similar issue with 2 brands of codeine, the one ending in Ph. Eur seems to work so much better for me, whereas the other has a weaker affect. Now that I've taken the extra 25mcg it feels too much. Anyone else experience problems with different brands?

TomsMom

PoorKat wrote: »

Hello, I've been treated for Hypothyroidism for almost 3 years now on 100mcg of Levothyroxin. The pharmacy kept changing my brand and I feel like I did better on a different brand. Have any of you experienced a difference between your levothyroxin that just ends in BP and the stuff that ends in BP Ph. Eur. The kind I'm on now is "Alpharma (Almus) Levothyroxin 100mcg BP". I'm within normal ranges with T4 14.3 and TSH .37 but GP has prescribed 25mcg extra (due to symptoms) and this has come as "Goldsheild Levothyroxin 25mcg BP Ph. Eur". I've experienced a similar issue with 2 brands of codeine, the one ending in Ph. Eur seems to work so much better for me, whereas the other has a weaker affect. Now that I've taken the extra 25mcg it feels too much. Anyone else experience problems with different brands?

This sort of information is easily obtained by googling, these are extracts from links found on google:

British Pharmacopoeia (BP). BP is the authoritative collection of standards for UK medicines. Australia and Canada are just two of the countries that have adopted the BP as their national standard alongside the UK.

European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.). The Ph. Eur. is produced by the European Pharmacopoeia Commission (EPC) located in Strasbourg, France. The UK participates at all stages of Ph Eur monograph development and revision

So it would seem there shouldn't be any difference between BP and BP Ph Eur.

The difference is in the brands. Read this thread and pick out the relevant messages as someone else has asked this question and I have answered it fully.

kassikoo

Thankyou Tomsmom that was very kind of you to give me that info i'm very sorry i meant to tell you mt ft4 is now 17.2 and my tsh 2.69 i dont know how i stand at that my GP says its normal, i will look at that page and post thank you again sweetheart for helping kassikoo your an:A

TomsMom

kassikoo wrote: »

Thankyou Tomsmom that was very kind of you to give me that info i'm very sorry i meant to tell you mt ft4 is now 17.2 and my tsh 2.69 i dont know how i stand at that my GP says its normal, i will look at that page and post thank you again sweetheart for helping kassikoo your an:A

Sorry Kassikoo, I said post #95 will tell you about the book but I think it's actually post #97.

A lot of GPs will say 17.2 is fine as it is mid-range but there is still plenty of room for you to increase this further up the range if you are still having symptoms, ditto the TSH at 2.69 can go down a bit and still be well in range.

That paragraph in the book I mention in my previous post could be invaluable in asking your GP to allow you to trial an increase in meds. If he is the sort you can discuss things with then show him the page in the book and hopefully you wont have a problem, if it was your doc who said that it's best to go by symptoms that's a plus - a lot of docs will only take numbers into account.