Overdosing on levothyroxine

[Fondantfancybutnotthepinkone]

I'm on levothyroxine as I have no thyroid. I'm 50. Not losing weight despite being in the gym every day, healthy eating, no booze, lots of water. I've got a PT. I'm working my ass off.

I'm now thinking I'll take extra levothyroxine to help the weight loss.

Would it be a risk to take extra meds ?

Yes.

Yes. It has adverse effect on your heart and can cause heart attacks. https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/levothyroxine/ says If you take too much
Taking more than your prescribed dose of levothyroxine can give you symptoms such as a racing heartbeat (palpitations).

my GP told me there’s a high threshold for NHS prescribing it because of the heart implications

It doesn't work like that.

I spoke to my gp about this a few years back and I cant remember exactly why he said it was a bad idea but I was instantly put off doing it, it certainly wasn't anything good

Good grief, you can’t do that. And it wouldn’t work. My thyroid levels (I also have zero functional thyroid gland) went haywire a few months ago after I started taking HRT. In an aim to stabilize it (coordinated by my endocrinologist) I ended up going very hyperthyroid for a few weeks, and felt utterly terrible on it, quite apart from the heart dangers. Notably, I didn’t lose any weight during that period. Now my levels are back to normal, and yet my weight is still the same as it was when I was hypo-and hyperthyroid. It’s not that simple.

When did you last have your thyroid levels checked and what were they? It might be that you're undermedicated.

But I wouldn't purposely go hyperthyroid, no. I felt very jittery when my thyroxine was too high. Not nice at all.

Surely you'd just run out of your meds faster and need to explain to your GP why you needed an early refil.
And you could only do it once before they'd start asking questions.
And it wouldn't result in weight loss anyway.

Levo is so shit it might make you feel better to overdose on it! (but don't actually, research armour thyroid and take out a loan if needed, it's magic)

Really bad for you and doesn’t work. Talk to your doc about WLIs if you’re struggling

My endocrinologist (a thyroid specialist) told me that taking a higher dose rarely resulted in weight loss, but he was willing to increase the dose until I was at the very top end of the acceptable range because I was otherwise young and fit.

I took 400 mcg of levothyroxine for a year, and didn't lose any weight at all, because I couldn't stop eating, I was gnawed by hunger that only went away if I stuffed myself into a food coma. A year later the endocrinologist said he'd been hoping it would work for me, but he'd never yet had a patient who could control their appetite on higher doses.

He was Swedish and said textbooks described it as "varghunger" wolf hunger, a state of extreme hunger like a starving wolf. Pretty good description from my experience, though I'm really glad that he let me give it a proper try, I think most endocrinologists would have just told me the computer said no, but this guy was a renowned thyroid specialist, and I doubt there was anyone qualified to question his decisions.

Definitely not a good idea- it can cause heart failure. If you think it’s not in range, then ask the GP to recheck your thyroid function in case any dose adjustments need to be made.

Ask for a new blood test to check levels are within tolerance.

ffs

I don’t think this is how you lose weight OP. Can you speak to an endocrinologist or a specialist about how you might go about doing so? What about weight loss injections, or Orlistat?

I overdosed for a few months because I misread the dosage. It only came to light when I had a blood test. I had no adverse symptoms and didn’t feel any different.

When my dose has been too high I’ve felt awful. Terrible sleep, panic attacks, shaking… and no weight loss.

Nah, no point as it wouldn't work.
I have under active thyroid and the biggest barrier to weight loss for me (apart from the crippling exhaustion) is my completely fucked metabolism from years of fighting the weight.
You need to look into ways to increase your metabolism and keep it ticking over at all times. I have done the reading, forgotten what it said and haven't got the energy to read it again but I wish you luck op!

The only thing that has worked for me to lose weight with Hypothyroidism is Mounjaro