Under active thyroid - not just a lazybones!

[Freebean]

Just had a call from doctor with diagnosis of hypothyroidism. I had thought the extreme fatigue and brain fog was just normal tiredness from parenting a toddler and I'm a bit excited that with treatment I may be about to get at least some of my mojo back!

I know it's a lifelong condition that will need daily medication and needs to be taken seriously but I mainly feel relieved to know that there's a reason I feel so weak and tired all the time and it's not just me being a lazy arse.

I'd love to know - if you have been diagnosed and treated for hypothyroidism, how did things change for you?

Also, did it take a long time to find the right dosage levels?

I can't remember what my exact blood results are but I been prescribed 50mg levothyroxine daily and am down for another blood test in 6 weeks

It took about 3 months to get the right level of medication initially and I now recognise the symptoms when my levels are wrong and my medication needs increasing. Before my diagnosis, I had had to change to part time work as I was permanently exhausted. I now am able to work full-time. The medication has been lifechanging. I hope you feel better soon.

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease (hypothyroidism caused by an autoimmune response) about 5 years ago. Like you, finding that the weight gain, tiredness, (exhaustion like I'd never experienced before or since) depression, brain fog (Oh the brain fog !) hair thinning and constantly feeling cold had a cause!
I felt a big difference within the first 4 weeks of taking levothyroxin. Things got slowly better after that until they reached what I now recognise as normal. My hair has thickened again, I am rarely cold unless everyone else is, my fog has gone and depression a thing of the past. My dose changed a little (to 75mg ) after the 6 month bloods but I didn't really feel the difference as much as I'd noticed when I began taking it. I have yearly blood tests to check my levels and the GP has tweaked the dose again this year, so I've had two changes in the 5 years. That may be because of the auto-immune thing making my type less stable.

I do know a man who was almost bald when he began taking levo and within three weeks his bald patch began to grow hair! He's now got a reasonable full head of hair (for his age )
You need to follow the instructions on taking Levothyroxin fairly closely. Roughly the same time of day, no food or caffeine drinks before or for half an hour after taking it for example. I take mine as soon as I wake up, almost before I'm awake. Then I have a shower and so on so my half hour is up before I hit the kitchen. Others take it last thing at night, but I like a hot drink before I go up, or occasionally a and you can't take it within a few hours of that!
Work out what works for you.

I don't know if the GP told you (mine didn't) but you are entitled to free prescriptions now. Not just for the thyroxin but for everything. I think you need to get a form from your GP and you can then apply for a medical exemption certificate.
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-certificates/medical-exemption-certificates

"Lifechanging" is the sort of response I was hoping for peacock! Am glad to hear that it worked so well for you and you're feeling so much better.

Thanks for your detailed post Riv. Really helpful stuff. I didn't know that about prescriptions and will ask about it. The only thing is that I have always had v unmanageable, bushy hair so the thought of it growing even thicker is not necessarily a good thing!

I don't mean to be negative but I've been on 100mg of Levothyroxine for a year now and still no improvement on the fatigue/brain fog/brittle hair & nails (although.... I do have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia which will undoubtedly also contribute).

My doctor did warn me not to expect quick results but a year is long past 'quick' in my book.

Best of luck anyway!

I didn't know that about prescriptions either so I'm so grateful for that info! Thanks

The brain fog is definitely the worst part for me too. I've been neglecting friendships, not because I don't care or can't be bothered but, I now realise, because I simply haven't had the mental bandwidth.

Also getting so quickly irritated with my son because I just can't think straight.

Really sorry to hear that Always. It must be really disappointing for things to not improve despite treatment.
Please no need to apologise. Thanks for sharing - it's useful to know that the meds may not be a magic bullet. Really hope things get better for you soon.

Hmm, I've had it for over a decade and take 150mg levothoroxin. It didn't have any affect on me, but then I hadn't had problems before the diagnosis.

I'm 44, 2 young dc, overweight, and resigned to being tired!

Interesting what pp is saying about time of day. My gp told me at my last blood test that they now believe as long as you take the weekly dose in 7 days, it makes no difference when you take it over the day / week. They only do it as a daily pill because that's what people are used to.

I have had hypothyroidism specifically hashimotos for a long time but only diagnosed 5 years ago. in that time i’ve been shocked to learn hashimotos is the cause of 80-90 percent of what people call “ underactive thyroid”, including doctors. the reasons behind this are that whilst hashimotos is an immune system disease and standard low thyroid is a sluggish thyroid, the nhs prescribes thyroxine for both. what i wish my doctor would have told me is that hashimotos sufferers often need more complex interventions and in my case t3 treatment. i was lucky that i had an almost in house experiment- my mum has low thyroid is on thyroxine and feels okay, my dad and sister had been told they had low thyroid but felt awful and needed to find holistic approaches: vitamins, address gut health etc.
the best thing i ever did was join health unlocked thyroid uk page and read about my condition, as well as keeping my own records. we ended up having to go through loads of arguments with doctors about autoimmune disease and t3 treatment- now the medical world has finally caught up and is accepting that a good 20-30 percent of people need more yah thyroxine ( i still have to pay for mine though!)
I would strongly advise that you get a print out of all blood tests and reference ranges this will help long term if you need to ask for more help from thyroid uk or the forum . 50mcg is a starter dose, that doesn’t really tell you anything. If you don’t feel better and need to investigate further your GP needs to test free t4,free t3 and antibodies, as well as folate ferritin b12 and vitamin D ( sometimes they refuse to do so and a lot of us use thriva or similar for a private test then post the results on health unlocked thyroid uk forum- it’s where i found all the useful info!)

@Freebean

The brain fog is definitely the worst part for me too. I've been neglecting friendships, not because I don't care or can't be bothered but, I now realise, because I simply haven't had the mental bandwidth.

Also getting so quickly irritated with my son because I just can't think straight.

Exactly the same here. There have been slight improvements, don't get me wrong. Everyone is different. This may be all you need x

@Xmasbaby11 - thank you for that info. Really useful. I've just been told after my last test that I need to take 100ml one day and 75 the next. I wondered how that worked! Maybe the time of day thing is that you must have a totally empty stomach for the absorption? Which means nothing to eat and only mild drinks for 4 hours before and half an hour afterwards. My friend didn't follow this and her symptoms really didn't improve.
@mummylondon16: that's interesting too. I must have a really good GP as I get that info from her on most of my tests. It could be because I've known I had Hashimoto's since I was in my late teens and had yearly bloods taken from then, although I didn't need to take meds until 5 years ago. My dad was mis-diagnosed until his mid 60's and had a major health crisis caused by the lack of diagnosis. Family GP had all of dad's children tested as Hashimoto' s CAN be hereditary (think the GP felt guilty for missing it) Sure enough we all had the marker and have grown up knowing what it is and that we'd need to be on medication at some point. This information has been on the opening page of my file ever since. When I move and change GP it's one of the first things they ask about! Must check out the site you recommend. It sounds really useful.

@Riv your GP sounds amazing. my father was the same he wasn’t diagnosed until his 60’s ( and then only after he had a psychotic breakdown & with me already diagnosed and pushing for full blood panel- it’s taken another 5 years for the professionals involved in his care to use the term hashimotos, after i sent letters and banged my head against a wall)
yes health unlocked is a hive of info please do join x

@Freebean i take natural desiccated thyroid which contains t3 which i find is often the missing piece of puzzle for many thyroid patients. i buy mine and import it, and i’m monitored via my own tests i pay for plus once a year nhs test. a consultant endocrinologist told me i had done the right thing taking my health into my own hands. my sister and father also have hashimotos and became much better after adding ndt to their levothyroxine
The nhs is being over charged by pharma companies for t3 ( ndt is levothyroxine plus t3) , and currently the competition and market authority are investigating the pharma company over charging the nhs. it’s been going on for years and the pharma company have even tried to get the high court to intervene which was declined. T3 is cheaper abroad but the nhs are charged around £800 a month, shocking abuse of the system which is why they don’t regularly prescribe it
other things that vastly improved my brain fog ( from the point i was going to give up my career in law because i couldn’t read anymore), - omega 3, b complex, improving my gut health and magnesium oil. i got a thriva full panel blood test including vitamins and thyroid antibodies etc, it cost around £85 but the results helped me to address deficiencies which brain fog can be a symptom of