Under active thyroid

[PinotAndPlaydough]

Just look for some people dealing with this that have a bit more experience. I’ve been on medication for about 6 months now and blood tests show my levels are normal.
despite this I still feel like I have really bad days.
the last few days in particular have been hard, I’m so exhausted again.
is it normal to have bad days or should I be feeling better consistently now?

Honestly my thyroid has been under active since having youngest ds 29 years ago. Despite eventually being prescribed enough Levothyroxine, according to my blood tests I'm now in the normal band, I've never regained my energy. I've never lost the stones in weight i.put on before being diagnosed and then my GP only started me off on 25mg and having to wait 3 months before my second blood test. This 25mg increase gradually continued until I was on a dose of 150mg, but this took a lot of time and during this time I continued to put on weight, had dry skin, dry eyes, dry hair, exhausted all the time and very forgetful. I'm a lot better on the 150mg dose but it's like my life can be split into 2 halves, before my thyroid issue when I had loads of energy and bubbly and after when I often feel tired to the point of exhaustion.

I've had hashimotos for 12 years, currently taking 175mg. I found that dietary changes have really helped me. I stopped eating gluten almost 2 years ago, which helped me shift some weight that wouldn't go, and has definitely helped with the brain fuzz... Hair and nail condition is quite up and down though.

I was diagnosed 15 years ago and am currently on 150 mg Levothyroxine. My energy levels do vary, but it’s better than pre-medication. My weight is fine, but my hair gets dry.

I ask for a blood test every six months as I’ve realized that my medication needs to be tweaked from time to time. I started off on 50mg and it definitely wasn’t enough.

Lots of GPs seem to believe that your TSH needs to be below 5.3. This is a misreading of the guidance. Healthy people can have TSH up to that. However, once you've been diagnosed with Hashimoto's and put on levothyroxine, your levels should ideally be around 1.0.

I feel shit at anything over 2. I have to hassle my docs quite a lot as left to their own devices, they'd only test me once a year, if that (getting tested every six months the last 2 years and I've required a progressively higher dose each time).

I think most doctors have absolutely fuck all idea of how much impact under-medicated thyroid has on your quality of life.

Is that written down anywhere I can show a GP @Gettingannoyednow ? My TSH nearly 4!

@PinotAndPlaydough I've been medicated since 2020 - on 50mg initially which made me feel better, but crashed again after 6 months and now on 75mg and no I don't feel great - see levels above... but I also discovered I'm deficient in iron, folate and B12, so trying to sort these too (and again no one seems to care)

My understanding is that levothyroxine is synthetic and very much a ‘trial and error’ to get levels right. There are side effects to taking too much but blood levels aren’t always accurate due to the synthetic nature. My levels show I should take 75mg but I really didn’t feel better. My doctor agreed to me taking 100mg and it’s made a massive difference

While you're waiting for doctors to sort you out, get some selenium. It helps your body convert T4 to T3, which is a more active form of thyroxine and helps energy levels. You can find it as a supplement in health food shops, and in Brazil nuts.