DH just diagnosed with underactive thyroid, meds for life. what do we need to know?

[gigglewitch]

well just that really. Actually we thought he might be diabetic so I suppose in many ways we should be counting our blessings.

He is entitled to free prescriptions for life

ok, well that will help

Is he seeing an endocrinologist?

To be honest, there isn't really much to do apart from getting blood checked regularly (every couple of months at the beginning) and take the correct dose of thyroxine.

It takes a while for the endocrinologist to figure out the right dose. There's a fair bitof to-ing and fro-ing with the thyroxine meds til you get there. (It took me about 7-8 months before my thyroid levels were sorted out.)

Please ask if there's anything else.

Have so say I felt so much better after being on the thryoxine so it was a relief to get diagnosed.

I have this too. Don't do the generic meds. The name brand works MUCH better.

thank you As things are at the moment, they can honestly only get better. Wondering whether he will feel a bit better for starting on the meds, they reckon that he will start on a low dose and then go up to somewhere close to the "maximum" - whatever that might mean. He's quite a big chap if that makes any difference.

gigglwitch, bmi does make a difference to the amount of dose you need. It also depends how underactive he is. Nothing to be scared of though- they will work out his dose and he will feel fine. Jabberwocky - what do you mean about the different meds ? I thought thyroxine was thyroxine. Which is the branded one ?

Hope he feels better soon, if he's been feeling very tired, it should start to get better - if only a little in the beginning.

It all depends on what his TSH level.is right now. They need to get his TSH level down to about 2 or under.

It's usual to start on a low dose such as 25 or 50 mcg of thyroxine for 6 weeks and then see how his TSH drops in that time. They will then up the medication and keep checking til his TSH gets to below 2.

I have this also. I take 175mg thyroxine every day.
The free prescription thing applies to ALL items on your prescription. I have 9 things on mine. All free.

Apart from that, nothing to tell.

well thank you all, I feel a bit wiser and a good deal reassured

It can take a while to feel better.

An underactive thyroid can lead to cognitive difficulties such as poor memory, inability to concentration, tiredness, and to this end is covered under the employment Disabilities Act. To this end they have to make reasonable allowances at work for him. I'm not sure what this means in general but for me I am meeting with the disabilities advisor to help me tackle things like memory issues.

wow - is it really covered under the Disabilities Act?? I was diagnosed when i was 11, which apparantly was unusual, as too old to have had it from birth, but younger than when it normally occurs. I have the associated tired/concentration/memory problems, but always put that down to my depression!

After my dose has gradually increased over the years, I am now on 250mg a day. My previous GP did say that i could get away with 225, but he could see (as could I) that i felt a lot better on the slightly higher dose. So what i would say is as well as listening to the docs re getting your dose right, also get your DH to listen to himself - ie. he should be able to feel better in himself at 'his' correct dose.

The free prescriptions is a big help - just pick up an exemption form from the GP, he/she needs to sign it and your DH will receive a little exemption card, about the same size as a credit card.

Hope he feels better soon