Treatment for Hypothyroidism

Aquals

Hi,

I know there are many threads here about hypothyroidism, but my question here is about people's experiences of the treatment, as opposed to the disease!

I have just started on Eltroxin last week after being diagnosed with underactive thyroid, and have noticed an improvement in some of my symptoms already. For example, I can't believe how much warmer my hands feel now!

My main concern is to do with the fatigue I've been feeling though. How soon after people started treatment, did they notice an improvement in this? I think my energy levels have improved slightly in the last week (difficult to tell for sure!), but really can't wait for them to get back to being fully normal!

So any comments on your own experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks!

cyning

Eltroxin takes 6 weeks to build up properly in your system afaik! So I guess give it a couple of weeks. The thing with hypothyroidism is it can take awhile to get levels of medication right. I consider myself an extreme case (cuz I am ) but I have a number of family members on Eltroxin who are flying on it. No issues they are the same as anyone normal!!

Good luck with it and make sure you learn to read your own blood tests, and get copies of them aswell (or just keep a note of them if your not comfortable asking your GP for copies!)

cltt97

When I first started on Eltroxin and things were good then I felt fantastic and full of energy for about two weeks, then things started getting worse again, then I uped the dose and again things felt great and after a while again a decline, so overall for me it was a rollercoaster with an overall upward trend, at some stage I plateaued and then I started having problems, but that's a whole different story. But overall, as the previous poster said, in the beginning blood tests every 6 weeks or so to adjust your meds and you might epxperience a rush that ebbs off again but comes back once you increase the dose... Hope it all works out for you! Good luck!

Aquals

Thanks for the replies - really appreciate hearing about your experiences!

I actually know all about keeping an eye on your blood test results yourself already! When I initially went to my GP with several symptoms of hypothyroidism, my TSH levels were measured as 2.6, but thyroid antibodies were 300 (when the normal range is 0-50).

To cut a long story short, GP sent me to consultant because she thought I may benefit from low dose thyroxine, given my symptoms, famiy history of hypothyroid and the high antibody levels. Consultant said no, she wouldnt treat because TSH levels were normal.

6 months later, TSH levels are up to 3.5 and symptoms are as bad as ever. Went back to consultant who again said no, not going to treat because TSH levels are normal. This time I made my case to her and told her that the tiredness was taking over my life and that extensive testing shows up no other medical conditions. And then finally, success....consultant agrees to prescribe 50ug eltroxin because theres a small chance (according to her) that it will work (or more likely that shes afraid I'll come back again if she doesnt try me out on the medication)!

Am really hoping I can prove her skepticism wrong and that the medication will work. From what I've been reading, it seems even low enough TSH levels like mine can cause significant symptoms. Maybe because my TSH levels are close enough to normal, the medication may begin to improve the symptoms quicker than in someone with levels of 20, 30, 40, 50 etc.

Is there anyone else here who was diagnosed as hypothyroid with TSH levels below 5 like me?