[krissy]

Hello, I am new to the board (joined about a month ago)

I had my TSH levels checked and they came back at 10...

My GP put me on Synthroid 50mcg...I had my levels retested after taking the meds for 3 weeks, and my levels went from 10 down to 8.....

I was referred to an Endocrinologist due to a goiter on my thyroid, he checked my Thyroglobulin (sp?) Antibiodies... my levels for that were 140.... Not sure what to think of that because anything less than 20 is considered normal, and I'm pretty far above that. The IVF docs are telling me that they want my TSH levels between .5 and 2 in order to start the IVF process. That's going to take months isn't it?? I have never had thyroid problems until now. (that I know of) I have 3 children, my oldest is 16 1/2, my middle child is 11 and my youngest is 9. If there is any advice anyone can give me on this I would greatly appreciate it... TIA~~

~Kris~

[HopefulinCO]

Hi!

I don't think there's any real time frame you can put your finger on as far as correcting your values. I don't have Hashimoto's - just subclinical hypothyroidism, but for example, before starting IVF I was at 50 mcg/day. When I started the meds I had my levels checked again and they'd gone up a little, to 2.3, so I went up to 75 mcg/day (a 50% increase), which brought them back down to 1.4. When I got my BFP they rechecked again and they were 2.8 so we increased my dose by 50% again and my TSH went down to 0.28! So one 50 % increase in meds brought my TSH down by less than 1/2 while the next dose increase brought my levels down 10-fold. That's a huge difference. My guess is that now that they know how your body responds to dose changes, they may try to change more quickly.

Are you taking the brand name Synthroid or the generaic? Both my OB and my endocrinologist said that this is one med where you wouldn't want to use generic. I'm on Levoxyl (per my endocrinologist) and it's a lot less expensive than Synthroid through my insurance but still gives reliable results.

Good luck!

[krissy]

Thank you Hopeful, for your advice, it gives me some hope to know that that the levels don't take forever to go down. I've just heard that taking Cytomel instead of Synthroid gives faster results in lowering the levels as well.... Not sure...

Oh, and I do take the brand name Synthroid 50mcg..... It only costs $14.88 a month....which isn't bad.

Thanks again!

~Kris~