# Starting Dose of Synthroid (Sub-Clinical Hypothyroidism)?



## Zugora (Feb 14, 2010)

Hello -
My doctor believes that there might be a sub-clinical hypothyroid thing going on with me, considering symptoms, strong family history, and thorough testing of other things that were ruled out. I recently gave me *50 mcg* (.05 mg) of Synthroid to start which I haven't taken yet.
*
Based on anyone's experience, do you think this a good starting dose for someone who is maybe sub-clinical? * I tend to be sensitive to medication.

BTW, my levels were considered "normal" with the following:

TSH: 1.99 (range: .27-4.2)
FT4: 1.15 (range: .85-1.71)
Anti-TPO: "normal" <10.0 (<35)
Thyroglob AB: "normal" <20 (<40)
ANA Antibodies: POSITIVE one time, NEGATIVE the next (major autoimmune disease tests came back negative, though).

Thank you for your insight!


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## desrtbloom (May 23, 2010)

Hi!

Do you have any symptoms? Why were you checked for thyroid? Is your doc an endocrinologist or?

Patti


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## Zugora (Feb 14, 2010)

Hi Patti,
The symptoms are as follows:

- Strong family history of hypothyroidism/Hashimoto's (mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, aunt's daughters)
- Severe cold intolerance (Raynaud's, always cold/pain in legs) - getting worse
- low blood pressure (86/50-ish)
- low body temp (ave. basal body temperature is 96.5 [armpit] & 97.3 [oral])
- fatigue, foggy, low energy
- depression/anxiety
- arms/hands tingling, numbness (arms just feel weird at times, sorta achey)
- diagnosed with chronic dry eyes
- dry hair
- irregular periods/PCOS
- low libido

The doctor is a D.O. (not an endo) and has run every test under the sun (including an MRI of my head) to figure out why I am feeling this way. He has been very thorough, which I am thankful for. Everything has come back in "normal" range, except for ANA anti-bodies (positive in one test, then a few months later: negative). All other auto-immune disease tests came back negative. If everything came back "normal" (which they did) he said we would try a low dose of thyroid medication to see if symptoms improve.


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## arizonamom (Mar 10, 2010)

Zugora said:


> Hello -
> My doctor believes that there might be a sub-clinical hypothyroid thing going on with me, considering symptoms, strong family history, and thorough testing of other things that were ruled out. I recently gave me *50 mcg* (.05 mg) of Synthroid to start which I haven't taken yet.
> *
> Based on anyone's experience, do you think this a good starting dose for someone who is maybe sub-clinical? * I tend to be sensitive to medication.
> ...


Did your doctor not check your FreeT3? You really need to have that checked at the same time your FreeT4 is done. Although your TSH is in the "normal" range, many people feel better around 1.0 or a little lower.

Check on that FreeT3. Maybe it's on your lab results page and you just missed it.

I am currently on 50mcgs of Levoxyl but was started on 25mcgs at the beginning of all my thyroid issues. We all respond differently to thyroid meds and doses, so you may just have to see how you feel in a few weeks to know if that dose is too high or too low (it's not a very high dosage tho).


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## Zugora (Feb 14, 2010)

arizonamom said:


> Did your doctor not check your FreeT3? You really need to have that checked at the same time your FreeT4 is done. Although your TSH is in the "normal" range, many people feel better around 1.0 or a little lower.
> 
> Check on that FreeT3. Maybe it's on your lab results page and you just missed it.
> 
> I am currently on 50mcgs of Levoxyl but was started on 25mcgs at the beginning of all my thyroid issues. We all respond differently to thyroid meds and doses, so you may just have to see how you feel in a few weeks to know if that dose is too high or too low (it's not a very high dosage tho).


Thanks, arizonamom. Yes, I did have FT3 tested ("normal", too), but unfortunately, I can't find the lab result for this.


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## GD Women (Mar 5, 2007)

I personally wouldn't take thyroid medication with levels like yours. And I definitely think the lowest med. dose should be taken first then upped as levels require. 25 mcg or 25 mcg cut in half to 12 mcg. I mean yiour levels are there as it is. Wish mine was as good.

Thyroid medication doesn't necessarily always cure the symptoms. In fact they just might cause more.

A lot of us have found that treating each and as many symptoms as possible, separately from thyroid helps more in the long run. But of course we are not all alike.

FT-3 test isn't usually useful when suspecting hypothyroid, only when suspecting hyperthyroid. But people like to have it done regardless.

Good luck with it all anyway.


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## Zugora (Feb 14, 2010)

GD Women said:


> I personally wouldn't take thyroid medication with levels like yours. And I definitely think the lowest med. dose should be taken first then upped as levels require. 25 mcg or 25 mcg cut in half to 12 mcg. I mean yiour levels are there as it is. Wish mine was as good.
> 
> Thyroid medication doesn't necessarily always cure the symptoms. In fact they just might cause more.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your response. I am at my wits end and feel horrible, so I am willing to give the medication a shot. I think I will try 12.5 mcg at first for a few weeks and start slow. Do you know if you can cut the tablet? My doc gave me 50mcg tablets.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Zugora said:


> Thanks for your response. I am at my wits end and feel horrible, so I am willing to give the medication a shot. I think I will try 12.5 mcg at first for a few weeks and start slow. Do you know if you can cut the tablet? My doc gave me 50mcg tablets.


As far as cutting tablets I do it all the time. Cut them one at a time to try and get the entire dose in you rather than cutting up several and letting all the bits and pieces mix up.

Levothyroxine has a longer 1/2 life so you may be fine taking 1/2 a 50mcg pill every other day which will give you the same effect as taking 12.5mcg every day. With levothyroxine you can skip doses to make an average weekly dose - does this make sense?


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