# How long to reverse overmedication



## melissafitz (May 5, 2013)

Hi everyone,

I had a TT 3 years ago. Started out at 150 mcg of levothyroxine, which was too high. My medication was reduced to 137 and I have been stable at that dose for about three years now.

Now, in the past couple weeks, I have been feeling increasingly jittery, jumpy, anxious, irritable, intermittent hand tremor. I feel just like I felt when I was overmedicated at 150. So, I called my doctor and said I thought I needed a blood test to see if my medication needed adjusting.

I got the results this morning. TSH with reflect FT4, FT3 is at 0.36 (reference range 0.3-4.7).

My doctor has instructed me to continue my regular dose, except to take 1/2 a dose once per week. I am supposed to go back for a follow-up blood test in 6 weeks.

I really don't feel good right now. I know I have been through this before, but I can't remember how long it took for me to feel better after decreasing the medication. Does anyone know when it will start to have an effect? The thought of weeks more feeling like this is stressing me out.

Thank you!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Are you saying that the only lab they ran was TSH and it was 0.36? Do they not run FT4 or FT3?


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## melissafitz (May 5, 2013)

Yes, the only lab they ran was labeled "TSH with reflex FT4, FT3" I am not exactly sure what that means?

I saw an endocrinologist after my thyroidectomy, who helped get me at the right level. It was a little hard to get in to see her, and my GP at the time said she was very comfortable with managing thyroid meds. I was stable for so long that it seemed like a pretty easy job and that I didn't really need an endo. My previous GP has since left the practice and I have someone new. We discussed the thyroid issue when I switched, and she also said she was comfortable managing it . . . but I don't know. Maybe I need to go back to the endocrinologist. I definitely don't want to keep feeling the way I've been feeling!


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## creepingdeath (Apr 6, 2014)

Maybe part of your thyroid grew back or a small part was left in and it is starting to put out a little natural hormone.

Your Doc is trying to lower your dose slowly by a small amount. Maybe skipping a day or two would help?

And also maybe an ultrasound is in order too?


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

How do you feel? Not good is somewhat broad.

Do you ever have the FT-4 and FT-3 run? Those 2 labs are best to help dial in your replacement medication because it reflects the free and unbound hormone in your system at time of draw. TSH only makes it somewhat hard to dial in med's.


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## melissafitz (May 5, 2013)

creepingdeath said:


> Maybe part of your thyroid grew back or a small part was left in and it is starting to put out a little natural hormone.
> 
> Your Doc is trying to lower your dose slowly by a small amount. Maybe skipping a day or two would help?
> 
> And also maybe an ultrasound is in order too?


Oh, wow, there is a thought! Yikes. I will talk with my doctor about this . . . thank you.


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## melissafitz (May 5, 2013)

Lovlkn said:


> How do you feel? Not good is somewhat broad.
> 
> Do you ever have the FT-4 and FT-3 run? Those 2 labs are best to help dial in your replacement medication because it reflects the free and unbound hormone in your system at time of draw. TSH only makes it somewhat hard to dial in med's.


I have been feeling increasingly jittery, jumpy, anxious, irritable, intermittent hand tremor. Kind of like I have had too much coffee (though I am down to 1 cup per day from my regular 3 since this started). It feels very much the same as I felt when overmedicated right after my thyroidectomy.

The last time I had Free T4 run was 2 years ago. Since I have been very stable for a while, I guess I haven't kept up with things, and now realize that my newer doctor has only been running TSH, whereas my previous doctor also ran FT4. I have never had FT3. I had been feeling perfectly fine for the past three years until recently. But clearly it is time for me to start looking at this more closely again. Thanks for the info.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

You could try skipping 1 full dose for a day or 2 then ease into the one day 1/2 dose weekly.

I seem to experience seasonal spikes, usually March and if I "feel hyper" I will reduce my cytomel 1/2 dose 1 day weekly which usually solves the issue.


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## Sabrina (Aug 30, 2016)

I am definitely not an expert, I am very new to this. But I think I just went through slight over medication. My initial dose from the hospital right after surgery was 125mcg. At week four I at least stopped feeling like I needed 8-10 hours of sleep a night.

Somewhere on week 5, presumably as the Levothyroxine was still working on stabilizing in my system, my blood pressure and heart rate increased over my lifelong norms significantly. I got jittery, it was hard to sleep or sit still for long periods. My hands, feet and scalp itched like crazy. Exercise, heat, sweating caused me to feel itchy all over, I also got rashes like inside my elbows etc. For a couple of days it felt like my fingers were swelling and I had weird pressure on my nails. I started getting weird "waking dreams," I was wide awake and trying to fall asleep, but I would have a quick dream of something really weird that would seem very real because I was still awake. Like...I lived in a different house or something. It would seem like a toggle between realities.

Anyway, I started seeing a holistic doctor and was able to address it right away. Her directions were to skip one day of the 125 (which had me pretty freaked out but because it was too much it was actually a relief) then my dose was lowered the next day by 25mcg.

I ask for TSH, FT4 and FT3 every time. My endo has no interest in my T3 but I do and they have not had any issue ordering the lab at the same time as the others. My holistic dr also allows any labs I want as well.

Hope you can find a cause and solution soon. I think I only went into mild hyper symptoms briefly but it felt awful. That was two and a half weeks ago and the symptoms I listed have tapered off.


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