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@fionalauren
I hear you about having a hard time trusting doctors. I have had some really bad experiences.
I do believe they can go even lower on the levothyroxine level. There are 13 mcg capsules. https://www.goodrx.com/levothyroxine/dosage
One thing to keep in mind is that your heart may have been really struggling after surgery. There are times it can cause symptoms of hyperthyroidism and make heart race then switch to hypothyroidism. Your symptoms that made you go to the ER and feeling ill in the early stages of taking levothyroxine may not necessarily be only due to the medication. It took me months to stabilize on the right levothyroxine dosage. Your body may be very sensitive to the change in thyroid hormone levels (increases/drops) so stabilizing is important. I think you may want to try the levothyroxine again at a lower dose (13 mcg) and try to get your TSH below 2.0. You should also check your T3 and T4 levels in the past, in addition to TSH, and compare to what they are now. See if you have lab results for thyroid that go back to a time before you started to not feel well.
1. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-how-the-thyroid-affects-the-heart/
2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/thyroid-hormone-how-it-affects-your-heart
3. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.036859
4. https://www.thyroid.org/patient-thyroid-information/ct-for-patients/november-2024/vol-17-issue-11-p-12-13/
5. https://thyroidresearchjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13044-025-00233-y
6. https://thesurgicalclinics.com/understanding-the-impact-of-thyroid-hormones-on-heart-health-what-patients-need-to-know/
Replies to "@fionalauren I hear you about having a hard time trusting doctors. I have had some really..."
So I now have 3 different opinions from 3 different people on my symptoms.
Two are doctors, one is a thyroid expert.
Functional MD says my thyroid labs are all normal/great even though on the higher end, and that all my symptoms are from low iron. My iron is the best it's been for years though, so this doesn't make sense to me. My ferritin is 28, (it was 19 before surgery and never had symptoms like I do now) he wants it bw 50-100. He advised not to go on thyroid meds, that it will disrupt or suppress my natural thyroid function which is good atm.
Another online thyroid MD wants me to get my TSH to 1.5-2 and take Armor Thyroid, lowest 15mg dose. Third Thyroid expert says all symptoms are Hashimotos and wants me to go on LDN for antibodies. I had been on LDN last year briefly. But my antibodies at present are 389 which has greatly reduced from months prior where they were over 900, so this also makes no sense why I would feel worse when my iron is better and my antibodies are better.
None of them make sense. I realise many people say even if their thyroid labs are normal they don't feel great and feel better on thyroid meds. I don't know if I should try the Armor or not now. Why do none of the doctor seem to know how to deal with thyroid. Argh.
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thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and include those links.
It has now been a year post surgery and I am still very unwell, even with thyroid levels in 'normal' range. I just compared bloods from now to right before surgery. My TSH level then was actually low, which indicates hyperthyrodism I believe. From memory I was told I was subclinical hypo, as a hyper stage usually precedes hypo:
TSH 0.41 L
T4 15.7
T3 3.8.
I have an appointment today with an online thyroid MD and as had been suggested previously by functional medicine doctors I may try start on Armor Thyroid, so a combination T3 + T4. I don't believe the numbers are really indicative of how one feels but I know I feel awful and non stop dizzy. I hear you on the heart symptoms but they have been coming and going now for the past year. The levothyroxine definately exacerbated them to the point it felt like impending heart attack, so I am not willing to try that medication again. Surprised though you mention it can be taken at a lower dose, as I was told 25mcg was the lowest.