Is it possible to quit levothyroxine after 3 years of taking it? I mean, is there any chance for my HPT axis to start working again, and producing thyroxine after that long period of taking this drug? I have doubts if I should be treated further by my doc or find another. He had prescribed me euthyrox because of my slightly elevated TSH (5 mU/l) but to be honest I don’t feel any difference after restoring TSH. Now I am on 137 mcg, and my TSH is about 1 mU/l
I don’t really have enough information here.
Did you have any symptoms of hypothyroidism at the time when your TSH was 5? Was it repeated, and/or was your free T4 checked at the time?
If you had no signs or symptoms of hypothyroidism, that would be classified as “subclinical hypothyroidism” – which does not require (or even benefit from) treatment until/unless the TSH rises above 10.
If you didn’t actually need treatment, it may be possible to come off the medication – with that said, 137 mcg is a pretty decent dose, and you may need some supervision/monitoring to taper off of it if you don’t actually need it. I can’t tell you for certain either way though.
Yep, I had, It was fatigue, depression and dry skin, I still suffer from those symptoms although TSH dropped to 1. mU/l. I also have hashimoto disease but USG of thyroid haven’t shown any signs of damage. My doc did not check my TSH again before prescribing me euthyrox, and T4 also was not checked at the time.
I also suffer from acromegaly (controlled, adenoma was resected, IGF-1 in normal range), I take Octreoride LAR 30mg, in med package insert there is information about possible TSH decrease as a side effect, but in my case it hasn’t affected it. After about 1 year of beeing on octreotide my TSH level shown 5 mU/l. It was my first bad result, earlier TSH was always in range.
The main symptom of hypothyroidism is obesity, but I have never and ever been obesse, on the contrary I was allways skinny. Should I find a doc who would come off the medication and control withdrawal?
This additional information changes things significantly; this is a much more complex situation that should be managed by an endocrinologist (particularly given the acromegaly).
If you are having persistent symptoms, the solution may not be to come off the medication, but rather to look for other possible contributing causes.
Thanks for your replies. Even controlled acromegaly often causes some non specyfic symptoms like depression, fatigue, cognitive dysfunctions, or even mental disorders which could be linked to hypothyroidsm, hypogonadism when TSH or testosterone isn’t in normal range. My endocrynologist said that he don’t know how to help me with these symptoms since my testosterone and TSH and IGF-1 are in normal range. I tried to find evidence that there are any effective interventions in psychiatry and psychotherapy areas that could be succesfully used in endocrine disordes and I found only this Cognitive-behavioral therapy improves the quality of life of patients with acromegaly - PubMed
Some other links confirming what I am talkig about:
These are certainly good things to be thinking about, as well as sleep disorders like sleep apnea and other things that a good primary care doctor should be able to look into to evaluate symptoms of fatigue.
To reiterate, I would not recommend stopping your levothyroxine abruptly.
Could you link me any sources where I can find more information about fatigue and other comorbidities of acromegaly such as depression, mood swings and cognitive dysfunction? I’ve read AACE acromegaly guidelines, unfortunately there was no information about treatment options of those symptoms. I did polysomnography, results were ok.
If I hadn’t been ill from acromegaly, I would go to psychiatrist or psychotherapist for help, but I am affraid that in my case treatment options won’t be effective since my symptoms probably are genereated from organic disease out of scope of psychiatry or psychotherapy treatment options. Given that, there is a risk of wasting time and money, and possiblity of harmful effects.