stopping thryroid medicine?

Our lab is in her senior years now and struggles with not only arthritis & struggles to get around but other medical issues also.  She had been prescribed soloxine about 3-4 years ago and at that time we didn't know all there was to know about her condition or the medicine.  She now has such a difficult time getting into the car, it is very painful for her on top of her bladder control issues (she weighs 105 lbs.) and having to take her to the vet every couple of months for monitoring her thryroid is way to hard.   The vet can't just give us a refill unless we bring her even though her number has never changed.  She is on .3 mg, my question is if we stop the medicine, what would be the potential side effects??

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

She should really continue with the medication, thou .3mg is a VERY low dose for a dog of 105 pounds!  Without the replacement therapy she will become hypothyroid again, which can cause lethargy, hair loss, depression, etc.

Most stable hypothyroid patients only require a thyroid blood profile once per year, unless they are having problems.  

You could ask your vet in a diplomatic way, to take her age and multiple problems into consideration and request that the bloodwork for the thyroid condition only be performed once a year, and only more frequently if she has problems that are thyroid related.  The other problems that she has may require more frequent evaluation, of course.