getting off levothyroxine

[rabbitmt]

That's my question....should I taper off the dosage and for how many days ? I've been on
.025 tabs. Side effects from this drug are not nice. Recent thyroid test shows normal thyroid now.
I previously was a little hypothyroid.  

[Kristina538]

How long have you been on .025mcg for?   I had trouble and had to take a half dose and slowly build up to .025mcg.  I may have been allergic to the fillers, but desparately needed the hormone so perservered.  

Also, 'normal' may not be your normal, as 'normal' is a wide range, within which many people still feel uncomfortable.    I wouldn't go off the meds without your doctor's supervision but if you feel shaky, hot flushes, digestive complaints - as though the tablets have given you a jolt, you may want to check with him whether you can do a half dose every other day until your body adjusts.

Also, the hypo symptoms continue while you're taking the meds, so you get a 'double wammy' of strange symptoms applicable to both hyper and hypo until it levels out over weeks (the meds are accummulative).  Good luck.

[Barb135]

One doesn't go off thyroid medication, just because labs are "normal". The labs are in the normal range, "because" of the medication.  If you go off, you will go back to hypo again.

Levothyroxine basically has no side effects because it's identical to the hormone your body would produce if it could. Some people have reaction to the fillers/binders, or the dyes, but most often "side effects" are simply symptoms of still being hypo.  It's not unusual for patients to report worsening symptoms, for a time, after starting medication.