
Does Increasing The Dosage Of Levothyroxine Facilitate Weight Loss?

Question: Hello, I am a 61 year old male and have gained about 15 pounds in about two months. I eat about 2,000 calories per day. I have been about 165 lb. for years and am very active. I take Levothyroxin at 125 mcg per day. My TSH is 4.330. T4 is 1.50. T3 is 2.5. My family doc says I'm normal. I don't feel normal. I am irritable, tired, and have difficulty concentrating on my work for more than 10 minutes at a time. All other labs came back normal. I have an appointment with an Endocrinologist in mid october. Does it make sense to increase dosage now and see what happens? Thank you.
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Brief Answer:
Increase Levothyroxine on weekends
Detailed Answer:
Good day,
Noted your concern and sorry to hear about your symptoms. It would be better to keep TSH less than 3. I would recommend to increase Levothyroxine to 150 mcg on saturday and sunday ( if you don not have any chest pain or a heart condition) and continue 125 mcg on other days. Besides, it may be good to do a CBC, 8 AM serum cortisol, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D as additional tests to look for causes of tiredness.
If your physical activity is not very itense, it is better to take between 1500 to 1800 calories a day which may facilitate weight loss.
Regards
Binu
Increase Levothyroxine on weekends
Detailed Answer:
Good day,
Noted your concern and sorry to hear about your symptoms. It would be better to keep TSH less than 3. I would recommend to increase Levothyroxine to 150 mcg on saturday and sunday ( if you don not have any chest pain or a heart condition) and continue 125 mcg on other days. Besides, it may be good to do a CBC, 8 AM serum cortisol, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D as additional tests to look for causes of tiredness.
If your physical activity is not very itense, it is better to take between 1500 to 1800 calories a day which may facilitate weight loss.
Regards
Binu
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

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