Hi
@Katey14064 and thanks for the tag,
@catapillar .
I'm on Levothyroxine and have been since having my thyroid gland zapped with radioiodine after suffering Graves' thyrotoxicosis 15 years ago. I produce absolutely none of my own since then. Like the diabetes it's a bit of a balancing act, but not in such an
immediate fashion (it takes a while for medication changes to take effect, not like the glucose/insulin rollercoaster we deal with on a daily basis).
It's important to get the dose right. This is why:
As you perhaps are already experiencing, an underactive (or undermedicated) thyroid can have symptoms - among others - such as feeling cold, sluggish, fatigued, weight gain, hair loss and depression. Conversely an overactive (or indeed overmedicated!) thyroid can give you hot flushes, excessive energy (mania, in my case), palpitations and/or very very fast heart rate, increased hunger, weight loss, and in extreme cases full-blown psychosis.
It's great that they've picked it up. There is a whole condition called - ironically - '
subclinical hypothyroid' which in my opinion is a 'hmmm, you have an underactive thyroid, and we know that, but we are not going to treat it'. I have friends with this, and it breaks my heart, because they are really struggling without thyroxine.
I am tested regularly, and the things they look at most closely with my tests are TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone, which is produced by the pituitary gland, and is high if you are not producing - or taking - enough thyroxine), and T4 ('free thyroxine'). I feel my best when my TSH is very low and my T4 is right up at the high end of the ideal range.
I had a big blip last year when I was not absorbing the medication, and then when goalposts were moved I was unintentionally massively overmedicated and I totally lost my even keel (in psych terms, I mean).......... All well now, I feel, but I'm due another test to make sure. This blip was a curveball and was simply down to me taking the tablets wrongly (you need to take them on an empty stomach - I was taking mine with my daily cod liver oil and other tablets - oooops.
As far as diabetes control is concerned I don't notice massive changes from being on thyroxine.
I am pleased to hear that you have been told you are 'borderline' hypothyroid, as this may well mean you need the support of a fairly small dose of thyroxine.
There are other thyroid hormones which are important but which have never been flagged up for me as being out of range - I gather T3 is an important part of the equation for some, as it is that which converts thyroxine to T4. I don't know much about T3 but I know it's an issue for some on here.
I think
@ewelina and
@ickihun are on thyroxine too.
Sorry for the long-winded post - hope it is helpful!