Levothyroxine

[jayG]

was prescribed Levothyroxine 50mg on wenesday took one,woke up with a pain in right thigh muscle like l had been kicked by a horse,felt a bit out of sorts all day and terrible nights sleep.phoned doc who advised me to take half a tablet.wonderd if anyone else had similar promblem.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Sounds like the cramp I get - horrendous and SO painful - even hurts next day. I think I have felt better since I had an increase in my thyroxine - I was on 50mcg from February until April when i went on to 75mcg then i could feel myself getting cold and sluggish etc so had a blood test, got a bit more levo and nowI alternate between 75mcg and 100 mcg. I sleep with two hot water bottles to keep my muscles warm and have started on Fever Tree tonic water. I haven't been able to work out what is going to cause the cramps. I get them in my thighs, my calves and most recently in my ankle and foot - that was very strange. I have always been prone to getting cramp but this feels different to how it used to be and is also much more frequent.

So to answer your question, yes I have a similar problem as do a lot of others in TUK but I'm afraid I'm not much help as to how to sort it.

Liz

[jayG]

Wish it was cramp like but no i could move the leg.but will try some warmth on it to see if it helps.l thought i was going through the change,then the doc told me i had underactive thyroid,still getting my head round how it will effect my life.jayG.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to jayG]

Horrible. Hope your half tablet works and you get sorted out soon - or someone else comes along with a better suggestion.

Liz

[Hidden in reply to jayG]

did you have cramps before the thyroxine was prescribed ??

[jayG in reply to Hidden]

No.But was taking an iron tablet,but have stopped all medication now til i can see my doc and find out more.,

[astroscopesuk in reply to jayG]

hello jay g,,

since i was diagnosed with an under active thyroid,, my hip and knee suffered terribly,i had a bursitis in both areas and i can hardly walk now. Walking is a huge part of my job and i have been on two weeks sick as i have to walk with a stick now as i am in so much pain. I am going through the change too and i am wondering if all this is under active thyroid problems or a reaction to levothryoxine,,?

[helvella Administrator]

Is your doctor quite sure there is nothing else going on?

Thyroid hormones have quite an impact on blood clotting. I can't help wondering if you had some sort of clot:

nhs.uk/Conditions/Deep-vein...

Rod

[Jayne22 in reply to helvella]

Hi Rod

Where can I find out more about the link between these 2? I'm hypo, on 200mcg thyroxine and have high cardiolipin antibodies which makes me more likely to have clots. Two DVTs in 20 years and last 2 years getting terribly painful cramps in calves and feet at night.

Thanks

Jayne

[helvella Administrator in reply to Jayne22]

I don't know where other than research papers and similar:

Lipid metabolism

Free fatty acids are the main fuel of the thyroid cell and they may be completely oxidized. Sufficient endogenous substrate is present to sustain respiration for several hours during in vitro incubation of thyroid slices (205) (206) (207). Studies on localization of lipids in human thyroids have shown that small amounts are only present in goitres from thyrotoxic patients, but that appreciable amounts are present in the normal human thyroid i.e. phospholipids, cholesterol and gangliosides: 5.2, 4.3 and 0.12 mmol/kg fresh tissue. C-cells contain most abundantly phospholipids. The human thyroid contains phospholipids in the proportion: phosphatidylcholine (41.8%), phosphathidylethanolamine (26.9%), phosphathidylserine (10.4%), phosphathidylinositol (4.4%), cardiolipin (3.4%), sphyngomyelin (12.4%) (208) (209) (210). TSH enhances the incorporation of precursors into most phospholipids. The effect is believed to reflect a direct stimulation of synthesis of phospholipids. However, as TSH also stimulates phospholipid degradation, increased phospholipids synthesis under the influence of TSH could correspond in part to this accelerated turnover rather than to an accumulation ? 123 ? . TSH also stimulates incorporation of inositol into phosphoinositides in a glucose free system. TSH specifically enhances synthesis of phosphatidic acid from glycerophosphate after in vivo administration (211) (212).

thyroidmanager.org/chapter/...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/818...

Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 1994 Mar;40(3):329-33.

Anti-cardiolipin antibodies in autoimmune thyroid diseases

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/818...

Rod

[Jayne22 in reply to helvella]

Thanks Rod

More to ask the haematologist I'm seeing in a couple of weeks time.

Jaynex

[jayG in reply to helvella]

That was 1st thing i was also born with a tumour on my pituatry gland.got to have blood test 4 prolactin levels.stopped all medication and hoping i don't drop dead!LOL.

[sickmate]

Did you get this sorted? As I have had this sympton + more! Interested to know how it cleared up