hi can anyone please tell me can you sort your thyroid out naturally. i started on levothyroxine 1 week ago and feel worse than i did before

[bluedeb]

hi can anyone please tell me can you sort your thyroid out naturally. i started on levothyroxine 1 week ago and feel worse than i did before i started it.i have been having pains in my joints for over 1 year been to rhemotology had loads of blood test xray then my eyelid swelled a couple of weeks ago went to opthamology who had my thyroid tested my results came back as TSH 5.0,F4 10,F3 was normal but my thyroid peroxide antibodies is 395.dr said start on 25 then a couple of days later he said take 50mg please can anyone help fed up i exercise all the time been for a sauna today as i aws told thats good for your thyroid also booked in to have acupuncture tommorow i live in huddersfieldthanks

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome bluedeb

I am sorry you are feeling so bad at present and it is probably due to you not yet being on optimum medication. You do have to start gradually and work upwards and it may take quite a few weeks. I, too, like you experienced worse clinical symptoms when newly on levothyroxine.

Our bodies need levothyroxine which all GP's have been told it is what they should prescribe and many do o.k. on it.

One of the doctors who treated, privately, patients with thyroid gland problems did say that excessive exercise can make us feel worse or sometimes is the cause. Do you exercise because you may have gained weight? Weight gain is a clinical symptom which can happen before diagnosis.

Always get a copy/print-out of your blood test results for your own records, with the ranges (these are important as labs differ and it makes it easier to comment). Also get your GP to check your vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate as sometimes the first two are low and iron is needed to convert T4 into enough T3. T3 is the active hormone which enables our bodies to function properly.

Levothyroxine is a synthetic hormone and there is a natural thyroid gland hormone called Natural Dessicated Thyroid Hormone but you would have to go privately as the NHS rarely prescribes it. You would have to make sure the doctor will prescribe if you should go private and you would have to pay for your medication.

When you have your next blood test, post your results for comments.

[Duchy82]

Ive never heard of any way of treating hypothyroidism naturally there are supplements that can boost it such nutrithyroid and natural dessicated thyroid as alternative to levo, but nothing to solve its shutdown permanently that does not involve hormone replacement.

Can i suggest to give the levo a chance you've only been on it for a week and hormones are slow acting it wont be pop 1 pill and feel instantly better. You want to increase your levo so that your tsh is around 1. Also ask the doc to check your B12, iron, folate and vit d the chances are that you will be low in at least one of them and they can give similar symptoms to hypo including joint pain.

Sorry to disappoint someone else might prove me wrong.

[bluedeb in reply to Duchy82]

thankyou for your reply and yes i am low on vit d dr told me to get a supplement which i have what happens to your thyroid when taken tablets does it stop working?.i havnt put on any weight yet fingers crossed it seems like now i have been told this everyone i speak to us on tablets for it even my dr is on it. do you think you should take a good multi vitamin as well

[Duchy82 in reply to bluedeb]

With a tsh of 5 it shows your thyroid is already struggling to make enough thyroid hormone by itself which causes a lot of symptoms such as the ones you described and lots more have a look on the thyroid uk website for an extensive list, eventually it is possible for you thyroid could completely pack in or function below what your body needs thyroid hormone wise without any thyroxine replacement. worse case scenario allthough rare would be coma as your body shuts down without any thyroid hormone.

With thyroxine replacement your thyroid will be signalled by your pituitary to make less thyroid hormone itself but hopefully eventually the thyroid replacement which ever form it takes should be enough to make the symptoms go away.

I wouldnt just stop my tablets one because i would start feeling increadibly ill my symptoms before diagnosis Were severe headaches, weight gain, constantly feeling cold, joint pain, pins and needles, extreme tiredness, extremely dry skin and hairloss and i dont ever want to go back to that. I do take a lot more levo though but it took about a 1.5-2yrs to get to my current dose of 200mcg but im symptom free and lost 3st of weight so im living proof that levothyroxine can really work and i feel im one of the lucky ones.

its is a more common problem than most people realise so it doesnt surprise me that youve found more and more people hypothyroidism. I would recommend a good multi vit i take centrum. Also be aware as this is a treatment for life you are entitled to a medical exemption certificate so you dont need to pay for your prescription. Give the levo a chance i might get a little worse but it can definitely get better. Its not uncommon for symptoms to get a bit worse before they improve.

[Jow11]

I felt much worse on thyroxine as well. I was then prescribed Armour, still felt worse. Then I was told to return to thyroxine , again felt so bad I could barely get out of bed. Then a little T3 was added to the T4. I felt marginally better. It was only when I stopped thyroxine and went on T3 only, starting from a very small dose of 2.5 mg that I started to feel well.

[Hidden]

It's not usual to increase so quickly.

Generally, you would be on 25mcg for 4-6 weeks, then back for another blood test to see if you need to increase.

If it was me, I would go back and discuss maybe dropping back to 25, or perhaps 25/50 alternate days.

It was a 50% increase after all, even though it is still a small dose.

Can you explain how you are feeling since taking it...?

Thanks

L

x

[silverfox7]

Lots of good advice already given and different ways of addressing the problem. Just be aware we are all different and what suits one may not work so well for another so it can take time to find what suits you best. It's not like a head ache pill that you start to feel better within a short time. Keep posting what is happening to you, how you feel and any blood results plus ranges as labs often differ. There are plenty of us able to help you along the way.

[Hidden]

Apparently stem cell research shows it can be done but we will never have access to that in UK. The most natural way i think is to use natural dessicated thyroid since it contains all you need, rather than the synthetic levo

[cloud1]

Have u heard of the v informative,excellent book 'Hashimotos thyroiditis;Lifestyle Interventions for finding and treating the ROOT CAUSE' by Izabella Wentz?shes a pharmacist that successfully treated her own Hashimotos hypothyroid.By the way,have u investigated your adrenals;if they're not working well the thyroid med will make u feel worse.