Hia, I need some advice, I have been taking 75mg of levothoroxine for over 10 yrs and stopped taking 2 weeks before Christmas last year.

[steffizere]

I stopped simply because of body and joint pain and also shortness of breath. A few other symptoms which I feel are down to the medication. Pain especially in my hands and feet and legs and right shoulder, may I add I was not able to lift or take my arm back behind me without excruciating pain, it simply stopped working altogether. I simply could not get out bed in the morning it was so painful all over. Since stopping the medication I have no pain, my shoulder works again and strangely I do not not get out of breath as before, I am still tired to exhaustion, but must admit no worse than I felt when on the medication. I feel Levo has done me no favours at all and made me so unwell. I do feel better without it. What should I do and what problems will I face if I am not medicated. I do not want and will not take Levo again, I read I am at risk of heart attack and stroke without treatments? I would like to try Lyothoroxine but my doctor wont give me it. I am concerned for my over all health. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[Parbrook]

A good place to start before anyone gives advice is to post your Thyroid blood test results.

[Clutter]

I had a similar experience and all my symptoms cleared when I came off Levthyroxine for 4 weeks in Nov.

As I hoped, it had the effect of detoxing what I think had been 18 months of over replacement. I was able to resume taking Levo with fewer side effects and found the addition of T3 (Liothyronine) calmed the T4 and stopped palpitations and shortness of breath.

Try again to persuade your GP to prescribe 75mcg T4 + 20mcg T3.

I'm sending you a personal message about online sourcing.

[shaws Administrator]

Here is a link:-

web.archive.org/web/2010073....

You can get more serious problems if you stop taking thyroid gland medication but there are alternatives, if only your GP would let you trial.

I can understand the pain you are having as I was the same whilst on levo. I didn't at first think it was the meds but eventually I found it was.

The above link says that when on 'replacement' that is kept within range we get problems. Some doctor's don't prescribe enough to alleviate our symptoms thus they are exacerbated.

Go back to your GP, tell him you have stopped and why and ask for a new blood test, including T3 (lab probably wont do it). Get a copy of your tests, including the ranges, and post on a new question.

Dr Toft of the BTA has posted an article in Pulse online which says how low your TSH can be plus it can be suppressed if it makes you feel better, plus the addition of some T3. Maybe your GP will take notice of this and you can get a copy if required.

I fully understand why you have stopped your meds.

[Hidden]

Hi steffizere & welcome!

It is not a good idea to stop your medication without consulting your GP first. You probably won't feel the full effects until at least 6-8 weeks as it takes this long to get out of your system - please post your recent blood levels TSH, FT4 FT3 for others to help. Yes there are alternatives to Levo, but GPs will rarely prescribe them - have you seen an Endo?

To me your shoulder symptoms sound like my frozen shoulders when I had hyper symptoms - so you could have been over medicated, have conversion problems, or even low vitamins/minerals - iron, B12 can cause shortness of breath, Vit D joint pain etc. or some other underlying problem.

here is a similar question & discussion which may help, best wishes Jane

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Ldepluzer]

I experienced the same , I was then told I had fibromyalgia ! I came off levo and all the pain went , I am now in armour and I feel great , wishing you luck with your recovery x

[Jackie]

Hi You can suddenly develop an allergy to a drug. if you have heart problems ,you should be under a good Endo.

When on the Levo, or now, have you had all the other tests? it sounds to me like you need, for thyroid TSH, T4 and Free T3, also for thyroid, iron/ferritin and B12 + foliates, low in these can cause shortness of breath. Also vit D, hormonal, if treatment needed a calcium test first. This can often cause aches etc. Also with thyroid disease, you need an annual Diabetes test and cholesterol test. Thyroid disease under treated can cause high cholesterol.

It is possible you would be better on the second choice from levo, which is armour etc, or levo + T3. It all depends on the bloods. t3 only is a last resort.

Best wishes,

Jackie

[crimple]

Which brand of levo were you taking? There seem to have been issues with Mercury Pharma and they seem to be only ones who do 25mcg tablets. I would try with 50 mcg tablets(not Mercury) and cut a 50mcg in half to get the 75mcg dose! I have been better on 100mcg rather than alternate 75mcg / 100mcg

[marmaris in reply to crimple]

Hi crimple what is the problem with mercury pharma? I was taking actavis before now mercury pharma.

[crimple in reply to marmaris]

the fillers are an issue and last autumn when I was told to reduce dosage from 100mcg daily to 75mcg daily I had lots of weird symptoms. Upset stomach, constipation aches and pains etc.Others have posted on here about issues with Mercury

[marmaris in reply to crimple]

I am trying to get Tirosint as I have heard that it does not have fillers.

[smith8577]

I too haven't had much luck on synthroid. I found a dr that wants me to do the Wilson Protocol. Where you track your temps off synthroid every 3 hours when you wake up. Then avg them. If low it shows your not converting t4 to t3. Then dr will put me on armour thyroid. Do you have your free t3 &t4 numbers and Reference Ranges?