Anyone else get crazy hungry after meds reduction?

[puncturedbicycle]

I went along with my gp reducing my meds a few weeks ago. No skin off my nose; I buy and adjust my own t3 anyway, I'm going to see a different doc soon and I felt so ill with all my thyroid results looking pretty good (suppressed tsh, good t3) that I thought there was some possibility I was overmedicated anyway.

Well, not much difference to speak of, except that I can't seem to keep enough food in me. I seem to be hungry even a short time after eating. Had an avocado on toast with salad and assumed a good hit of fat would keep me happy for a while but soon I was wondering what else there was in the cupboard.

I know you can gain weight being undermedicated but I assumed that was from failing to metabolise properly, not from wanting to eat everything in sight.

Anyone else have this as a consequence of reducing meds?

[Helenback]

Hi, sorry I don't know the answer to your problem, but I consider myself under medicated and am hungry, maybe we fell less like doing anything, are bored and eat as a consequence?

Having said that please tell me how you medicate yourself, are you buying meds from somewhere, I almost feel I have to do this myself

[puncturedbicycle in reply to Helenback]

Hi. Deffo not about boredom (I know what that feels like ). It is a physical appetite; even when I'm tired of eating or thinking about what I'm going to eat, my stomach is hungry. I'm staying with family now and am recently gf (again) and finding something to eat is not as easy as it is at home, so it is more of a chore than anything else.

I have been reducing meds for ages. I was really well last year on 125 t4 and 25 t3 for six months, then in Oct suddenly seemed to go v hypo but wasn't able to raise meds (palps). Tweaked it for a couple of months (more of this, less of that etc), then doc worried I was overmedicated so in Dec advised to cut down to 25 t4 and 25 t3 for a few days until we had my test results. Results were good and doc said I could raise everything again but due to palps I never have been able to get meds back up by much, and when I did raise them I felt worse (exhausted) rather than better. All test results look ideal despite reducing meds - suppressed t4, v good t3 (highish in range) but recently found iron, b12 fall dramatically when I stop supplementing.

Last test (Feb) it seemed like I was still on too much so prescribed 50/75 alternating t4 and 25 t3. I'm still on 50 t4 and 25 t3 and trying to figure out if I should raise t3 or t4 to see if I feel better. Still tired but otherwise no big changes. Physically all good - gut working well, no palps, oedema not bad, same heart rate, etc - but still tired. And now v hungry!

[scotchlass340]

Hi iv just been diagnosed but iv had this prob for a long time, now im on meds (levo) im twice as bad, i could eat a 3 course meal and an hour later im so hungry i feel as if i could collapse and im only size 8. Im just learning about all this and defo think I have a metabolism prob but when mentioned it to doc he just shrugged his shoulders! Very interested to read others thoughts on this x

[puncturedbicycle in reply to scotchlass340]

I think with an increase your metabolism can speed up - ? So maybe you need the food and you're just using it better.

Sometimes when hypo you eat less because everything is moving so slowly (and constipation isn't good for the appetite etc), but sometimes hyper can dull appetite too. It's one of those thyroid conundrums.

[SisterWoo in reply to scotchlass340]

Hi, I'd had that hunger - feeling faint problem for many years after being treated with Levothyroxine after a Thyroidectomy it wasn't until years later that the same Endocrinoligist did a test for 'Reactive Hypoglycaemia', which came back positive. After fasting, they give you a drink of glucose, theno check your blood sugar levels every half hour to see if your blood sugar raises then drops normally or abnormally. Mine raised extremely quickly and dropped very low within 2 hrs, whereas, most people's drop over a period of 4 hrs or more. If you're diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycaemia' your advised to eat every 2 to 2 & half hrs., (I have a piece of fruit or oatcakes in between meals to keep my blood sugar from dropping too low), to prevent your blood sugar from dropping too rapidly and causing feelings of faintness and weakness. My doctor didn't do the test until I told him I was waking up in the night regularly feeling hungry and shaky. You might have to ask to be referred to an endocrinologist for this test. (There's general info. on the internet about this condition!) Good luck!

Debbie

[TSH110]

I certainly had it before diagnosis and with medication but to a lesser degree, it stopped but then I was told I was over medicated and the problem returned, until recently when the crazy appetite mysteriously shut off. I had given up wheat and also got a massive bout of depression. All very unfathomable.

[puncturedbicycle in reply to TSH110]

Yes, sounds like a real mystery. Have you recovered from the depression? And do you think you really were overmedicated or just 'nhs overmedicated' if you see what I mean?

[TSH110 in reply to puncturedbicycle]

I was put in antidepressants and Vit D tablets and I feel better I also started taking quarter grain NDT and dropped the levo by 25mcg. That has had excellent result but upping the NDT further is proving to be a rocky road I think I was NHS over medicated cos at one point I felt pretty good on levo but I still did not feel quite right some things like energy levels appetite and waking up were spot on but others like concentration ability to read, confidence wrre not. I was not quite like the old me whereas I do feel I am with the NDT. Perhaps whatever was making me feel hungry was causing the pscycological mismatch I was also really unhappy about being 3 stones more than my normal weight - I have lost 1.5 stones and feel so much better for it even though I still have a bit more to shift it could be this was instrumental in part for the psychological disturbances I was getting. All very odd but now going in the right direction.

[sharonjarvis]

Over the last 2 years I've lost 3 stone. Diagnosed underactive 6 months ago and put on Levo. From December to March I put

on 2 stone! I was sooo hungry all the time. It was almost a physical pain. I've never had anything like it in my life! I think I'm on the rightish dose of medication now as that has stopped. Thank god!

[puncturedbicycle in reply to sharonjarvis]

It is such a roller coaster! Bless you, at least you're on the right track now. Like others here I feel like I can't afford to gain any more weight. After being pretty easily stable for years (size 12-14) I'm now a 16 and if I gain a little more I'll need a whole new wardrobe.

For me oedema was a big thing when I was diagnosed (and when I went on levo) and the t3 seemed to sort that out pretty well, so I dropped a lot of water weight all at once. I wonder if that is what's creeping on now.

I do appreciate though that I'm struggling less than a lot of people here and for that I'm grateful.

[acuramom]

I ordered t3 on my own cuz my dr wouldn't prescribe how much should I start with. They r 100mg tabs

[MSC56 in reply to acuramom]

Hello acuramom, I also ordered myself and it came in 25mg tablets but I have NOT started it yet because I am on High Blood Pressure meds and I did not know T3 also lowers your blood pressure. I can also say that I am also hungry all the time now and I am reading "Recovering with T3" by Paul Robinson and he started with a very small amount. Some split the pill in half or even quarters. And take them through out the day. I would recommend reading his book and if I can find the right practitioner to help me use the T3 right I will take it. I am sure this is what I need too. Best of luck to you.

[OrangeGirl]

I am currently on .135.5 of levo, a reduction from .150 in February 2014. My blood work consistently shows me to be overmedicated so for the last two years my endo has been making smallish reductions every six months. When I first went to see him I was on .2.25. I am ravenously hungry all the time but always have had a large appetite and prior to the diagnosis of hypothyroidism had a fast metabolism and was never concerned about my weight. That being said after the birth of my son (22 years ago) I was unable to shift all the weight but didn't worry too much. When my son was six (1998) however I came down with a brutal case of the flu and in hindsight I can now see the first suble but troubling hypo symptoms beginning to appear. I vividly recall looking in the mirror while suffering with the flu and wondering what the h*** had happened to my hair which, up until coming down with the flu, had always been fairly straight but had suddenly become slightly curly and very frizzy. Then came the steady and insidious weight gain and very shortly I had gained more than forty pounds and was desperately tired all the time. I wasn't formally diagnosed with hypothyroidism until 2002. I had somehow managed to reduce my weight from 186 pounds to 146 pounds by working out twice a day every day for a year in 2001. I got the flu again in the fall of 2002 and never fully recovered and was sent to an endo who made the diagnosis. I have often wondered about a link between a virus and thyroid problems (hyper or hypo).

In 2011 I experienced significant problems when a pharmacy error had me taking only .25 instead of .225 of levo. Then came the onset of my now recurrent periods where I am breathless (air hunger). This would seem now to happen when I am under or overmedicated. I honestly don't know whether my symptoms are the result of being under or overmedicated anymore. But it was in 2012 when I found this wonderful site and since then I have been taking the advise to use supplements and so now take zinc, magnesium, selenium, folic acid, iron and B12. I had been routinely tested for anemia all ny life as I have always felt tired but the results were always "normal" but I now know from this forum that I was likely always at the bottom range of what is considered normal and even the so called normal range for B12 is probably too low. So I firmly believe that this is the reason my levo has been consistently reduced. My endo however does not believe in T3 and refers to the evidence as all anectotal. I will if need be buy it privately and try self medicating. Thanks all for the listen. I need to sign off now because I am really hungry - not kidding, I am starving.