Hi all.
I'm 35 year old male and I recently got told by doc that I had Hypothyroidism ....and she started me on 25 Microgram tablets of LevoThyroxine tablets
My question is ...I've been taking them for about one week now ...and the biggest thing I've noticed is how much more I am going toilet (number 2)
...and when I go ...I really 'GO'.
So is this something that has changed because of the thyroxine levels? and is this normal?
Thanks
I find that if I am under medicated I am constipated and if I have a correct dosage I am no longer constipated. When I was over medicated I had to go several times per day. Being hypo slows down all your systems. get your TSH, T3 and T4 tested in 6 weeks as 25mcg is only a starting dose. Also ask for your B12, VitaminD , ferritin and folate and iron levels to be checked and ask for a copy of the results and post them on here for further comment. Allow 2 hours either side of taking your medication without food and just take it with water. Do not take your levo before you go for your blood test which is best taken first thing in the morning. Take the usual dose after the test. If your symptoms include brain fog, dry skin etc these should improve.
Hmmm...Ive never heard of that before...unless its revving up your system some how...It usually takes a while to work, but your a guy so might work a bit different with you...Maybe your body is sensitive to the stuff...
Hi Shinds. I was exactly the same when I first started thyroxine, 1's and 2's. When you are hypo you accustom yourself to the low speed of digestive tract, and can find it a shock when everything starts to work up to speed more effectively. When I started the tablets I was getting up 4 times in the night to wee as I had a build up of fluid in my body that was not being eliminated properly beforehand. Once your system accustoms this should settle down. The re-testing of your levels becomes part of the routine for this condition to ensure that you don't flip into Hyper, indicating that you are on too much medication. Lots of doctors seem to think that thyroxine is slow to act on the system - I was told not to expect any changes for a couple of weeks, but after 4 days of starting the drugs I noticed a huge change in my body, physical movements, digestion, fluid retention and mental abilities. Hope this helps 
The best bit of advice I can give anybody with a chronic condition is - never draw conclusions on changes in your condition in less than a couple of months.
In other words, your bowel movements may be due to you picking up a bug, something you've eaten, etc. So see how things go for a while, and then you can attribute what you describe to the thyroxine.
That said, when thyroxine works, it 'does speed up the system'.
Hi there
I have had exactly the same issue - it seems to be a side effect of the levo for me as I am definately not over-medicated. It gets worse each time I increase my dose but settles down again after a week or so. I have never again been constipated though!
Hi Shinds, if you haven't read many posts here and know little about being hypothyroid, I hope you will stick around and be educated. If you are in the UK, we've discovered the NHS has restricted testing and treatment of hypothyroidism. This can be detrimental although if you have a simpler case of primary hypo and you do well on T4, you may do very well. Do try to get those diagnostic test results as they often are kept under wraps and "normal" may not be normal for you. Here is a starter if you care to pursue this.
I too was diagnosed hypo by a doctor, only to get a second opinion and be told I was in the normal range and didn't need to be medicated .... so who do you believe ? I decided that I didn't want to take the med's ( due to possible nasty side effects ) ; they also wanted me to take depression drugs , to which I declined. I got to a homeopathic physician instead . Now I just gave up on gluten , dairy and refined sugars . I did find that getting my hormones and adrenals tested helped , something conventional doctors don't test ( this can be what throws the thyroid off ) , so I'd say to get a saliva test and a blood - spot test done ( for adrenals/hormones as well as a full thyroid panel; not just the routine TSH test.
It could be down to the fillers in the levo.
A doctor once explained this phenomenon to me as being overmedicated after starting thyroid meds until the levels even out in your body.
With a dose increase, I get heart palps for about a week to two weeks. They're intermittent.
Has your Vit B12 level been checked? I had low B12 and that caused loose stools for me.
I definitely agree with what several other people have said i.e. that it is due to your body having to get used to the levothyroxine. Another point is how long you were hypothyroid before diagnosis. I've only been taking levothyroxine for the past 18 months but I reckon I should have been treated a long time before that. I think if your thyroid has been under-functioning for a long time and you haven't been treated it takes a long time when you do get treatment for the thyroid to re-adjust. I know that it's only in the last few months that I have noticed a difference.
I did have something similar to you i.e. I had diarrhoea which I put down to my GP increasing my dose from 75 mcg to 100 before my body had had long enough to adjust to having thyroxine. I also think it was exacerbated by low vitamin D - I had that tested after a few months of this diarrhoea and the levels were inadequate. Now my vitamin D is fine and the diarrhoea has gone and my system is back to normal.
I think you need to give it time. I realise what a problem the diarrhoea can be and I hope you can find a way to work round it in the meantime.
I also changed to taking my levothyroxine at night - no eating or drinking for at least two hours before taking it. My reasoning was that perhaps the effect of the levothyroxine on an empty stomach in the morning was too much for my system. I don't know if that was a factor or not but it's worth considering.
Good luck.
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Is this normal?
