Help! Can an under active thyroid cause these symptoms?

[Rosenveldt]

I get these waves of nausea, saliva increase in my mouth. It can last up to a minute and then I get hot down to the waist. I feel a heaviness on the left side of my face below my nose. This feeling sometimes extends down my left arm. I do not get any heart palpitations, I'm also not short of breath. After this wave I feel normal again. It happens any time during the day( up to 7 to 8 attacks per day). Lately I get it in the night when I happen to be awake, 3.30 am. I can get it when I just wake up. There is no set pattern. These waves may pester me for three to seven days and then I won't get any for two or three weeks. Sometimes I may get it for a day , two days with maybe one to five waves. I do see that once I get the 7 to 8 waves per day it seems to occur for at least 3 to 7 days thereafter.

I have been diagnosed with an under active thyroid and have been taking Euthyrox 50ug for the past 20 days.

Has anybody experienced these symptoms with an under active thyroid?

[shaws Administrator]

Hi,

I think you might be experiencing these sensations as your are newly on thyroxine and 50mcg is a starting dose. As you should have a blood test with an increase around every six weeks or so you may find these diminish when you reach an optimum dose.

When you have a thyroid hormone blood test, leave approx 24 hours between levo and test, have it as early as possible and fast. Get a print-out of your blood test results with the ranges for your own records and so you can post if you have a query. If you've not had B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate tested as for these too as we are usually deficient.

[nightingale-56]

If you are female, could these episodes be anything to do with menstrual cycle. Maybe mid-cycle when egg being released? Apologies if you are male.

[Chancery]

Rosenveldt, I'm not scaremongering, but maybe you should check this is not some kind of mini-stroke you are having. The heaviness in the face and arm are rather reminiscent. Perhaps just a quick trip to the docs and just see what he thinks. Better safe than sorry. X

P.S. A good thing to do is ask someone to look at you full face-on when one of these 'turns' happens and ask them to see if your face looks normal, i.e. it's not dragging down or showing any signs of paralysis or distortion. Might reassure you! (But I would still check it with the doc anyway.)