Is this just me? When I first started on 25mcg of levo a couple of months ago, I suddenly lost a layer of skin on the palm of my hands and inner fingers.... I ignored it as nothing; then a few days after increasing my dose to 50mcg, exactly the same thing happened! No irritation or soreness but shed like a snake.
Peeling palms: Is this just me? When I first... - Thyroid UK
Peeling palms
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Joburton
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Hello joburton
You know, I think I had that last year when I went hypothyroid again..... Thyroid hormones fluctuate from month to month I think mine lasted 6 months ( the peeling skin) but I was taking Levothyroxine .075 mcg ... Now I am on straight t3 ( Cytomel) 12.5mcg every 6 hrs..... Just started after being on Erfa for a year and going hypo again on that..... feeling better now.... It was a rocky start with anxiety and feeling wired..... My endo said people with hypothyroid do not need t4 so that's why I don't take Levothyroxine .... T3 is a powerhouse for the under active thyroid so I've been told..... I'll keep you posted
Merry Christmas 🎄
This happens to me when my thyroid levels are low its always been one of my first indications that I'm needing an increase. I would say get your levels checked to be sure that this is what it is.
Same here. I notice a dryness/flaking on my legs if I am becoming hypo. I would urge you to check your levels, just for peace of mind.
Strange that it's only happening now I'm on treatment - perhaps an indication that I'm not on a sufficient dose yet!
Not all symptoms present themselves before diagnosis. I spent 8 years with doctors testing my thyroid but each time they came back ok. During this time I wouldn't say that I had all the symptoms present themselves at the one time and it may be that you have had dry scaly hands before but not put it down to your thyroid because you weren't looking for it at the time. Think of your thyroid as a thermostat within in your body and that you are taking medication to regulate the amount of thyroixine produced by your gland it maybe that now you are taking meds that your body is not producing as much as you are compensating with medication and it may be that you need to take more medication to allow your gland to function. I had my thyroid removed over 20 years ago and since then I have more or less been on 150 -175 mcg even when I was pregnant this only increased to 200. 2 years ago I had a further opertation to remove more nodules and I have gone through various periods of not feeling as if I am functioning at my optimum, whatever that is, the GP I now have agrees that I function better when I am slightly over medicated. Since raising to 250mcg I have no longer got scaly skin, peeling hands, hair loss and all the other issues you get when you are running low. It can take a good 6 months plus to get your levels to run within their optimum.
Great explanation, thank you. I have previously had scaly skin on my shins and symptoms blamed on 'fibromyalgia' for years, but the peeling palms was a new one!! Still only taking 50mcg, so I can imagine I'm nowhere near my optimum.
I presume you are taking the wockhardt brand when taking dose of 25? When I take it I get pains in head, forehead headaches, pains in arms and legs a bit too, a lot of coughing and wheezing, and I wonder if it is a coinicidence that my gallbladder/liver problem flared up when I was on levo as it always calms down or goes away when I take the natural one or iodine instead and then returns when I take levo again.
in reply to decembersignup
What you're saying scares me. What lots of people here are saying scares me. A drug meant to help us shouldn't be causing symptoms of toxicity. Liver/gallbladder are the first step in digestion. Coughing/wheezing are signs of allergy and intolerance. Pains in head can be toxicity of substances leaking through our kidneys/guts into our blood stream & being attacked by our immune system. Pains in arms/hips/legs can be referrals from kidneys, & lower back pain can be adrenals OR kidneys. Sleep disruptions, no dreams, etc, can be signs of adrenal fatigue. Waking around 3 AM can be kidneys. We've been so trained to take our symptoms as "coincidence" & keep plugging along waiting to feel better while our bodies are destroyed by these drugs.
I'm presently going through horrific detox after many of my systems broke down after getting off cymbalta. I can only tolerate steamed vegies, & everything I eat comes out the same it went in. My sleep has improved from one to 3 - 6 hours/night. I switched to Armour thyroid, but will start taking iodine tomorrow in the hopes of getting off all pharm drugs. They're killing us. Our problems really have to do with the food we eat (sugar, processed, toxins, etc.), & we develop thyroid or CFS or MS or IBS, etc. THey give us synthetic drugs that further tax our livers/kidneys/adrenals. Every forum I see, thyroid or leaky gut, most everyone has the same complaints. It's the food. We're toxic & our systems are being damaged. I don't have any answers, but I'm going through detox now & will stay as far away from doctors as I can in the future. It's not about the numbers, it's about how we feel, & we keep listening to them. By the time our boodwork shows damage to our glands/organs, we'll have no choice but to hook up to their machines.
Look into how to heal/detox liver (where it starts), kidneys, adrenals, etc. See what affects what body part. Lots of good stuff on YouTube. Good luck.
valt4thomas in reply to
Wow! You said everything perfectly. Thanks!
in reply to
It probably isn't the drug though, it's probably the hypo, which has not yet been treated by this very low dose.
Joburton in reply to
That's what I was thinking!
greygoose in reply to
Lisa, beware, iodine can make you worse, rather than better. It is not a substitute for thyroid hormones.
Thyroid hormones - Levo, etc - are not drugs. They are hormones, just replacing what the body can't make itself. The fillers might not agree with you, but it's not the hormones that are disagreeing. Find a different brand rather than give them up completely.
As to food, Don't eat processed food. Give up sugar. But that is an entirely different problem.
If you stop taking your thyroid hormone replacement, you will end up even more sick. You cannot live without thyroid hormone, so if your body cannot make enough, you have to take it orally. Please give this more thought before acting. 
totally with Goosey on this, she is an experienced minefield of useful and very important information
Some people do use iodine instead of thyroxine. You only have to go to earthclinic and there are loads swearing that it works for them. If you are only slightly underactive why not give it a try and give it a chance?
Because too much iodine is as bad - if not worse - than too much. It will only help your thyroid if your hypo is caused by iodine deficiency. If it isn't, then it won't help. And if your hypo is caused by Hashi's, it can make things a lot worse.
You should always get tested for iodine deficiency before supplementing with iodine - especially if you're hypo. And be treated by a doctor that knows what he's doing. It's not something to mess around with yourself.
If you are taking thyroxine, then you are getting 4 atoms of iodine for every molecule of of thyroxine. So, if that isn't helping, then I doubt that iodine on it's own (rather than in the shape of a hormone) is going to help.
i use iodine salt every day i have graves disease hyperthyroidism,, am i doing the wrong thing,, i saw it on the internet and thourt it woukld help?? ekkk!
Well, not so bad as all that, because iodine is somethimes given to hyper patients to slow down hormone production (weird, I know). And there's not that much in table salt.
But excess iodine can trigger Hashimoto's disease. So, beware of that.
I imagine it's table salt, isn't it? If so, you should be more worried about the quality of the salt! Sea salt or pink Himalayan would be much better for you.
I'm on MercuryPharma at the moment.
By the way. A lot of people seem to get indications and symptoms only when they take the levo, yet they then say it is because they need a higher dose. This makes no sense to me if they never had these symptoms before taking levo at all.
in reply to decembersignup
The doctors have no idea what to do. Our systems are much more complicated than JUST the thyroid. I'm dealing with severe brain damage from 30 years on antidepressents (atrophy serotonin receptors, cause white matter lesions, act as antihistamines to cover up allergies as we continue to ingest poisons), chemo (finished a year ago), & 9 months on cymbalta & withdrawal. It was after the withdrawal 4 months ago that my systems shut down. Most of my blood is within normal (even if by a point) so docs say nothings wrong with me. . . . BUT I should get cat scans (radiation) of my kidneys, brain; go on various antihistamines & back on antidepressants. Brain damage from antidepressants? "Maybe, but you'll feel better." My blood pressure's normally 90/60, now it dips down to 78/42 & it's "normal." Top number is adrenals, bottom is kidneys. I've been thin all my life, so thin & low bp means I'm "fine." BUt I'm thin because I don't absorb nutrients from my food, & my bp is low because my adrenals & kidneys are shot. Foam in the urine is protein & anything else leaking through my kidneys.
I don't have the answers, yet, I'm pretty much fighting for my life, figuring things out as I go. A food journal taught me to stay away from animal protein (swollen eyes, high anxiety, I've developed histamine intolerance). Leaky gut. They give us toxic food & water, then give us synthetic drugs to keep us alive. Problem is, theyhaven't figured it out & we were never informed or given a choice if we want our bodies to live in such a toxic world & be kept alive by their drugs. The horrible side effects can be covered by other drugs. Eventually we don't know what's wrong with us, it's all about what the drugs are doing, it's why elderly are on so many drugs when all they really had to do was stop eating donuts, or something.
I wish I had answers. I'm sorry to scare people, but maybe if we're all scared enough one we can figure it out & escape the clutches of the government (worldwide, I'm in USA) & pharm companies.
Jefner in reply to
may I suggest you possibly growing your own fruit and veg and drinking bottled water
in reply to decembersignup
Because the symptoms are building rapidly by the time they get prescribed the levo.... association rather than causation re the drug.
decembersignup in reply to
Not sure this is always the case. It doesnt explain how come someone with an undiagnosed underactive thyroid for years who goes on medication suddenly gets all sorts of "symptoms" they never got before. Sounds more like the medication is to blame. It may be that the medication makes the thyroid lazy, so it works less and less as you take the medication, and then you get all those symptoms, whereas without the medication or with a different bandage it wouldnt.
I have been taking levo for over 20 years and I know when my medication needs to go up and down I get symptoms when my levels are low and when they are high.Its not that they didn't have the symptoms before it was just that they didn't think about it before. I had these skin problems for years before getting a diagnosis and my thyroid was tested numerous times over the years and doctors could give me a reason for my individual symptoms its only once you have had a diagnosis that you then start to pin point the reasons for these symptoms.
Am sure that is often the case, but in my case and in the case of the people I am thinking of we got brand new symptoms when taking the medication which stopped if we stopped the medication.
The worse thing you can do is stop taking medication all together, the thyroid is the thermostat to the body and controls so many of the bodies functions. When I was first diagnosed with mine I knew a young guy who was in a wheel chair as his body had deteriorated so much over time, his thyroid levels were fine but the consultants decided to trial him on thyroxine he now takes this everyday and he no longer uses a wheelchair. It may be that you need a different brand but sometimes you have to take the bad with the good and trust me after the suffering I have experienced over the last 20 plus years I would put up with some of the symptoms to make me feel the way I do today.
I appreciate that you are trying to help and support but I have tried all three brands and on each one I feel far worse. This is the reason that so many people wont take them and go for armour thyroid or whatever instead, at great cost financially sometimes. It also depends on how underactive your thyroid is, mine is only slightly, so that should be considered differently to someone who has no thyroid at all or is very very underactive.
I do understand everybody is different. But how long ago were you diagnosed and how long did you give each brand before changing? It does take your body a good 6 months to adjust to taking the hormone and this is why you have to persevere. This is why many people present new symptoms its not alwas because of reaction to the hormone its because you body is adjusting to it
You cannot say that you will give each different brand six months to see if you feel better, if you run a business and have a busy life and are unable to do anything while this goes on, and as you feel worse and worse that tells you a lot. Spending 18 months on trying brands and having no income? Who pays my bills then. Life is not that ideal.
You need to give your body time to adjust to the hormones and this takes time as Marz said in another reply Rome wasn't built in a day. Sometimes we all just have to give ourselves a great big shake and stand up to the illness if we don't we will only suffer in the future. I have sat exams, worked full- time, currently own my own business all while I have had to adjust to many health problems. I can honestly say that down to my thryroid the longest period I had off work was when I I had my full tt and that was 6 months. I the last 2 years I have had a 3 operations including brain surgery and set up my own business. Trust me it has notbeen easy and there have been times where my fmily haven't been able to cope with me when my levels have been low but I have never been anyone that lies down to health problems and I have each day no matter how crap I have felt I have got out of bed and got myself to work. Sometimes we have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get on with the cards we are dealt and yes if it does take 6 months to be on the correct medication then yes I would give it a go and not give up while trying to find the right one and yes I would still go to work and and function each day no matter how crap i was feeling. Sorry if you feel that I am not being supportive but if you had walked a mile in my shoes you would maybe give the hormones a chance.
dsu - had you considered that when increasing or taking T4 - that you are waking up cells that have been half asleep for years. When the T4 converts into the Active T3 - every cell in your body is screaming out for it. There are over 30 trillion cells in the body - heart cells - brain cells and so on ! So suddenly your whole body is being supplied with something it didn't have before. It could explain some of the symptoms. That is why it is best to keep on persevering with the treatment.
It is the same with the B12 treatment - I have weekly injections - and occasionally I feel strange. B12 is involved in the nervous system and the Myelin sheath. So after being deficient for years suddenly B12 is arriving into the cells hard and fast ! I have been patient though and things are on the up !
How are your levels of Ferritin - Folate - Iron - B12 - VitD ?
Oh and by the way there is iodine in your T4 -
Appreciate what you have to say but I know my body, and I know the difference between it waking up or feeling absolutely terrible when taking something. If I had continued on the thyroxine from the doctor - any of the three brands - I would have been unable to work or lead a normal life. That is hardly a good thing. I gave it time to settle down. I did all the obvious stuff, I used common sense.
I have that all the time on my hands and feet. I take liothyronine (120mcg) hand cream doesnt really help sadly.
There is a possibility that the hand peeling is due to preservatives in handwashes, handcreams etc. It has been in the news about certain preservatives causing this problem. I've been on thyroid medications for years and have been on T3 only for at least 12 years and my hands are dreadful at the moment. Changing to an old fashioned bar of soap has helped considerably. Just a thought.
My blood pressure went up a lot on thyroxine, another reason not to take it as far as I am concerned. You make some excellent points and I do feel for you. Are you in the UK or USA? I think part of the problem in the UK is that people can eat doughnuts all day, total junk, eat too much etc and then present themselves at a doctors or hospital as if they are a car that broke down. They assume they can abuse their bodies and neglect them and then click their fingers and get a doctor to sort it out.
I know a lot of people, especially elderly, who assume doctors are always right and know it all, they think that if they should eat more eggs then the doctor will tell them this, they dont understand he doesnt have any training in diet or nutrition or naturopathy, so they continue to eat doughnuts instead, its a good excuse to be lazy and do what you want.
Someone said to me recently that when your thyroid doesnt work properly some people get gallbladder, liver, kidney etc problems. Urgh. Why just accept that? And it if it caused by the medication that is even more ridiculous. It is asking us to poison ourselves and kill ourselves slowly.
Have you ever seen those films where a nasty piece of work asks the victim to dig a large hole and hands him a spade. He says dig this hole, and the victim knows that when he has dug it he is supposed to be shot and go into it forever. I always wonder why it is that nine out of ten of them follow the orders and dig the hole knowing it is to be their grave. Is taking medication that makes you more ill any different?
DSU, I think you mean the US with the doughnuts, Don't you? I Don't see the British going round eating them all day.
It is not the thyroid hormone replacement that is causing problems with gallbladder, liver and kidneys, it is lack of thyroid hormone because the thyroid gland - for whatever reason - can no-longer make enough to keep you healthy.
I think you're getting a little confused between the effects of being hypo and the effects of a bad diet, etc.
sorry hun your not alone i have pustulosis psoriasis it started like yours now i have it really bad hands and feet ,, i cant keep a job down because of it my hands bleed and puss comes out i have had treatment for years now and all creams and light therapy at the hospital.. yours seems like its not so bad yet hun ,, the best thing i found to use is coconut oil ,,wish i new it helped at the beginning mine may have not got this bad also vitamin d ,,,, hope this helps dont leave it hun like idid x
Thank you I used to suffer with eczema and dermatitis more in my younger years (hormones, etc) so I have learnt good practice in managing breakouts with emollients, etc. I should be able to manage it and hopefully prevent it deteriorating - I was perplexed that it happened in conjunction with the Levo dose increase!
I sometimes get this and I've found out it's tinea manis caused by a fungal infection. The scaly patches spread on my hands and the skin peels off. I do get raised red areas at the rash margins but it's not generally itchy. Just mentioning this as some people's symptoms may be due to this and not a reaction to medications.
How can you be sure that it is not a reaction to the medications?
in reply to Hoxo
fungus is often due to high sugar intake. Do you eat a lot of sugar & procssed foods? I'd have the same question for those suffering from any skin problem: The skin & lungs are the only way for toxins to leave our systems if our bowels, kidneys, livers, etc. are clogged up. Have you been tested for diabetes?
Hoxo in reply to
Yes used to be a real sugar addict but off it now and not had it since. Now I've had a close l
I was the same when I was first diagnosed hypo, palms, in between two toes and fingers. I was at that time on 25mgs of thyroxine I am now on 75 mgs and lucky I have had no more problems re: peeling but still feel terrible. I had this stupid notion that once I took thyroxine all would be well as my Dr said "it is not a drug it is only putting back what the thyroid is lacking" well for me and many like me it ain't working.
Then you probably aren't taking enough. Obviously it isn't going to help if you Don't take enough. Have you had a blood test recently?
Or, you maybe have conversion problems. Possibly due to nutritional deficiencies. Have you had your vit D, vit B12, folate, iron and ferritin tested?
You'll probably have to ask because doctors know nothing about nutritional deficiencies and won't do it automatically.
Thyroxine IS just hormone, but maybe the fillers in the tablet Don't agree with you. Also, for the hormone to have maximum effect, the conditions have to be right. Doctors are too ignorant to know that.
But, the fact is, the vaste majority of hypos do well on thyroxine, so it can't be that bad in itself. The problem is more likely to be doctor-ignorance rather than the thyroxine itself. They Don't know about nutrition, they can't read the test results and Don't know that the point of thyroid hormone replacement is to keep increasing the dose until the patient is well - not until the TSH is at some artificial point in a man-made range. If doctors were better educated, there would be less perceived problems with thyroxine.
Up to a point I agree with you but it doesnt explain the many people who go onto medication for the first time and then get horrible side effects which are purported to be due to underactive thyroid. Why would the thyroid suddenly need more and more thyroxine when for years before it managed when it was just underactive? I know a very brave lady who is 75, she is supposed to take thyroxine but refuses to because of the horrible side effects, she now no longer puts up with the side effects, proving it was the medication. Saying she should take more is not the answer if it makes her feel awful, she has tried all of that stuff.
How long was she on the thyroxine? And how long has she been off it? How much was she taking? Did she have low cortisol? Did she have nutritional deficiencies? What dose was she taking? What did her labs look like? Was she converting OK? What dose was she started on?
We can all say 'I know someone who...' but it proves nothing unless you have all the facts.
That is just the way it works for a lot of people. In the early days, thyroxine makes you feel worse. Especially if the dose you're started on is too low. But there's a reason for that...
Imagine that your gland is still managing to put out some hormone - most people are started on thyroxine before their gland completely gives out. So, say your gland is putting out 50 mcg T4 per day. Your doctor, in his ignorance, starts you on 25 mcg per day. Your poor tired old gland is going to say whoppee! She's getting hormone from another source! I can take a well-earned rest. So, it stops producing any hormone at all. So, instead of having 75 mcg per day, as would seem logical, you end up with just the 25 you're taking - a 25 mcg reduction in hormone. Obviously, you are going to become more hypo, and have more symptoms.
So, what are you going to think? Obviously you are going to think oh, this thyroxine doesn't work. But that's not it. When you get onto a higher dose - the dose your body actually needs - you're going to feel the benefit.
The problem is, with hormones, that you cannot start on too high a dose - you have to start low and work up slowly if you Don't want to stress the body. And the lower doses might make you feel worse - as explained. Also, if you're started on too high a dose, it's going to make you feel worse, because your body can't take it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work.
There are all sorts of other complications, too, which I can't go into at the moment, or the post would be too long! But, for example, you might be someone that can't convert very well - but that's not the fault of the thyroxine, that's to do with something else.
So, stopping the thyroxine just like that is not the solution. If the body hasn't got enough thyroid hormone it will just get worse and worse - heart problems, depression, liver and kidneys packing up, etc. There are solutions. It's just that most doctors are totally unable to find them - or just aren't interested in looking. That's why this forum exists...
I do agree with your post GG - as we know Rome was not built in a day ! It takes so long to find the right balance and we are often ill for a long time before diagnosis - so improvements do not happen overnight.
I think the foundations need to be laid first before we can build a strong and healthy body. So having the levels of B12 - Ferritin - folate - VitD at levels that are optimal is key. When the levels are bumping along the bottom of the ranges then nothing is going to work well in the body - least of all the thyroid replacement hormone.
We often see results which people are told are OK by their GP's - but which we know are not adequate enough to enhance the activity of the thyroid hormones in the body. Converting the T4/Levo into the Active hormone T3 will only happen when vitamins and minerals are optimal - as we know !
So for all those of you having problems - do share your results for Ferritin - B12 - Folate - Iron - VitD. Maybe there will be some surprises
I felt awful on my initial dose of T4 - whilst my body adjusted. I took me at least 6 years to find how to make myself well .....
Exactly! I, too, felt awful when first put on T4. Had to shop around for a decent endo to put me on some T3. Felt a bit better. But have only felt really well since I got onto T3 only.
But that was not because the T4 'didn't work'. It was because my body didn't work, and I couldn't convert T4 - either synthetic or 'natural' - into T3.
Might have something to do with having Hashi's for over fifty years before getting diagnosed, but definately nothing to do with the thyroxine itself.
If someone feels fine and takes a medication and quickly feels awful, and continues to feel awful while they take it, and when they stop the awful symptoms go, then it was the medication - it might be fillers, but whatever it is something in that tablet caused it.
The lady I spoke of has been off of thyroxine for a long time, she is not in perfect health but she is sure she would have felt far worse if she had continued on them.
She is entitled to her opinion based on her experience, she is not a naive or uneducated woman. If she was I wouldnt listen to her.
The fact that so many people who take thyroxine say that a certain brand makes them feel bad and they need to change to a different brand sort of backs this up.
A few years ago I was told I had stomach ulcers and must take cimitidine. So I took it, blindly following what I was told. Since then I am less naive. Within a few months of taking it - and not a high dose - I was getting terrible pains in my lower back and gout. When I stopped taking it those pains and the gout all went. It also turned out I did not have any stomach ulcers at all.
Another lady I know took thyroxine for a slightly underactive thyroid. She had had it for about ten years where she coped with feeling cold sometimes, fuzzy memory sometimes and a few aches and pains or feeling a bit tired. Within days of taking medication she felt far worse and this continued until she totally stopped taking any of the thyroxine. If these problems had been caused by needing more thyroxine they would not have got better when she stopped taking it.
We are all different.
Well, no, that's not strictly true, either.
As I explained above, some people do, in effect, get a reduction in hormone when they start taking thyroxine. Therefore, when they stop taking it their levels go up, so, obviously they're going to feel better. But that isn't because the thyroxine doesn't work, as I explained. But I have the feeling that no matter how hard one tries to explain to you how this works, you aren't going to listen. So be it.
But, I want you to know, that nobody suggested the lady you were talking about is in any way naive or uneducated. But how many people are educated in thyroid? Not even doctors are. So, hardly surprising if she doesn't understand how all this works. None of us do until we start asking questions and educating ourselves. None of us are born knowing all this.
I understand what you say, we cannot agree on everything. Up until about two years ago I didnt even know what a thyroid was or what it did.
in reply to decembersignup
This is off topic, but I saw your "terrible pains in my lower back and gout" comment. I'm constantly horrified whenI hear stories like this. My organs have almost completely shut down due to psych drug withdrawal (see beyondmeds.com), and I'm desperately trying to figure out what to do (no more drugs). What little I've come to understand is that if your kidneys are damaged it means your liver is, too. Tylenol, aspirin, all the drugs cause damage. I'm so glad you listened to your body & stopped.
Even if the thyroid drugs are safe, as greygoose says, what good are drugs in the hands of doctors who are allowed to prescribe drugs without basic knowledge of the effects on the body?
I agree with you, we are all different. I'm done with drugs if I can avoid them, if I can't heal my body through diet/lifestyle, I'd rather be dead. Some docs with their drugs, arrogance ,& incopetence almost killed me; one put me on an anit-cancer diet (ketogenic) that destroyed my liver & kidneys while he dismissed my symptoms as having to do with thyroid (which went nuts because I became intolerant to the protein - histamine intolerance makes the whole body crazy); others watched me dying & shook their heads because "nothing" is wrong with me (not quite ready for dialysis, for example); and still others continued to push drugs on me. The fact that we're all here, suffering, trying to figure it out says loud & clear that the medical/pharmaceutical industries are totally broken.
Allyson1 in reply to
Psych drug withdrawal is brutal. I was tried on at least 10 different drugs during teens/early 20s for symptoms that I now know to come from thyroid. I do wonder about my kidneys and liver, I have symptoms that may at me but nothing concrete..lots of trouble with blood sugar too.
What you say is so true things get worse before they get better and most doctors don't know the full story of the thyroid and how to treat it. I have been lucky my last 2 GP's have known more than most.
I have replied to greygoose below DSU - maybe helpful - maybe not !
I am supplementing with B12, folate and iron as they were only in the lower quadrant of range, and gp prescribed D due to being below range. Am new to taking Levo, so will need more blood tests early february before I know where I am.
I may not be taking enough but that is my Drs advice.I'm new to all this so do I ignore my Dr and self medicate ? I have been referred to a endocrinologist but how long that will take who knows! I hope he/she will be sympathetic and knows what it's all about but after reading some of the comments I'm not very hopeful.. It would appear that those of you on this site know more than the drs. That doesn't seem right somehow in the 21st century.
As far as my doctor was concerned, my iron, B12, etc were 'normal' or 'ok' because they were within range. I chose to supplement after advice from this forum to reach levels that I could actually feel well by achieving. I agree that I trust people on this forum more than the doctors; because they are advising from personal experience and not some outdated textbook that they glossed over years ago in training.
Well, without all the détails, I couldn't say anything for certain. But you must remember that doctors know very little about thyroid - and most of what they think they know is wrong. They tend to dose by the TSH, which is utterly wrong.
So, what I would advise you to do is educate yourself. You've taken the first step towards that by joining this forum. Read everything you can. Ask questions. You'll soon know more than your doctor, too!
It is wrong that patients know more than doctors! Completely wrong. But, there is a reason for that. Have a look here :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Strangely.... just before I was diagnosed, I was having problems with skin peeling between my toes (not athlete's foot though) and that has cleared up since taking medication. How weird that it's now on the hands! I guess it's going to be a long journey before reaching 'optimal' levels for most of us.
suppose I have been lucky. Until recently, for the last 10yrs, I have been fine on my thyroxine, no skin, gut, bowel or any other problem with my meds. Think mine fluctuated recently due to menopause and I trying hard to help myself after it has been confirmed I have Hashi's
Do you have your thyroid still as im trying for years to settle my system. A doc gave me t3 only last year and i felt great but my own doc because my tsh increased put me back on levo and im being tormented again. I have a reverse t3 problem which my own g p does not acknowledge. Is your endo in uk. Im in ireland
Drop me a private message anyone if you wish to chat to me about such stuff. I will be busy with clients tomorrow and struggle to find time to follow forums.
So in conclusion - it looks like this symptom is not limited to me; so I'm not a total freak of nature! I will be interested to see if this happens again if my dose is increased after my next bloods. Perhaps it's because some of my systems are functioning better again after a long hiatus of being undiagnosed hashi/hypo. It could be that cell renewal has been rebooted and this is a physical sign of improvement! (I like to look on the bright side).
Is there anybody who could help isolate the comments relating to skin and palms because this thread became a little convoluted?
Thank you all for your replies.
hi joburton
that is sooo weird! I have never experienced, nor seen, peeling hands before now and I must admit that I didn't connect it to hypothyroidism (or maybe thyroxine).
My Dr has been messing around with my thyroxine as in reducing and then upping the dosage whenever she gets test results and I feel like her guinea pig.
Your peeling hands look identical to mine.. my nails, which have always been exceptionally strong and long, have now become soft and keep splitting and breaking and catching on everything.
makes one wonder what the medical profession are doing to us!
how do we find out????
hope we can get some answers... until then, all the best for xmas and new year.
haras - shocking about your doctor messing around with your meds! I hope the dose change is no more than 25mcg at intervals of no less than 6-8 weeks, because I've learnt on this forum that any different is not easily tolerated by the body.
In my case, my fingernails are finally getting stronger but are still brittle and catchy. I believe that along with some silly fluffy regrowth along my hairline, this is a sign that I'm improving. Friends have noticed that I'm a bit more 'with it' but still unbearably fatigued though 
My palms are OK, but the soles of my feet have been peeling for a few weeks.
Ok you saved my worry! This is the strangest thing...by the way, I'm Melinda...living in Germany. I have a cooking site for gluten, soy and dairy free (thecookncoach.com)...ok so been on this journey for 4 years. After 2 years with a doctor that discovered I had Hashimoto/thyroid I left when I realized I knew more than her about thyroid disease. I found a functional doctor and after 1 years of "messing around with gluten free" I finally got so depressed and fat that I took her advice and stopped the madness. ANYWAY, been doing super for 2 years (lost 25 pounds and sleep 8 hours instead of 14). Even got off meds for a month and no Hashimoto antibodies ...I can feel when I am low or too high and regulate my meds.
So 3 months ago I was doing 75mg of Lev with T3 and was feeling like I was hyper. Broke it in half (38 mg) and felt super...last week I look down at my hands and WOOO they looked like your picture. My husband said it was the weather...LOL...I guess I thought it was my monthly detox but now I think about it my doctor said my labs were a little low but if I felt good on 38mg then carry on....YIKES...it's my low dose....I am going to raise it. She prescribed me 100 so will break that in half and see if it goes away! Another words....THANKS for the post!
Mine did this when I missed a dose, then undermedicated. Also my feet.
I have been on a T3/T4 regimen for about 3 years with no issues. About 2 weeks ago I had my levels checked and saw my Endocrinologist and she said all of my levels were perfect. But my hands started this peeling business and I'm confused why it would be doing this if my levels are on point? I also have Hashimoto and wonder if it might be a flare up. Any suggestions would be appreciated?
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