Has anyone else here found the need to supplement with vitamin A whilst titrating up on levothyroxine? It makes my eyes so dry and affects my eyesight. I often get acne and this titrating up levothyroxine. The First Time On it my cornea cracked.
Has anyone else here found vitamin A helpful? I'm paranoid of taking too much but I have found it helpful especially in the eyes department.
Not sure its the levo or the hypo itself.But had eyelid stuck to eye twice and now use gel tears before bed. Supplementing with uni vite vits but no extra vit A over that.
Levo makes my eyes red itchy blurry, sore, inflamed but I take flaxseed oil capsules which stops most of that. Also good is fish oil. If you are worried about taking vitamin A, perhaps try and get it from food sources?
I'm taking fish oil too. I'm really starting to wonder if I've got bad absorption issues because prior to all this I kept on eating eggs.... Until I couldn't eat anymore. :/.
Might try flaxseed. Ta!
Going by a lot of the replies - omegas seem to be the answer 
Whether its fish oil, or flaxseed or evening primrose - I guess we find what works for us. I'd also heard about Omega 7 - I think there's stuff called sea buckthorn oil that has all the omegas in it. Meant to be good for skin and eye health. I always thought if my flaxseed oil stopped working, I'd give that a try.
Best xx
Hello! I have similar situation: acne break-out after starting the treatment. I began taking vitamin-A drops. A drop a day, to be precise. We will see if it helps.
Hi there,
I had this problem very severely. Dr and eye specialist were no help, just prescribe different drops which made no difference and increase usage from 3 x a day to x a day. I'm seeing a functional health practitioner and she advised Omega 7 and my life has changed. I no longer have red, weepy gritty eyes. I no longer need to wear sunglasses when driving on a dull day to stop the air con drying my eyes out and I no longer have such light sensitivity that I struggle to drive in the dark or have photos taken with a camera flash.
An order took over 3 weeks to come and I ran out - all symptoms came back. I have Hashi's and am supplementing with other vits too, but this to me was proof that it was the Omega 7's that are making the difference to my eyes.
Hope this helps.
Will look into this too. thanks. Even my eyelids are cracking and I'm walking around with sudocrem as eyeshadow
Hi that sounds like an allergy to me. I'm allergic to certain makeup. Can only use Max Factor mascara. Years ago I had that reaction to Oraflame makeup also Virgin Vie! Both supposedly hypo allergenic. I had blisters on my eyelids which dried up and then cracked. Very painful. Have you changed make up? Jusyva thought.
Ooh I didn't realise that, shall buy some vitamin A ASAP fanks 😊
I experienced the same problem but I am no sure if it was the Levo or use being hypo. Have you tried natural desiccated thyroid medication? It is available by prescription but many doctors won't Rx it because they are brain washed by Big Pharm drug reps that Synthroid and Levo are the ONLY good thyroid med. I take Armour and WP (not Westhroid) and they are helping with symptoms I have had for over 30 years being treated with synthroid.
So true!! So hard to discern what all is going on in our bodies.
I have to constantly keep in mind that hypothyroidism can affect all systems of the body. This is why one can ache from head to toe and anywhere else in between! It's hard not to be paranoid or feel like a hypochondriac when don't understand how hypothyroidism affects the entire body. Depending on the severity of the deficiencies involved, our symptoms can affect just about everything.
Until our thyroid symptoms are quelled, it's an excellent notion not to worry about what happens in between. Focus on feeling and getting better, not on the myriad of symptoms we encounter.
However, with that said, vitamins are usually the main deficiencies that keep us from fully absorbing and utilizing thyroid hormones. Keeping our vitamins topped up and making sure we absorb them is vital. This also works for those who are borderline hypothyroid. We are finding out that not every will have to undergo lifelong treatment of thyroid replacement, necessarily. Many times, it is a matter of getting vitamins absorbed so that one's natural thyroid hormones can do their job effectively and efficiently.
Being here is a fantastic start to more understanding of a most misunderstood and literally 'mistreated' condition.
I am so glad to be here with all of you.
Hugs!
Yes, it is very important to get proper supplementation, especially with Selenium and minerals! We have to monitor our Vit D and K as well. I am so tired of swallowing pills but if I don't I pay the price. I have never heard of someone who was able to forego thyroid medication by taking vitamins or correcting deficiencies. But, I guess it could happen. Good luck with your journey!
Some may go to the doctor feeling badly and their thyroid isn't working optimally, or far from it--and they've never had a thyroid problem. Usually, if a person goes to a physician and it's discovered their TSH is higher than optimal, physicians sometimes automatically put the person on thyroid medication and tell them it is "for life." That is not always the case and many doctors are finding that out.
Some of those same people may not have a problem with their thyroid, so much as it is a problem with absorbing and/or converting the thyroid hormones their body produces. That can often times be corrected with the addition of vitamins and minerals that allow proper thyroid hormone absorption into the body's cells. Selenium, as you mentioned, is one of those! So is iron. There are many others and how they work and interact with one another.
This all means that even those of us who must take thyroid medication "for life," as it is deemed necessary, can still optimize the medication we take by making sure our vitamins and minerals are optimal for making the most of the thyroid hormone we ingest.
It really is great to know because it means that others have a chance, or should I say a "second chance," of getting their bodies in tune to better make use of the thyroid hormones their body still produces.
Life is a wonder. I wonder all the time about such things. LOL Hugs!!
I tried this and here I am now putting sudocrem on my eyelids and more artificial tears and having to sorbolene my itchy paper dry skin with rashes.
Now I'm popping supplements again and recently ordered more.
This is what I get for listening to doctors who made me feel like I'm some hypochondriac for taking all this. Sick of being gaslighted.
I've tried thyroid s and liked it but got better on more t3 and less t4. A lot of theproblems started when i tried going on t4 only.
I'm actually thinking of trying it again but right now so scared of t4 that I'm going by mostly t3 right now and the token t4 of 25mcg
I don't do well on T4 meds either and many people do well on T3 only meds. You may be one of those who need it. I feel better since going on T3, my body temp is closer to normal and my hair has stopped falling out and my skin is moist again.
When taking vitamin A, please make sure you use a retinol or retinyl form of it rather than beta-carotene.
Beta-carotene is not actually vitamin A it is a pre-cursor to vitamin A. Your body has to convert it into vitamin A to get some benefit from it. And guess what! Hypos aren't good at it.
Carotene is a precursor of Vitamin A. An underactive thyroid gland cannot efficiently convert carotene to usable Vitamin A so however many carrots etc. you eat, it won't help. Vitamin A must also be accompanied by protein to make it available to the body, so if you are on a low protein diet, you may be deficient in this vitamin. If you are low on Vitamin A, your ability to produce TSH is limited. This vitamin is required by the body to convert T4 to T3. If you find that lights are too bright or night driving is a problem, try taking Vitamin A supplements along with more protein and see if it helps.
Source for the above comment : thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...
I used to have orange palms and orange soles of the feet. They've reduced in recent years and I'm guessing it might be because of thyroid treatment. I have also been supplementing with retinyl palmitate. It has made me feel a little bit better, but it really is just a feeling - I have no proof I was ever low or deficient.
I take an evening primrose supplement which def helps with dry sore eyes. I've been reminded how good it is this week as I had run out and my contacts keep falling out! 🤓
Thank you all so much for the lovely and helpful replies. I feel less alone and I've got more things I can try.
I'm so grateful to be here and to have people like you guys in this community.
Hi Oobie. The dry, painfull eyes is a side effect of Thyroxin for some people. I had a dozen other painful side effects. drugs.com/sfx/levothyroxine...
I went to the dark side for a fix (changed to Natural Dedicated Thyroid). There will plenty on this forum that will poopoo but for me at least, NDT has very few side effects other than the dosage adjusted daily depending on your energy expenditure. Example - playing foot ball you need more than watching a movie.
Best of luck
James
Thanks for saying this. I'm really starting to wonder if I should go ndt + t3 now. Ndt alone didn't work that great for me either. I just really need more t3.
How old are you Oobie and I take you are male. 2ndly I would not mix synthetic and natural thyroids - apparently thyroid receptors at the cellular level take a while to understand the flavor of thyroid and mixing doesn't work.
I'm just suggesting so please feel free to ignore. But Pig thyroid is 4:1 (T4:T3) and human is 14:1. So I doubt if you need more T3. If you want to go into detail I can/will but I'm reluctant if you aren't really interested. If you are - what went wrong when you tried NDT.
I'm female and forty one. With regards to receptors understanding, how long is "a while" ?
I couldn't work out the proper dose on ndt and got t4 hyper symptoms 
It sure was better than t4 only though.
Oobie. I asked because a Testosterone supplement helped me heaps with absorbing NDT. Remember females have Testosterone too. Maybe get your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone levels checked. Don't accept "you are within range" from your GP, get your test results and check you are middle or upper range. I was 12 on the 8-35 testosterone rage and a GP wouldn't supplement, so I changed GPs.
Re receptors - I dont know. But I have tried mixing a few times and I never worked out how to get it right, I always felt sickly. I have NDT, Thyroxin (T4) and Tertroxin T3 in the fridge but feel the most normal on a variable dose of NDT.
I use my temp as a guide to dosage. I loose temp if I go off thyroid supplements. So for me I take a base dosage 90mg. 60 mg at 11pm and 30mg 4 am. Then at 10am I take my temp if it is going down below 36C I take 30mg more. That is all I will take for the day (120mg) unless I am sailing in the afternoon I will take another 30mg. If I took 120mg for a couple of days in a row I will begin to go Hyper. With NDT you start on 30mg daily and after a two weeks bump up to 60mg. Keep doing this until you go hyper, then take nothing for a few days until the hyper passes and then go back on the last good dose. Example - you are taking 150 in week 10 and you go hyper, have a break for a day, and start back on 120. Remember if you are busy physically or emotionally you will need more.
NDT and Thryroxin a very different drugs and need to be managed very differently. With Thyroxin you just saturate your body with storage hormone (T4) and hope you convert it. Nothing wrong with this except thyroxin has all these horrible side effects for some people. On NDT (I believe) our bodies become lazy about converting T4 and I basically run on the T3 in NDT. Hence having to take NDT multiple times per day, plus boosters depending on work load.
For me I feel better on NDT so I'm prepared to pay the exorbitant prices pharmacies are currently charging - which I dont understand - after all thousands of pigs are killed everyday for meat.
Re vits - I take a Mega Magnesium daily and have B12 shots monthly. They both help with brain fog. I also take D3, Iron/C, Iodine, mens multi vit once every few weeks. But don't notice anything.
regards
j
That's giving me food for thought. The variable doses. I didn't quite do it that way. Thanks!
With regards to the testosterone, I think you might be on to something there but in my desperation I just ended up taking birth control pills (frankenhormones), I was so scared of the migraines I was getting. :/ My oestrogen was low too.
Magnesium helps head aches, what dose/s of NDT did you try
I got as far as 2 grains but I just could not find the right doses and timing.
As for Mg, it did help a bit but the migraines I was having were due to drops in hormones. It was terrifying. Nothing would help but a Phenergan shot. Now I'm on bcp and a patch on the sugar days. It's not perfect but it wasn't as horrifying as before.
Right now I'm averaging 40-45mcg t3 and the daily token t4 (25mcg). Without it my memory is worse. Not quite sure what to do now. My hair is still falling at an alarming rate and my eyes are so gritty I fear my cornea will crack again. I'm so scared of any more t4 from any source right now that I'm just sticking to this. just need a wee bit for the slight memory improvement.
I've got a toddler and I need the constant doses of t3. And even with that I get so tired I end up Dozing off if I am late taking it. 10mcg only lasts me around 4 hours, tops. Less if I've been busy.
On the bright side I've no issues with insomnia. The last t3 I take is around 6 pm. Guaranteed sleep in a few hours.
The ndt I tried was thyroid s. Heaps better than levo only. But I tried taking uniform doses. And for me to get used to the t3 in I had to crush it and take an eighth at first.
I just need things to stabilise right now and for my hair to stop falling off
I dont have any magic bullets sorry. I had the same issues on T3 - I was taking it every three, four hours and I seemed to need more and more to hold a regular temp yet I was getting hyper symptoms and really freezing cold feet.
If you still have 50 or 60 Thyroid-S tablets I'd have another go. Give your self a few days off anything. Then start on 1/2 grain per day for a week.
I like taking late at night and sleeping through any head aches. If you can get up to 1 grain per day you will be getting enough not to do any long term organ damage. Anything after that is a bonus. I'm 191 pounds and my base is 1.5 grains so I think you may have been over doing it on 2 grains per day. You may eventually get onto that but no rush.
I don't think you will be any worse than where you currently are. You can always come back on Levo if this doesn't work. .
Also you can split thyroid cap, just pull a 1 grain cap apart and pour out half the content. You can buy empty caps or just take the power with water, tastes sweet and slightly meaty.
Also Also - don't worry about blood test for a little while if I take enough of anything to get a TST anything near 1, I become a zombi. Just focus on how you feel, good blood tests can come later
J
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