Swollen ankles

[Minicorrect]

Hi, I am on 75mcg Levo.

I have slowly lost a bit of weight but have a lot to go, however my ankles seem to be permanently swollen.

Can anyone suggest how to combat this?

Thank you 😊

[Raventhorpe]

Hi mini correct this is one of the symptoms of hypothyroidism, could be that your under medicated as I used to have swollen ankles when I was under medicated but now on optimal dose they are back to normal. If you have bloodtest test results post on here so members can advise you if you are on enough medication.

[Minicorrect in reply to Raventhorpe]

Thank you. I will post them when I get home. My gp hasn't done tests for everything just TSH. They said I am ok as tests are in range. I still have terrible brain fog for half the month too.

I was on 50mcg but took 75 by my own decision then when I told the gp he changed my prescription.

Every time I go back I feel like I'm being a nuisance and I'm even thinking of trying ndt so I don't have to go to the gp again.

[Raventhorpe in reply to Minicorrect]

Hi mini correct how can gp know if you are getting enough levo if they are only testing tsh, you really need T4/t3testing as well as tsh at same time, thou most labs will not test t3 even if gp asks for it.have you thought of having private bloodtest done, that's what I did as wanted to know if I was converting T4to t3 well enough, it's easy to arrange just order kit from blue horizon or medicheck do finger prick test send back then get results in 48hrs, I took results and the print out of the pulse magazine article from dr toft and got increase in levo, it's a disgrace we have to fight to get right medication to make us well, you shouldn't feel you are being a nuisance when you go to gp it's their job to help their patients feel well.sorry if I've had a bit of a rant I just get so cross for people when they don't get the right treatment.lol

[shaws Administrator in reply to Minicorrect]

Swelling is a clinical symptom of hypothyroidism. When optimally medicated and you are converting levo to sufficient T3 (active hormone) it should reduce.

Blood tests should be at the earliest (fasting and you can drink water). Also allow 24 hours between last dose of hormones and the test and take afterwards. This keeps the TSH at its highest and doctors mainly diagnose this and not know any symptoms.

[puncturedbicycle]

For me, swelling only went when I added some t3 to my levo so I would suggest if you still have it when optimally medicated on levo you may want to try a little t3 as well. I should add both my t3 and t4 were optimal on levo alone, but for whatever reason some of my symptoms didn't resolve until I added t3.

[Naomi8]

I had swollen ankles for 18 years on thyroxine only.I was unable to increase my dose(125mcgs)When I added T3 to my T4,the swelling went down.I also suffered from painful aching feet after walking & at the end of a day.This is hugely improved too.I have been on NHS T3 for 2 years,but this prescription has now been cancelled & I am buying my own T3 (edited by Admin),rather than go back to thyroxine only,as the endo insists.

[Trixie64]

My swollen ankles didn't go down until I added some T3 to my NDT.

[Framboise]

I didn't have swollen ankles until I first started on thyroxine, they began to swell very quickly after that and have never gone down since then, although I took T3 after a while and now take NDT. When I checked online I found swollen ankles could be a side effect of taking thyroid hormones, which seems counter-intuitive but has definitely been the case with me.