Hi Everyone,
I started levo 25 mcg on a trial basis end of March 2017 (for 8 weeks). My GP prescribed this after much insistence from me to bring my tsh to about 1. It was 3.2 then. I got tested again after 7 weeks so I could see my GP again before running out of medicine.
So my results on 17 May sample were:
tsh 2.3 (0.3 - 4.5)
ft3 5.3 (3.1 - 6.8)
ft4 18.5 (11 -22)
I cant say if I felt any different after 8 weeks. My symptoms included chronic pains in various muscles. The front of my hands is most common. Trouble climbing stairs (hard work), pain around my knees (I think weak leg muscles for 1.5 years now) and some sort of nervousness / palps.
For last several months, I have monitored my weight. Genetically, I am a slim and underweight man. At 5'10" my weight had always been 58 kilos (9.13 st) for about 20 years. I think ideal weight is about 11 stones. I know this is underweight but this is how I have been for years without any health problems. My dad was similar. No matter how much or what I ate, my weight would not go up.
After I started recovering from my sub acute thyroiditis in March 2016, my tsh had shot up to 6.3. My doctor told me that this will come down so no medication needed. This was first time then when I had pain in my hands, feet, thighs, hips, etc. Sharp pains. Sub acute thyroiditis started in Nov 2015 which gave me typical over active symptoms. This was a phase of thyroid inflammation with negative antibodies.
TSH of 6.3 in March 2016 (after inflammation was over) was followed by tsh of 4.5, 4.2, 3.6, 2.5, 2.7 and again 3.2 in March 2017 when I got 25mcg levo. Then before increasing to 50mcg in May 2017 (5 weeks ago) it was what I wrote on the top of this post. (tsh 2.3). Before any illness, a routine blood work recorded a tsh of 1.08.
After a couple of weeks on 50 mcg, I felt a bit improved. I don't know if it was temporary phase or an actual effect of medicine. Nothing that I could call a major improvement though.
Anyhow, I am in my 5th week of 50 mcg now and due for a re test on 4th July (7th week on 50 mcg). My weight is still the same around 63 kilos. I know this is underweight by general standards but for me this is an extra weight from my standard of years as explained before.
I was going steady (very bravely - despite loosing my job) and happy that I was getting better but; for the last 4-5 days I am feeling uncomfortable. This discomfort is coming from my belly. Although I have been feeling the bulge on my slim structure for last few months, it was still allowing me to eat normally. I am mostly a vegetarian and eat home cooked food. Now, despite a clear stomach, I feel bloated (no stomach pain) and feel the stress up to my chest and struggling to eat. Don't feel like eating.
Throughout my illness since Nov 2015, I have had no problems eating food except for the time when I had pain in my neck due to thyroid inflammation. I am kind of feeling the weakness that you get when you don't eat enough. This is making me nervous once again. Till recently, I was taking one tablet of iron (ferrous sulphate 200 mg) a day with 500 mg vit c. I took it for about a couple of months to raise my ferritin from 40. I was taking these at least 4 hours away from levo. I was tolerating it well too. Eating plenty fruit and veg (fibre) to avoid constipation/ bloating); and it worked well. I have stopped the iron and C now for 3-4 days to see if these are causing problem.
Some of my pains have come back too, like in my hands and feet. My one feeling is that this little bulge of stomach that I have is putting stress on my chest making me feel somewhat nauseated and some sort of exhaustion/ palps. The stomach is tight to touch (not painful). Basically, I am not feeling light despite clear bowels.
Could this be an effect of levo? I am on a trial. I was happy until 5 days ago that I was improving. I want to continue taking levo as I don't think that I have any typical over active symptoms. I know what they are as I experienced them when thyroid inflamed - severe sweating, shaking hands, fever.
But could this new symptom of nausea and bloating and nervousness be due to levo? I will retest on 6th July now for TFT. But I am definitely struggling to eat. Another thought is, could I have caught some bug from somewhere? Don't want to give up on levo in the trial stage when this is my hope but I want to be able to eat normally.
I have also been feeling a need to pee a bit more than usual.
Please throw some light if you can. Could I be going over?
) I too am doing detective work on my own niggling symptoms, it's not easy sifting out the causes. I hope you can figure it out, it's no good if it's preventing you from eating normally.
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