I am new to posting on here but found this community to be a bit of a guiding light in the relatively dark world of hypothyroidism. Being a U.K based male being left with hypothyroidism after radio iodine treatment and being prescribed Levothyroxine in ever increasing doses (was on 125mg but my G.P now gives me a prescription for Naturethroid 1.5 grains) I notice on here and over the Web generally many patients seem to suffer from insomnia (mine is incredibly bad and the only thing that works is strong sleeping pills and then only occasionally). Does anyone know why or have seem and research that may she'd light on this. I have trawled the net and can only find one partial research paper on the links between taking thyroxine either the synthetic variant or NDT and Insomnia.
Hypothyroidism and Insomnia: I am new to posting... - Thyroid UK
Hypothyroidism and Insomnia
Excuse the English that should have read has anyone seen or can anyone shed any light on why so many sufferers taking either Levothyroxine or NDT suffer with bad insomnia.
One common problem for hypothyroid people is that their cortisol may be too high or too low. Both problems will cause insomnia.
Another common issue is that total daily output of cortisol might be okay, but the peaks and troughs in it are at the wrong time. Highest cortisol should be first thing in the morning and lowest cortisol should be at bedtime and through the night, until about 4am(ish) it starts to rise for the morning.
The distribution of cortisol output should look roughly like this :
data.integrativepro.com/ima...
If you were to ask your doctor to test your cortisol, and he actually agreed to test it, all he would do is arrange a cortisol blood test. If you are lucky it might be at about 9am, but if not he might do a random cortisol. Neither blood test is particularly helpful. Even if the result was great at 9am, that tells you nothing about how low or high it is at lunch time, mid-afternoon, or at 11pm when you are trying to get to sleep.
The other issue is that blood is not a good medium for testing cortisol anyway. Cortisol comes in two types - there is the kind of cortisol which is attached to transport proteins which carry cortisol around the body, and there is the kind of cortisol which is unattached to transport proteins. The attached type is usually referred to as bound, the unattached is unbound. The body can only make immediate use of the unbound cortisol.
A blood test for cortisol measures the total of the bound and the unbound. If too great a proportion is bound then your unbound cortisol might be too low. You will never find that our from a blood test though.
The better test is using a spit test. Cortisol is found in saliva, but it is only the unbound cortisol i.e. the one the body can make use of. Various companies do saliva testing of cortisol, usually in sets of 4 tests. In other words, you buy a test kit, you provide four separate saliva samples at set times in the day. The samples are posted back to the lab, and you get your results via email.
Then you post your results on here and you ask for feedback.
If this interests you, let us know and someone can link you to the companies that do this kind of testing.
Have you had B12 and folate tested? I believe your body needs enough B12 to conduct the chemical processes that create serotonin and melatonin so if you are deficient you may have problems with both body clock timings and sleeping soundly.
Here are some sleep hints: Get up 7 days a week at the same time. Do not look at a TV or computer or phone screen for at least an hour before going to bed. Be calm and do calm activities an hour before bedtime. Do not lounge in your bed -- it is for sleeping only, so go to bed with the intention of sleeping. Clear your mind once in bed -- I make my mind focus on a blanket covered person in a bed in a dark empty space, sound asleep (way better than counting sheep!) Do not toss and turn in bed -- if you cannot sleep, sit in the living room and read a book. Absolutely get up at the same time every morning whether you slept or slept poorly or slept soundly. If you are a consumer of salty, sugary, processed junk food, change your ways. In other words, don't expect that new pills or new dosages will make you a better car driver -- instead, follow the rules of the road.
This article says your thyroid levels affect the quality of your sleep. Hypo patients don't reach the deeper stages. Inadequate T4 can also cause sleep apnea, which of course, would lead to interrupted sleep. tiredthyroid.com/blog/2014/...
I would suspect that, with no thyroid gland, 1.5 grains leaves you somewhat deficient in T4. A FT4 test would show where you are in the reference range, and whether you may need to add some T4 to your dose. Note that you went from 125 mcg T4 to 57 mcg on your 1.5 grains.
I recommend adding Magnesium (the right kind) to your permanent supplement routine:
1.5 grain of Naturethroid may not be sufficient. Have you had a recent blood test? If so, get a print-out of the results and post on a new question.
If not, ask GP to test TSH, T4, T3, FT4, FT3, Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.
These tests should be taken at the very earliest possible, fasting (you can drink water) allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of thyroid hormones and the test and take afterwards.
Get a print-out of your results and put on a new post.
Many doctors believe that getting the TSH 'somewhere' in range is fine. It isn't. We need a TSH of 1 or lower.
1.5 grains is surely insufficient for you to perform well. Blood test should be done and the results posted on here.
I now take 3 grains per day in two doses and I feel 85% of my old self. I have no thyroid either.
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Hypothyroidism and insomnia
