Shortness Of Breathe After Levothyroxine?

[MivoUK]

Got prescribed Levothyroxine 50mcg daily and taken my first pill on Tuesday evening. After taking it I noticed a distinctive tightness in my lungs and shortness of breathe. Also noticed the same yesterday and today after taking my daily dosage.

It starts around 40 minutes after taking my Levothyroxine.

I am asthmatic and I taken Fostair 200/6 twice in the morning and twice at night.

Didn't notice this until I started the levo.

[shaws Administrator]

Some people may be sensitive to the fillers/binders in levothyroxine so try this method to see if it relieves breathlessness.

Take one anti-histamine tablet one hour before your next dose and if it relieves your unpleasant system, ask pharmacist to give you another make. You may need another prescription.

As your TSH is so high, it might take a while before yo begin to feel much better and the aim is a TSH of 1 or lower with Free T3 and Free T4 in the upper part of the ranges. Many doctors think that if TSH is 'somewhere' in the range, i.e. usually up to around 5 that we're on sufficient but we're not.

We have to read, learn and ask questions so that we can educate ourselves as many doctors and even some endocrinologists haven't the knowledge needed to make us recover our health.

[Hennerton]

It is hard to know whether it is the Levothyroxine or your very under active condition at the moment causing this. Your TSH is very high and you must feel unwell, even without the shortness of breath. I expect many vitamins and minerals are low and it would be a good idea to ask your GP to test iron, ferritin, Vit D, B12 and folate. The shortness of breath may be caused by low iron. It will take several weeks before you feel much better but having said all that, I think in your position, I would talk to my GP anyway about it, at the same time asking for the blood tests named above. Did he test for antibodies? It would be useful but they rarely do, unless asked.