HRT and Levo: Hi just me again. I did mention a... - Thyroid UK

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HRT and Levo

Trying-hard profile image
18 Replies

Hi just me again.

I did mention a couple of weeks ago that my doctor had me on 150. Levo,that I feel tired irritable and I have constant ailments ranging from joint pain ( I had a scan guided steroid injection in my shoulder last week) pretty nasty but seems to be working. I get constant chest infections I had pneumonia got suptus. The gp did say that my immune system is far from ideal. They didn’t do anything about that. I have been on Premarin 1.25 for a few years now ( surgically induced menopause)

Sometimes the anxiety keeps me awake almost all night and I have started to get really bad hot flushes but they seem to be more when I am anxious :( bit of a mess really. So my questions are is it ok to take Premarin and thyroxine together how far apart should they be.?

Do I need to get all of the vitamins and supplements mentioned on this forum? Im really quite worried since the first time I posted on here re my gp advising me to take all my thyroid med at once I to ‘kickstart my metabolism in the mornings I got told he was an idiot. It’s a minefield. The sweats I wake with in the mornings (if I do sleep) or like malaria or something:)

Maybe slight exaggeration with the malaria thing anyway it’s nasty.

Can anyone help. Please don’t tell me to go private I lost my job due to becoming so anxious I was collapsing ;(

Thanks for your time

Yours

Ill and anxious

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Trying-hard
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18 Replies
greygoose profile image
greygoose

like malaria or something

I am so glad you said that! You're the first person who has ever described my symptoms I had at one point, long before I was diagnosed. I thought I had malaria, or something! My ex used to travel to exotic countries for his job, and had to take malaria protection himself. I though maybe he'd accidentally brought a mosquito home in his baggage! So, I know what you're talking about. Whether it really was something to do with the hypo - because I was definitely hypo at that point - or 'something else', I just don't know, but I often wonder.

first time I posted on here re my gp advising me to take all my thyroid med at once I to ‘kickstart my metabolism in the mornings

Not sure what you're saying, here. What thyroid med are you taking? What other medication are you taking? Or are you including your Premarin in with your levo? Levo should always be taken on its own - unless you're also taking T3 - or you compromise absorption. So, no, you should not take levo and Premarin together. As for 'kickstarting' your metabolism - what is he, a doctor or a motorbike mechanic? - you cannot 'kickstart' parts of the body. If you're hypo, your metabolism is going to be low, and the only thing that can 'kickstart' it is getting onto the right dose of thyroid hormone replacement - and it doesn't sound as if you are, yet. The word 'kickstart' has no place in medicine, and I do wish doctors wouldn't use it!

Rant over. :) So, if you must take Premarin - and personally, I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole - terribly cruel to horses - it should be four hours away from levo.

Just to recap: levo - in fact all thyroid hormones - should be taken on an empty stomach, leaving at least one hour before eating or drinking anything other than water, and two hours before any other medication or supplements, four hours before iron, vit D, magnesium, calcium or estrogen. Premarin is estrogen.

Yes, you should get your vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin tested, and supplement according to the results. :)

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply togreygoose

Hello Greygoose thanks for that it’s helpful yes I’m hypo and on 150mg which I have started to take at night recently and was wondering if that was the reason for the sleepless or

should I say interrupted sleep and malaria:) so you were definitely hypo when that happened to you? Yes here is something going wrong then. Also

thanks I will continue to take my thyroxine at night then I can take my hrt and vitamins in the morning? Yea?

I’m so glad I found this forum I started to think I was some crazy hypochondriac or something. Phew!!

It appears my GP is a silly goose 😊 I will ignore his advice and not get up and swallow 150 Levo to ‘kickstart’ me. Will keep trying to take it at night

Have a great day I feel marginally better already :)

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toTrying-hard

Well, that's good to hear! I hope it continues. :)

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply togreygoose

Thanks again I will keep you posted

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toTrying-hard

You're welcome. :)

Cup-cake7 profile image
Cup-cake7 in reply toTrying-hard

Oh hello

I appreciate it was six months ago but please may you tell me how you have got on. I take HRT, it's the yam one, bio identical they call it, and wondering if you have noticed weight creep up with HRT and levo

How are you? Xx

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply toCup-cake7

Hi yes I have always been ‘thin’ the doctors actually explained me as that but I’m actually a lot thicker around the middle. Could be just my age I guess. I have noticed how weak my muscles are too again tho I’m not getting any younger. So yes I have gained weight but I’m not sure of the cause exactly.

Cup-cake7 profile image
Cup-cake7 in reply toTrying-hard

Thanks for reply and so quickly

Ah. Well as you said around the middle I can mention I was told by a keniesiologist that weight particularly around the middle indicates a leaky gut/ low bacteria ?

May be worth checking out but always good to work on gut

Cup-cake7 profile image
Cup-cake7 in reply toTrying-hard

Oh me too, retrain muscles are scaring me a bit,

I'm now on magnesium for muscle, I've read about imbalance here and with calcium

Need protein and weight resistance to build muscle don't we, and of course not being hypo

So what do you see for your hypo?

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply toCup-cake7

I’m pretty good at sticking to high protein low carb intake type nutrition I should go back to magnesium to be fair I just keep loosing heart but there’s no quick fix sadly. I’m on my 150mg of Levo for my hypo. What about you?

Cup-cake7 profile image
Cup-cake7 in reply toTrying-hard

Only 75

I struggled on 100. so,presume I need to work on adrenals

I'm wondering if I should get predenolone

How do folk know they need this I wonder?

And now have the HRT I'm expecting to need more thyroid meds

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply toCup-cake7

I don’t really know how it works tbh I had another run in with my doctor about the Premarin (hrt) so to be honest I’m keeping my head down. I know I shouldn’t and I should feel much better but I just cant talk to them. I actually walked out of my gp’s surgery last week :(

Cup-cake7 profile image
Cup-cake7 in reply toTrying-hard

Why what's the matter

I feel exactly same re gp

So let down I don't trust myself as was undiagnosed for years

Cup-cake7 profile image
Cup-cake7 in reply toTrying-hard

.....hiya. Re our hrt do you know if its the norm that you meed more levo when taking hrt??

Iv just had high tsh level after taking hrt for two mo ths?

So depressing. I hurt in joints more tok

Does hrt cause this?

sarosent profile image
sarosent

Look up estrogen dominance - too much estrogen in relation to progesterone. We need estrogen but we need progesterone too. After menopause, progesterone drops more than estrogen.

restartmed.com/estrogen-dom...

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply tosarosent

Even if it’s surgical induced menopause I had a hysterectomy at 27. So I have been on hrt for about 20 years now??

sarosent profile image
sarosent in reply toTrying-hard

You've been on just estrogen for 20 years? Does your doctor test your hormone levels?

I went into early menopause after surgery on my ovaries. Not as early as you!! but had the classic estrogen dominance symptoms. I don't remember the "why" but there is a reason why progesterone declines more rapidly after menopause than estrogen, but yet the standard is to give women estrogen.

Maybe others will have scientific data but it is really something you should consider and research. Just want you to feel better!

Trying-hard profile image
Trying-hard in reply tosarosent

Yes of course thank you and I will check it out. I don’t seem to have a particular GP anymore and I have been so ill recently that I have been backwards and forwards with chest, shoulder, blackouts and anxiety recently so the other stuff seems to have taken a back seat really.

It was only when I came on to this forum that I realised it was maybe all connected.

So thank you I will look in to estrogen dominance, I have never heard of it so many thanks :)

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