Intolerance to thyroxine

[Hannah5273]

Hi there - I have Hashimoto and have been taking Levothyroxine/eutirox for 5 months. My issue is that I keep having to lower the dose of Levo because it keeps causing me to have symptoms of diabetes (excessive hunger, thirst, polyuria, weight loss, night sweats) however my TSH level remains high and T3/T4 in normal range. My diabetes tests keep coming back negative however I do have antibodies against the pancreas.

Each time I lower my dose the diabetes symptoms go away for a few weeks and then they return again until I lower my dose again. I am always experiencing the symptoms of Hashimoto because my body cannot tolerate the dose of Levo that I need.

Any one else experienced this or have any suggestions? Thank you.

[SilverAvocado]

Sorry you haven't had any responses so far

I'd say there are two things that can cause these kind of symptoms. One is an intolerance to something in the tablets. There are loads of fillers and possibly unpleasant things in these tablets. You can address this by making sure you try out all the brands that are available, read up on fillers for each one. I've also heard you can take an antihistamine and see a difference.

The second possibility is that these are adrenal symptoms. This means your body is struggling to cope with the increase in metabolism you get from taking the tablets, because all the rest of your body then has to catch up and it's too ill to do that.

Treating adrenal fatigue can be quite a big job. There is lots about it in the forum. The first step is to get a 24hr cortisol saliva test, the ThyroidUK website tells you how. Then you might choose to supplement with adrenal glandulars or adaptogen herbs. Its also important (and maybe enough) to work on lifestyle factors, reduce stress in your life, meditate and get good quality rest, sleep well in a good schedule, eat a healthy diet and don't skip meals, reduce activity levels but do gentle exercise.

Basically the adrenal glands cope with little stresses all through the day, and when we're ill they are working flat out 24/7, which they're not strong enough to do.

Also get your vitamins and minerals optimal. In terms of thyroid hormone the advice is to increase super slow at a speed that doesn't give symptoms. For you the symptoms are popping up slowly over time so it's harder to know which way to go.

Places like Stop the Thyroid Madness advise that the adrenals and vitamins are treated before even starting thyroid hormone, so you could continue reducing as you need and put all your energies into treating adrenals and vitamins before trying to raise again.

[Hannah5273 in reply to SilverAvocado]

Thank you very much for for comments. I have looked into adrenals and this seems to make a lot of sense to me so im going to look into this further. Thanks again!

[SilverAvocado in reply to Hannah5273]

You're welcome

There is lots of info on the forum, but its a bit more confusing than thyroid because there isn't as much consensus. You've just got to work thru different things to try.

Good luck!