Hi Folks! Hope some of you are doing ok. I had 4 months of Levo. Gained 11 pounds felt like shit...y’all know.
I have been switched to Synthoid at 50mgs. 3rd week and hair falling out...this whole thing is just a helluva confidence booster, yes? Fat, angry, bald, and crazy...
Synthroid
Can’t spell either....
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I thought Synthroid was just a trade name for levothyroxine, so largely more of the same, though various pill fillers/ coatings could be different. Have you had your ferritin, folate, b12 and vit D tested, or known to have thyroid autoimmune antibodies ie Hashimoto’s? If Hashi could be low nutrients, as poor gut absorption characteristic, contributing to hair falling out. Did blood test on levo, presumably 50 mcg, not suggest you needed to rise hormone dose?
In the Stares, levo is generic and dose can vary...the Synthroid site spends a long time explaining it...I just posted cause it’s a pain to have hypothyroidism
Ok, but if you do know you have Hashimoto’s then the vit/ min comments still hold good as possible reasons for eg hair falling out.
All Levo, whether it is generic or Synthroid or something else has to be a product which contains a certain amount of Levothyroxine specified in the US Pharmacopeia (USP). And all pills will have a small amount of variation "built in" including Synthroid. The FDA can take Levo products off the market if they don't adhere to the recipe laid down in the USP.
And, historically, Synthroid is not exactly covered in glory...
thyroid-info.com/articles/s...
The above article is old, but still interesting.
Just remember that Synthroid spends more on marketing than any other Levothyroxine product anywhere in the US, and probably the world.
If you want to know more about all the different brands of Levo available in the US you might find this site of interest :
dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/
I have read of quite a number of people who very much prefer one of the other levothyroxine products - such as Unithroid (also sold as Lannett).
Just as in the UK, people are different, we are individuals, and a product which one person dislikes might be the favourite of someone else.
However, treating ALL products that are not Synthroid as if they are identical is falling into a Synthroid marketing trap. Something like, one non-Synthroid product didn't suit, so I MUST always have Synthroid. Also, it is important to keep to the same product and not jump between makes.
Thanks, y’all!!!
Cal. If Levo's not working for you. You may have to try NDT. Have a read of the Stop Thyroid Madness site and maybe somebody here / geographically near you can help you with sourcing some. I import mine from the USA at great expense, but for me, it' like night and day.
J
Synthroid is T4 only. ... So many people simply can not convert T4 into the usable T3. ... To me, all your symptoms point to you not converting the T4. ...... Why were you put on Synthroid? Were you on something else previously? Were you doing OK on something else? .... I think sometimes doctors prescribe Synthroid simply because it is the least expensive. If it isn't working for you, go back to your Doc ans tell them exactly that! ... IT ISN'T WORKING FOR YOU?
Lol...thyroid disease sucks
Calends, the first thing to check if you're not getting on with the hormone is if your dosage is correct. What you're describing sound like hypothyroid symptoms, so maybe you've never been on your optimal dose.
Do you have any blood tests to share? Members can advise. TSH, freeT4, and freeT3.
#MeThree. Being crazy is my defense against going insane.
I'm sure you meant micrograms (mcg), because a dosage of any thyroid hormone measured in milligrams (mg) would probably kill you. It would at least make you quite ill. But you'd have to swallow a lot of pills to even get up to a dosage of 1 mg. You can google to see the available dosages of thyroid medications.
50 mcg is pretty much a "starter dose." The recommended practice is for doctors to start you on a low dose, retest after 6 weeks, and then adjust the dose upward until all your symptoms go away. Of course, almost none of them explain this to the patient, which leaves many very surprised when they don't feel better within a few days. Furthermore some doctors are so uneducated (or maleducated) that they just leave you there forever, or stop increasing the dose as soon as your TSH falls back into the lab's standard range. Most hypothyroid patients don't feel well until their TSH is below 2, and in some cases until the TSH is BELOW the range.
50mcg is only a starter dose of Levothyroxine
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose increase or change in brand
The aim of Levothyroxine is to increase the dose slowly in 25mcg steps upwards until TSH is under 2 (many need TSH under one) and FT4 in top third of range and FT3 at least half way in range
All four vitamins need to be regularly tested and frequently need supplementing to maintain optimal levels
NHS guidelines on Levothyroxine including that most patients eventually need somewhere between 100mcg and 200mcg Levothyroxine.
nhs.uk/medicines/levothyrox...
Also what foods to avoid (note recommended to avoid calcium rich foods at least four hours away from Levo)
also important to avoid coffee within hour of taking Levothyroxine
thyroid.org/patient-thyroid...
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Last Levothyroxine dose should be 24 hours prior to test, (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
I had all of the same symptoms when I was first diagnosed with Hashimotos. My doctor started me out at .112mcg of Synthroid, tested 8 weeks later and ultimately changed my dosage to .150, where I have been for many years. It sounds to me that your initial dose of Synthroid is way to low. That's why you are gaining weight and losing hair. That will stop once you are on the correct dosage for your body. Contact your doctor sooner rather than later!
I don't know your age but hair loss and weight gain can also be menopause related.
I've had Graves disease for years and have refused to get RAI or a TT just because I haven't had horrible symptoms, I didn't want to start a whole new set of problems with being hypothyroid, and I have kept it well controlled using pills. I'm in America and the first thing they put me on was Methimazole (which is like the UK carbimazole), and I got hives. Then I was put on propylthiouracil (PTU). After being on it for probably a year and a half, my hair started falling out. I had a very good physician who said it was most likely because of the PTU. I was basically in remission so he said let's take you off it and see what happens. Came off it, 3 months later the hair loss stopped. About 2 years after that my Graves started acting up again and I started PTU and within about 3 months, hair started falling out. Went off it and 3 months later, hair fall stopped. Spent about a year trying natural therapies which actually worked pretty well. I was virtually symptom free but my labs were still a bit high. Have a new endo and she wanted me to try methimazole again at a very low dose just to see if we could get my levels down. Within about 2 weeks of being on it, my hair started falling out. Which completely freaked me out because I now have pretty thin hair because of the other falling out episodes. I actually looked at wigs. Went back to all my usual websites to look for any kind of help and somehow came across certain hair vitamins that were on Amazon. They had tons of positive reviews and a bunch of reviews from people who were losing hair because of medication. Thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. Got them, and have been on them 3 weeks. When I first started taking them I was losing probably 125 hairs taking a shower and drying my hair. After 2 weeks, I was losing about 80. Today I counted 60. So it must be working! And I know I sound like a salesman and it seems too good to be true but it makes sense, thyroid disease depletes all our vitamins so of course our hair is unnurished to begin with. Then we start a medication that can put more stress on it and it falls out. I know I can't put a brand name on here but if you want to PM me I'll tell you. I'm not associated with them in any way, I just promised myself that if it worked for me, I would tell other people.
Can you please PM me regarding the hair vitamins you are using? Are they still working for you? Thank you,
Could you PM me regarding hair vitamins you are taking, are the still working and have you had any regrow. Hair shedding like crazy. Thank you
Updating my current situation.
Mini update on my progress
Update on my T3 journey !
Update on my appointment this afternoon
Update to my previous post
