I was wondering how to tell if you have gone over your ideal dose of NDT.
Just over a week ago I woke up with legs like rubber and general weakness in arms - mainly on the right. I also had bouts of not quite dizziness... more like spaced out for a few seconds. If I bent over, for example, i wouldn't fall over like with normal dizziness.
Anyway, I had got up to 2 grains of NDT 10 days before that. My energy was feeling better, although no improvement on dry skin and hair loss. I'm not sure how quickly certain symptoms improve over others. Does anyone have any idea in what order - generally speaking - symptoms improve? I have Hashi's hypo.
My GP was panicking and thought I'd had a stroke. I wasn't convinced, but having seen my endo (at last!!!) a few days before who banged on more about my cholesterol (6.3) to the point I was terrified I was going to drop dead of a heart attack on the spot, it has been bothering me.
I did some basic research and found rubbery legs to be a symptom of hyper thyroid, as an overactive thyroid gobbles up potassium. I'd also been taking less potassium of late - just forgetting to add it to my water, not intentionally. I was wondering if this may be a viable explanation? I've upped my potassium intake but not reduced my NDT until I get some advice from here. The rubbery legs are much better, although I had a trapped nerve in my left hip on Saturday that has finally gone today and some sciatica. It's rare for me to get sciatica in both legs at the same time, but it has happened before, but usually that is accompanied by numbness and/or a burning feeling. I also have issues with vagus nerve impingement, which could explain the spaced out feeling. It's hard to know what happened - but I highly doubt it was a stroke.
So, how do you know when you've tipped over into hyper and need to reduce your NDTs? Has anyone else had similar symptoms?
Thanks.
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Nico101
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Well, for a start, you can't 'tip over into hyper' because you're hypo. You can be over-medicated, but that's not the same. And, as you have Hashi's, you could have a Hashi's 'hyper' swing, but that's not real hyper, either.
But, as your cholesterol is high you more than likely have low FT3, so I doubt you're over-medicated or having a swing. But, you'd really need a blood test to tell because so many symptoms can be both over and under-medicated.
Don't worry about the cholesterol. It does not cause heart attacks - repeat: does not cause heart attacks or strokes. It's a symptom, not a disease. Don't let your endo put you on statins, they are not recommended for hypos.
Hi GG. I meant too much medication giving me hyper symptoms.
I panicked about the cholesterol initially, but refused statins and went home and did my research. What an eye-opener! High (well, higher than the NHS thinks is a good level) cholesterol actually protects against heart attacks, and women have higher cholesterol than men anyway.
I'm very annoyed the endo scared me so badly - and unnecessarily.
And she wouldn't - couldn't - prescribe NDTs without me being on Levo for 4-6 months first and having issues with it... and even then she'd have to fight to justify it. I was prepared for that outcome from being on here, though.
OK, but be careful with 'hyper' symptoms. So many of them can also be hypo symptoms. But, as I said, with 'high' cholesterol, you're unlikely to be over-medicated.
Thanks. The endo said my cholesterol was familial and couldn't be altered by diet and said it was nothing to do with thyroid when I asked. And she's meant to be one of the best!
She asked if I knew if any of my parents had heart problems (don't know), as if I had 2 parents with FH it was very dangerous...
Read 2 books on cholesterol and spent best part of a week on PubMed and discovered if both parents had FH I would not have made it past 40. Oh well...
I've no idea. I said I had a very high fat diet and she dismissed it and said I couldn't alter it by adjusting my diet. That much is true, I now know. We have our own genetic level of cholesterol and only illness or drugs changes that. Where the FH came in? No idea. I wasn't prepared for her concentrating on cholesterol, TBH. I went there for my thyroid.
I also read that just a few decades ago the ideal cholesterol level used to be under 7. Then it went down to 6. Now 5 - and they're thinking of making it lower.
Can't imagine why... I suppose those statins aren't going to sell themselves.
Exactly. Less and less people want statins as they start to do their own research. So, they have to lower the upper limit continually to catch more people in their net. It's wicked!
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
As you have Hashimoto's low vitamin levels are extremely common
Very important to regularly retest vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
When were these last tested?
What vitamin supplements do you currently take?
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water . 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).
If/when also on NDT (or T3) make sure to take last dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after being on constant unchanging dose
I am thinking of getting another blood test done, but I have only been on 2 grains for 3 weeks. Do you think I should stick to 2 grains for another few weeks and then get tested?
I have a blood test off my GP waiting to be done - I'll do it sometime this week - and she's testing F3 and F4 BUT she's also put on there TFT's. Do you think she's testing free T3? I understood the NHS doesn't normally do it - but my GP has Hashi's and is very supportive, so maybe she's managed to swing it.
My D and B12 were last tested in July and were very high, and folate was at the high end of the range. I've had to stop both D and B12 for a while.
I take vits B1, B3, and B6, vit C, E, A, l-glutamine, l-tyrosine, magnesium, potassium, zinc, selenium, and am eating chicken livers every day for ferritin, as that was on the low side in July.
Hi, what you are experiencing could be due to still high vit D. Get it tested. It has a very long half-life plus you eat liver which has high vit D content. In my personal opinion we take too much vit D supplements and some people reach there toxic limit before the labs offiicial numbers. I hope it helps.
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