Has anyone had dramatic mood changes when starting levothyroxine?

About 4 days after I started levothyroxine I felt great and strong. It was like a miracle. I could feel energy to do what I needed do. I could hang out with my friends and actually enjoy myself. I was feeling a lot of anxiety and depression before that. I was agoraphobic most of the time. Now I'm kind of back in that funk sort of. I tried increasing up to 50 mcg and it helped a little but didnt have near the effect as when I started 25 mcg. I moved up my dose a little quicker but I haven't seen much difference. Now I'm on 75 mcg and doing okay for the last few days but now I'm just feeling flat again. I was on a small 50 g dose of zoloft but then I went on levothyroxine and felt my mood increase so much that I felt like I wouldn't need it anymore. I think some foods may be enhancing my anxiety but I dont eat gluten, dairy or soy anymore for the last 3 months. The only thing I can think of is corn as I ate a lot of corn tortilla chips the last few days and my stomach is feeling bad and my bms have become inconsistent and my anxiety is really high at some points. I really dont want to go back to taking sertraline but I might be forced if I dont show some better signs in my mood and activity or I start having panic attacks. Maybe I need like 400 mcg of levothyroxine. It's going to take a while to get there if I'm only increasing 25 mcg every 6 weeks. I'm gonna ask the doctor if I can increase every 2 or 3 weeks.

[greygoose]

No, you can't increase every 2 or 3 weeks. That would be insanity. It takes six weeks for the increase in dose to take full effect. If you increase too quickly, you go straight past your sweet spot, into over-medication, which will get worse as the levo catches up with itself. It's not your doctor being difficult that means you have to increase every six weeks, that is the protocol worked out by experience.

Why on earth do you think you're going to need 400 mcg? Very rare for someone to need that much. Agreed you're only on a small dose at the moment, so not surprising you still have symptoms, but most people need around 150 - 200 mcg.

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl.... I just read this one study where this guy had a high dose and things started working out. So I dont have much to go on lol. I'm on work disability right now and I have pretty good insurance but im trying to feel better and get back to work and I had to move back in with my parents because I cant take care of myself sometimes. I really hate my mom sometimes. She thinks I'm just lazy and she really knows nothing about what people with thyroid issues go through even though shes a nurse. I know if I started throwing in high amounts of zoloft I'd feel much more stable but I dont want to if my thyroid is the real issue. That amazing week I had is really making me think its levothyroxine that I need more of. I just hate this slow process of 25 mcg every 6 weeks. On the positive side at least I have hope that this levothyroxine can even my mood out on the right dose. I can at least wait and hope for things to be positive.

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

You're right, it is levo that you need more of, but you have to be patient or you will find yourself right back at square one. There are no short-cuts.

[NoUserNameIsNotUsed]

Hi Slushy,

I just posted ("Help with labs...' something subject line) about feeling bad on Levo but I'm taking a combo of Levo 50 mcg and NDT 1.5 grains (recently down to 1.25). My mood has been very, very down since starting Levo and I haven't been depressed in many years. Took zoloft for 20+ years and finally got off 4 years ago and won't go back on (this is just me). My T3 and T4 are in the 88% and 83% of range. I should feel great but feel hot and depressed. Bowels are weird, have nerve pain in hands, feel nauseous, can't sleep.

Not sre what's happening

[Hidden in reply to NoUserNameIsNotUsed]

That sounds like a frustrating situation. I'm frustrated so much right now. I felt great for like the first few weeks on levothyroxine like anxiety was way down and childlike energy. It's been a few weeks since then now my days are up and down. I just want those feelings to comeback. I was on zoloft for about 6 years before all this. I came off it cold Turkey like 6 months ago. I dont want to go back to it but I may have to. Maybe something is interfering with your t3. I'm new to this but I'm not new to my anxiety. I finally found about 8 months ago that gluten and dairy were greatly impacting my anxiety. I feel much better if I avoid those.Have you tried looking for food intolerances?

[nene041978]

I definitely feel you should get back on an antidepressant. I'm on Wellbutrin and I love it bc it has no side effects. My thyroid levels have been regular, and I haven't been on Levothyroixine since. I do feel I need to get back on it, however I do feel the Wellbutrin has been a true blessing! Keep me posted!

[Hidden]

Maybe so. I just saw so much improvement when I first started levothyroxine. It was like my brain woke up for the first time in so many years. My senses were so heightened and I was at ease.

If I start getting panicky too much now I'll most likely go back on zoloft but I guess I'll ride it out until then. It's so hard to know what to do when you're in a poor state of mind. I appreciate your reply. I'm so scared inside but at the same time very hopeful.

[silverfox7]

I’m with Greygoose on this one. We usually say it can take 6 months to get stable and patience is needed and we all know it isn’t easy but it’s impossible to speed things up and trying can make things a lot worse or set you back to starting again. Sorry your mum isn’t being sympathetic but I think you need to be a sufferer to really understand how debilitating it can be. Can you keep a diary to record your doses and feelings and anything else relevant. That way you may see a pattern developing or a point where things either get better or worse. But sadly it does take time and when we don’t feel good we want to be well now! Read all you can and learn to listen to your body, the diary could help with that and keep in touch. Post any results you get with the ranges. Rangers are very important as they differ from lab to lab so without we should just be guessing. It may be that your doctor isn’t good at reading results. Many doctors think if you are in range then all is well be it’s where in the range that is important so posting results is a plus thing. Also it’s worth asking your doctor to test Vit D, B 12, folate and Ferritin. We tend to be low in such things but these 4 help your thyroid to work better and again post any readings as they need to be optimal to make a difference.

You may also have seen that Thyroid Uk run this forum. Please look at their forum as lots of useful tips on there and loads of information to help you take you medication properly so absorption is at its best and many other things. Doctors don’t always realise what helps and what doesn’t.

[Hidden in reply to silverfox7]

Thank you that was very helpful. I'm so glad I found this forum. I've never had my t3 or t4 tested. I ended up in the ER after an overdose and the doctor was like your tsh is 21 so start this medication. The ER doctor wrote me a prescription and i started to feel awesome only like 3 days later. I had my tsh tested before that and it was like 2.8 , three or four months ago. It's supposed to be between 1 and 5 in the US I think.

[silverfox7 in reply to Hidden]

Just realised said look at their forum when I really meant to say look at their site. Doctors seem to think one little pill gets you better-it’s not as easy as that so read up what they say-it’s quite a lot to take in so I used to read through it every morning and night and that was I was prompted if I forgot or I had time to leave myself a measure if there was something I was tending to forget! At the end of the day we are all humans with a problem that can affect many aspects of our day to day living and it takes a while to take it all in properly. But you will get there and if you feel you aren’t then just post and I’m sure you will get lots of help and encouragement.

[Bessiebelle]

Just wanted to thank you for your posts. I’m having the very same experience/issues on Nature Throid, the initial feeling amazing, then back to housebound (I think I just overdid the physical activity, not being used to it for years). I’m just adding that, in case it resonates and because it sounds like it’s the bodies initial reaction to the hormone boost, not the specific drugs, since I’m experiencing the same on NTH. The doctor told me to give it 6-8 weeks before doing anything with dose. I’m on one grain at the moment. It was helpful for me to see you share your experience and hope my sharing helps you a little bit, I don’t have the knowledge or experience of the other people that have posted, but sometimes ‘me too’ can be a comfort I hope.

[Hidden in reply to Bessiebelle]

Yup it so great to not feel like I'm not the only one! At the same time it makes me sad because I know how difficult and irritating it can be and I'm sorry you have to go through this.

[Hidden in reply to Bessiebelle]

I thought I overdid my energy as well. Sounds like you're new here as well. There's probably much more people who have been through a similar experience, they are just out living their lives because they are so happy now when they got on the right dose. That's what I'd like to think 🙂

[Hidden in reply to Bessiebelle]

Did you get any insomnia? I've had a couple times where I didnt sleep much at all for a few days.

[SilverAvocado]

Slushy47, I agree with others, this is just a very slow process that requires a lot of patience. Expect it to take easily 6 months if you're lucky, and if you're unlucky like some of us here it can be a lot longer.

You're already doing very well having a doctor who is giving you an adjustment every 6 weeks, which is best practice, some end up having to wait up to 3 months.

While you're waiting for improvement one thing I recommend is learning how to rest a lot and pace yourself. Meditation helps a lot both with relaxing and resting, and with coping with the frustrations of being sick.

[Hidden in reply to SilverAvocado]

Thanks for the reply. Have you heard about any others who had a similar situation to mine? Did they improve much more when they got on the right dose?

[SilverAvocado in reply to Hidden]

Yes, your story sounds like exactly what I'd expect to see in someone hypothyroid. This is a very serious illness, that impacts every tissue and organ in the body, including our brains and mood. Often doctors and family will under play it and expect us to cope well, but they don't understand how much we suffer.

Yes, treatment makes a huge difference. Just keep making sure that you get retested and have a dose adjustment every 6 weeks, and keep moving towards your optimal dose. And make sure you take your tablets correctly on an empty stomach fasting for 2 hours before and 1 hour after.

I'm not sure everyone gets back to 100%, but you can expect to get back to 80% or more of the capacity you had before you got sick. As I mentioned before, it also helps a lot to learn how to manage the illness. Make sure you rest a lot of the day and cut out as much activity as you can. For me it's important to spend a few hours each day lying in bed. It can be dozing, reading, watching TV, etc. Meditation also helps hugely with lots of aspects of it, too.

[Hidden]

In the words of Waylon Jennings:

I'm a long way from home and so all alone.

Homesick like I'd never thought I'd be. I'm a long way from home, everything is wrong.

Someone please watch over me.

[Annkapp]

Yes, corn is very hard / damaging to the digestive system especially fried tortilla chips. It can cause leaky gut (breaks down the tight junctions between epithelial cells). These gaps then allow microbes and dietary proteins from the gut to “leak” into the bloodstream causing anxiety and other problems. Actually any kind of grain can cause this to happen.

Here is a list of reactive foods for Hashimoto patients.

Hashimoto’s and food

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

Gluten 93%

Dairy 75%

Grains (esp. Corn) 73%

Soy 60%

Egg 40%

Nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers) 35%

Nuts and seeds

[Hidden]

Update: I got back on zoloft about 2 weeks and I'm on 50 mcg of levothyroxine. I feel no energy and am feeling less hopeful. I thought the zoloft would work extra better when combined with levo but I haven't felt any improvement. I'm thinking I need a higher dose of levothyroxine because I'm not feeling much improvement from taking zoloft or levo. My next blood test is December 2. I'm just going to survive until then. I haven't upped from 50 mcg in quite a while so I'm just hoping I need more. My heart beat feels slow and I'm cold most of the time.