Thyroid med increase and adrenal impact

[McPammy]

Hi,

2 weeks ago I had an increase in my thyroid medications.

I was on 5mcg T3 twice a day and 75mcg Levothyroxine. Increased to 5mcg T3 three times a day and remain on 75mcg Levothyroxine

The reason for my increase is that 4 weeks ago I decided to join a local gym to get fitter as last year I was housebound mostly from working full time and generally busy I have been taking things very slowly

At first I felt great So pleased that I was getting so much better However, after a week with increased T3 I was getting pains in my lower back on each side just at the point of my kidneys/adrenals I continued with the increase Then last Sunday out shopping I suddenly went extremely weak and swaying and legs crossing over each other I went home and rested for the rest of the day The following day I was OK again So I went for a walk and was OK I decided not to continue with they increase and then the pain in my back went Now for the past 2 days I’ve been feeling really weak and I’m concerned about why the pain, weakness etc on increased medication

Has anyone out there had this experience when increasing thyroid medication

Last year I had very low cortisol tests after a Levothyroxine increase It took months to get right again And only did once T3 was introduced When I started T3 I had pains in my back also but it settled down after 4 weeks Then my cortisol and thyroid results were all really good and I felt great Now with this recent increase I’m failing again

Any help would be appreciated

Thank you

[Nico101]

Yes, I had this about 6 weeks ago. I've been increasing my dose of NDT every 2 weeks and got up to 2 grains. Like you, I suddenly got rubber legs while out walking the dog and my GP was concerned I'd had a stroke - I hadn't. I looked up the side effects of too much thyroid medication and found I had the symptoms. Plus my hair is falling out in clumps, too, and I'm suddenly craving carbs despite a LCHF diet. My hair was shedding badly when I was under-medicated but nothing like this, and I had no real carb-craving, either.

I was advised by this site to reduce my meds slowly - which is frustrating, but I have to put up with it or I could come down too much.

Another complication for me was I'd started LDN just over 2 months ago. LDN reduces the need for thyroid meds. The effects take up to 3 months to kick in, but I'd forgotten to factor in the build-up of LDN in my system and had continued to raise my NDT dose.

My limbs still feel a bit weak at the point of writing (better some days than others and my sleep has been poor, which doesn't help), but nowhere near as bad as they did the day it started.

I do, occasionally, get pain in the kidney/adrenal region - and I have had severe adrenal fatigue in the past, which has now been almost completely resolved - but this could be dehydration. The longest it's lasted was 2 days. It's worth mentioning that one marked symptom of adrenal fatigue was a terrible need for salt. Then that just disappeared almost overnight a few months ago.

Hope this helps.

[McPammy in reply to Nico101]

Yes rubber legs is a good description. My legs were crossing over one another as I was trying to walk. When I got home I was like a rag doll. I stopped my extra dose the following day. And then I bounced back for a couple of days. Now the past couple of days I’m really weak. The back pain has now gone too but still very weak. My legs are heavy. I feel like I’m sinking into the chair when I’m sitting. I can’t get my bloods done until next week unfortunately as my GP is on holiday. I think raising my thyroid medication has brought this in slowly. I was great for a week on the higher dose then bam into the sinking sand. I can’t seem to get myself back to normal.

I’m not dehydrated and not craving salt or anything. I did have a synacthen test last year for Addison’s and it was ok. But definitely something up with having the pain at the point of my kidney/adrenals. I’ve heard you need to be very careful increasing thyroid medication when you have adrenal issues. I’m not sure what issue but definitely something not right.

Thank you for taking time to reply it’s much appreciated 👍

[Nico101 in reply to McPammy]

Medichecks do a saliva cortisol test and it's meant to be better than the NHS SST. It's not terribly expensive, either. Likewise, the Medichecks thyroid tests can be bought on Thursdays for about £40 (they do offers on Thursdays).

I had various NHS tests done for adrenal issues but all came back normal or just below range. I had to have a private DUTCH test for my adrenals (mouth was too dry at the time for a saliva test), and it came back that my cortisol was too low in the morning and too high at night. Knowing that, I could then work on setting things right.

And you're right; you do need to address adrenal issues before starting or increasing thyroid meds. 2 years ago Dr P (how I wish he were still around) wouldn't even start me on Metavive until I had taken Adrenavive for 2 weeks - and Metavive is nowhere near as strong as thyroid meds.

Could it be your kidneys, rather than adrenals? Do you keep well hydrated?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to McPammy]

Medichecks do a saliva cortisol test and it's meant to be better than the NHS SST

But it's nowhere near as good as Regenerus or Genova Diagnostics test (details on ThyroidUK's main website).

Medichecks doesn't test DHEA, it only tests cortisol. The other labs test both, which is important.

Medichecks has some of their reference ranges with 0 as the bottom level. Considering ranges are based on healthy people then if anyone does actually have a level of 0 then they would either be very ill or a corpse. The other two labs have proper ranges.

Nico101

[McPammy in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you very much. I think I’ll get Regenerus to check my cortisol levels. I’ll have a look on Thyroid UK to check it all out.

I was terrible this morning but have bounced back this afternoon. I’m not great a bit dizzy and balance issues. I’ve managed to walk around my village. Sometimes I think I need to burn off T3. It’s not good sitting about. But difficult if you can’t move well.

Thanks again. 👍