Puffy Eyes from Low Thyroid. Help, it's making me sad :(

[termsofendearment]

I wrote a similar question & received some wonderful answers about this topic but wanted to ask a little more in detail & mention some things I hadn't before. One and a half years ago I developed puffy eyes/eyebags. I thought they were related to my low thyroid (hypothyroidism) or aging because I had my allergies checked and it wasn't those. I wound up having an upper and lower blepharoplasty 8 months ago by a plastic surgeon to remove the upper and lower eyebags. 2 months ago the eyebags came back. I was feeling ill again from my thyroid and went to a new doctor. He said my T3 levels were low. He put me on liothyrine and specified mayne pharma on the prescription but they gave me sigma pharma. My doctor said that isn't good. I am starting mayne pharma next week. Sometimes my face gets a little puffy too and my eyelids but the eyebags bother me the most. Do you think my puffy eyes will get better once I am leveled out and feeling better? I take vitamin B and D also that my doctor gave me. Also, sometimes I don't eat enough. Can that affect my eye bags or thyroid? I have tried everything, plastic surgery, eye creams, etc. Any tips on what I can do. It makes me feel so horrible about my looks. I already have suffered so much with this disease. Any tips would help. Thank you so much.

[Lalatoot]

We need carbs to optimally convert t4 to t3. We need high normal levels of folate and ferritin. So proper diet is important.

[termsofendearment in reply to Lalatoot]

thank you!

[Astridnova]

I also don't convert t4 to t3 properly. My eyebags disappeared after I stabilised on dessicated pork thyroid, which contains T3. They had plagued me from the age of about 39. I am now 67. I actually went to a plastic surgeon about them and my swollen face and neck over five years ago and he recommended bleroplastys. I returned recently and he said I did not need them, and could not recognise my face. I think that plastic surgeons often benefit financially from the fact that hypothyroidism is so poorly treated. Best of luck with getting your T3 up to speed. It can take a while, with ups and downs, but you will get there, and so will your eyes.

[termsofendearment in reply to Astridnova]

Thank u so much!

[termsofendearment in reply to Astridnova]

Can I ask how long it took you to get stabilized?

[Astridnova in reply to termsofendearment]

The bags went away almost immediately with my first month or less - possibly within days - of beginning doses of 1grain of dessicated pork thyroid (NDT). In fact I can be more accurate talking about my mother, whose legs, which my father saw with horror had swollen to ridiculous levels, went back to normal overnight, after swapping from thyroxin to NDT one grain (starter dose). My father stared at them as if I had performed some kind of magic or confidence trick. He couldn't believe the change. Her facial swelling also went down, and then I could understand what she had been complaining of, however her legs were the most obvious and dramatic symptom.

Back to myself, on those low beginning doses (generally you start on half a grain to one grain) I thought I had fixed things, because I had such a good immediate reaction - so that is a sort of indication of how fast this works.

My doctor suggested however that I increase the dose due to my low T3 levels. I did that, but then I misinterpeted signs and symptoms of continuing low thyroid as the opposite and thought I was overmedicating, and went back to my first ridiculously low dose.

Within a couple of months I developed quite obvious hypothyroidism with puffy eyes, face, and unstable knees, not to mention needing to sleep all the time and not remembering much. I really couldn't figure things out for myself.

My doctor said this was in part because my faulty memory meant I wasn't really keeping track of my symptoms and dose. Based on his testing my T3 levels, I increased my meds to 2 grains and then to 2.5 grains daily on his advice, felt great, eyebags gone, strong legs, and then my T3 went too high and I got rapid heartbeat and missed beats.

Once again, with my doctor's review of my T3, I reduced. I am now on 2grains five days a week and 2.25grains Mondays and Fridays, and my T3 is good. For a while I tried 2 grains 7 days a week, but I experienced eye-swelling and knee instability immediately. Apparently I am very sensitive to dosage. Not everyone is that sensitive.

I guess this process has taken about 3 years so far. However, I can now relate swollen eyes to low T3, and if I get them, I have a blood test.

The moral of this story is that I needed an objective and helpful doctor to test my bloods and advise me on dose, in conjunction with our mutual discussion of my symptoms. There has also been a process of me learning what is symptomatic of high and what is symptomatic of low T3. My doctor considers the measurement of TSH to be laughably inadequate, and T4 not much better, although somewhat indicative. It is the T3 that he looks at. He prefers natural dessicated pork thyroid (NDT) as a medication, although he will prescribe the other kinds if people insist. I really recommend NDT as a far more stable medication than synthetic T3. It stores for ages, well beyond its stated expiry dates, which are arbitrary. (I always wait an hour before and after before eating or drinking anything but water.)

Don't give up; there will be a dose solution. Change your doc if you don't get enough support.

[Lora7again in reply to Astridnova]

When I was ill a couple of years ago because I was under active my stomach was bloated and uncomfortable. Now my stomach is flatter and my clothes fit and my rings have become loose on my fingers when they used to dig in because my hands were swollen.

[termsofendearment in reply to Astridnova]

Thank you so much for what you wrote and all the information. I greatly appreciate it.

[guysgrams]

Wish I could say my eye bags went away after adding T3 but alas they are still there. Not as puffy but still there. I think I have had them my entire adult life and I'm going on 70. My upper eyelids finally are the way the should be and not sagging now that I take T3.

[mythyroidlife]

This disease is harsh, bad things always happen to good people.

I’m sure you are a beautiful person inside and out. And you should not let things hold you back or bring you down.

[NWA6]

I put some pictures on a post to show my ‘before and after’ pictures. Me on T3 and not. My eyes were akways so puffy. I still have dark eyes and now a bit baggy because of the constant swelling. I’m going for the blepharoplasty in the summer/autumn. Just waiting to be settled on my thyroid meds as I only started T3 in May. All going well so far, I’m a bit hypo at the moment and my eyes are the first thing to swell. I have Botox too though which helps with the eyes.

[termsofendearment in reply to NWA6]

I looked at your pics and could really see the difference. So did you say you are on T3 levo or T3 and T4 or what were your eyes most puffy on? They look great now.

[NWA6 in reply to termsofendearment]

Thanks lovely 😊 I was on Levo for 10yrs. Always asking for an increase, never felt quite well enough and actually didn’t realise how puffy my eyes were, I feel like they e been like that since I was a late teen. Then I really collapse with Hypo not leaving the house, loads of symtoms, not able to function. Turns out my T3 is rubbish! So I went on to a mix of T4 and 3. I’m now on 150mcg Levo and 20mcg T3. Thing is, I didn’t build up to my T3 intake, I took 20mcg From the day my prescription arrived, felt bloody marvellous within hours of taking it. It was only when I’d taken a few pictures that I realised that my eyes weren’t so puffy and dark. Now the skin is a little saggy but a little nip and tuck should sort that out.

I’ve been on a combo for 6mths now, a little hypo again this last month so I’ve got a blood test on 2/1/20 and that’ll guide me on my T3 increase.

[Lora7again]

One of my eyes can become swollen after sleep and I was worried I was getting thyroid eye disease so I got my optician to check my eyes and luckily they are fine.

[Rhannii7]

Did you ever find a cure or solution