I have been taking thyroid hormone, T4 only for 28 years, then T4, T3 combo and have had my share of problems but generally fared fairly well until something totally unexpected happened and got me right in the head(aches). I felt like my head wasn’t attached to my shoulders. A terrible pain to just turn my head sideways. I couldn’t figure it out, then, after the fifth straight day of terrorizing headaches and neck stiffness I realized how much my tooth was aching (again). It had been for the better part of a year and the dentist had x-rayed it and said there was no sign of a problem? Because of Covid-19 I had stayed away from the dentist for over a year, so finally I made an appointment and saw her last week. The thing is I had gone from 88 mcg’s of T4 only, for 28 years, to 50 mcg’s of T4 and 30 mcg’s of T3, mostly because I had stopped taking the T4 only, after a trip to Switzerland for a month in 2018 when I had “crashed” with the same headaches, dizziness, weakness, sleep all night, stiff neck symptoms and immediately told my GP I was “off” T4 for good. He sent me to an endo and that’s who gave me the 30 mcg T3 and 50 mcg T4, which I was fine on for about 9 months when I asked him for more T4; he prescribed me 75 mcg’s T4 and lowered the T3 to 20 mcg and just 45 days ago, after taking it for 45 days, I felt so positive that I upped the T4 to 100 mcg’s and he then lowered the T3 to 10 mcg’s and, like I said, it went great for 45 days before the headaches came for about a week straight and I went through trying less T4, no T4, less T3, no T3 but nothing worked and so I’m still dosing myself with 75 T4, sometime, 100 T4, sometime 50 T4 but usually the same T3, 22.5 mcg’s or 25 mcg’s. Nothing worked until I went to the dentist (yesterday) and she “discovered” two infected teeth and pulled them both out. The headaches went away but only for a brief time and presently I have the same headaches only worse. The dentist did make another appointment and said that two other teeth next to these were also infected and would have to be crowned (for the 3rd time) or pulled. So, I am still having the headaches and waiting to see if it’s the thyroid T4,T3 or the teeth? She did say these two were not totally infected, whatever that means and could be crowned so I am waiting but am being accompanied by mind-boggling headaches I only pray god I can figure out enough to get rid of them. The dentist wrote a prescription for an antibiotic but I haven’t taken it because I can’t say if it will adversely affect me and the dentist wasn’t “familiar’ with thyroid meds. Any ideas. Peace be to us all in these uncertain times, as if it ain’t bad enough with all this stuff, right?
TEETH OR T4-T3: I have been taking thyroid... - Thyroid UK
TEETH OR T4-T3
I'm on antibiotics (amoxicillin) just now for severe tooth problems. Before I started them I thought of the pain as being "three feet wide", but over the time I've been on the antibiotics the pain has shrunk and shrunk until it has ended up being centred in just one tooth.
It wasn't clear before where the pain originated but at least I know for certain now.
The dentist I saw gave me an x-ray and said nothing showed up to explain the pain I was in, so I was grateful for the antibiotics because they have been helping, but the pain is still there.
I don't know what options I've got to make the pain go away permanently. All I can think of is
1) Replace the filling in the tooth OR
2) Have a root canal filling done with a crown on top OR
3) Have the tooth removed and a fake tooth implanted OR
4) Have the tooth removed and a denture created, which seems over the top for one tooth.
I'm not a dentist and I don't know the pros and cons of the above options, or whether I've missed any options out.
You absolutely don't need a partial for one tooth. I've got upper and lower partials with over half my teeth being missing. The thing I always wrestle with in times like these, even though there's never been: "times like these," is how the perscription can, many times do, interact with the thyroid meds, even as the dentists, doctors & specialists always say: "oh it won't effect your meds at all." Talk about "killing" innocent people, check out some of these doctors? Real caring, humble, caring human beings huh? It galls me no end that people such as doctors, dentists, police officers, military (anyone with a weapon, pistol to nuclear weapons, is capable of killing and we all know this is too true.) Why is it when a group of "armed" individuals get together there always seems to be an "accident" a killing or even a riot. People who march for civil rights see these militarized troops and police and recognize the "look" on the faces of these human beings who have a gun and want to use it and with the police all it takes is the first shooter for every gun in the gang to fire and someone dies, usually with 100 bullets in them. Peace to us all in these tragic times.
It would be worth your while to read the Patient Information Leaflets for the antibiotic you've been prescribed and for your thyroid meds, to see if you can spot any references to interactions between them all.
I must admit I'm happy about the benefits I got from the antibiotics I've been on. At its worst the pain I had was so bad it sometimes felt like I'd been stabbed in the face.
HB, I have tooth experience.
One time,Dentist couldn't see anything particular on x ray, but we decided to take filling out and see what was going on underneath , found problem , re did filling ,... fixed 
i've also had root canals on a few (not a fun day out, but work really well, no nerve =no pain anymore), and would say this is preferable to removal until there is so little decent tooth left that removal is the only option.
once years ago i got fed up with a problem tooth and just said 'oh take the damn thing out' , dentist said 'we can have another go at fixing it' but i was impatient......
Now that i have fewer useful teeth left (and i have more confidence in their fixing skills than i did then) i think it was a mistake to take it out, and now try to keep natural tooth even if dead with root canal for as long as possible.
Removal/implants/dentures bring their own problems.
Hi GKeith
I can get severe headaches when under medicated or over medicated.
Facial pain, like nerve pain behind ritht ear into head, painful bones in neck and face.
I am on NDT , I have had to experiment as I am self medicating, however T3 is fast acting so I have become attuned to the symptoms of being over or under medicated.
I hope this helps.
I also get severe headaches by both conditions; it's just very hard to keep them apart. I favor taking more T3 than T4 but that has recently backfired on me also, when I got headaches you would die to get rid of by taking too much T3. It's hard decisions to be made, made all the harder by having no "real" doctors who actually care about how we feel. Peace be upon us all in this trying time in history.
I don't usually get headaches, unless i've go a tooth problem, and then they're horrible. It usually feels like i'm being stabbed in the eye with an ice cold skewer.
Download ,Drugs .com
Before I take any new medication I look up the interactions on this app. Invaluable.
Teeth can be a major prob, harbor infection and that causes inflammation - anywhere in body you have a weak spot.
That’s why you need to get your teeth fixed before heart surgery etc. Those bugs get into the blood stream and carry the inflammation all around your system.
Think you may find yourself feeling better once the teeth infection is sorted and you adopt a new, rigorous, teeth hygiene regime.Good luck with all that
Thank you very much. I hope the dentistry goes good because the Anoxicillin pills are huge monsters which gotta be hard to swallow. I'd have to open them up and pour the insides on a drink. And then when you're taking both T4-T3 you're always sensitive to which one causes the headaches and I have long ago, figured it out-T4 is the culprit. I mean both are deiodinase (bad spelling I know) enzymes. The only difference is that T4 has 4 nodules, T3 has 3 and it's the job, the whole existence of T4 to knock 1 nodule off thereby becoming T3 and becoming active & provide us with more energy. The "problem," as I understand it, is that the nodule knocked off has to be a certain one and if the wrong one gets knocked off it "becomes uneven" or something like that and becomes of little or no use. Some scientists claim this is then called rT3 or reverse T3, which simply hangs around in the blood stream becoming more and more stagnant and doing the reverse of its intended job, which is to become T3 and provide us with more energy, etc.
Spelling's correct , but i think you have substitued 'nodule' for 'iodine atom'.
Nodules grow on your thyroid gland. rT3 is degraded/removed naturally i think.
I presume you've checked vitamin D and calcium levels? Pain can come from the jaw which dentists seldom xray unless they have a whole face scanner.
Also, I would always get a second opinion as I had a lot of trouble with misdiagnosis and dentists rely on our ignorance. If possible, ask for referral for second opinion or ask for referral to dental hospital for proper diagnosis. Don't accept treatment until diagnosis is clear.
Gum disease can cause pain too so you need to rule out that factor.
Do you have sinus issues? Im on t4/t3 combo which I'm never 100% happy with but the issues are more dark thoughts and anxiety (especially health related... Which isn't the 'normal' me) but I do have chronic sinus problems which cause headaches, tooth pain and other problems... I just wondered if perhaps your headaches and tooth pain might be sinus related?
Hi I am on NatureThroid - a combo t4/3 made from pig thyroid. I have hashimotos. I got quite sick before finding the right dose and stabilizing. From there, my antibodies were steadily going down for 2 years. My teeth got pretty bad while I was sick, so I had to have my teeth scaled and planed in quadrants (4 visits) and a strong antibiotic placed each time. At my next blood draw, my antibodies had doubled. It is difficult to know for sure why, but a possibility is that the bacteria and infection being manipulated under my gums created an immune response and a thyroid attack, or the antibiotics created the immune response. Consider the mouth to be part of the stomach, so to speak. It’s possible your dental work is stressing your immune system and causing an inadvertent response if you have hashis. Just my story and musings on it. Best of luck and be well.
I don't have hashi's but have been through crowns being redone for 3 decades and many removed teeth. I now have 6 of my teeth on the top and now 4 on the bottom so I have barely enough teeth to even have partials . My "problem" remains only if I am able to rid myself of these headaches, which I started before the dentist, or continue to have them because of a dental issue. I have stopped taking T4 because it starts and then exacerbates the issue too greatly with these headaches which do not originate with T3, even though too much of anything, T3 included, can also exacerbate the problem. When I first started T3 I informed my endo that I would never take T4 again. He started me on 50mcg T4 and 10 T3 and I talked him into raising the T3 to 30mcg, which was great for a year and why I ever changed it back god only knows but, remembering how I felt I wish to "go back," to that dose although my endo, as they all do, favors my staying on 100 mcg T4 & 20mcg T3. Only time will tell, only time. Peace to all sufferers in this a double-whammy for anyone with issues with the thyroid as well as the threat of a endemical virus.
Hi, hope you're feeling better. Just thought I'd mention that when I started on T3 I had awful headache every day for a month, then it subsided.
Can I inquire how much T3 you started on & how much T3 you take now or have you ever taken T4 or a combo or NDT? Peace be upon you.
Hi, yes I was on 150mcg T4 and Endo agreed a trial of T4/T3 combo and put me on 75mcg T4 and 20mcg T3, taken as 2 10mcg doses. I feel a little better on the combo but had to ask for an increase to 100mcg of T4 as Endo won't give me any more T3. I still think I need more T3 but unless I get it myself, it won't be happening.
At this point I am on 100 mcg T4 and 20 mcg T3 but am taking only T3, at 30 mcg and will probably have to take a little T4 just to get more T3. The GPs, & endos too, don't realize that it is how you feel not how you look and T4 stays in the bloodstream extra long compared to T3. I'm still getting over 2 teeth pulled and am stymied still if it had any correlation to my headaches from out of the blue because it happens primarily with the T4 & lessens almost immediately when T3 is ingested.
T3 is fast acting so my Dr told me yo take my dose cut it in half and take it 12 hours apart. It nade a huge difference same goes for a combo medication.
Thanks for you interest and knowledge. I have Robinson's book, very informed scholar as well as common-sense scientist. FT3 is, definitely, the most important measurement but if you take NDT or T4-T3 combo make sure you get Totals also because, otherwise, how else can you figure out how much FT3 is converted from the T4 & how much is from the T3 pill? If you take T4 alone the blood tests are much more relevant but, even then, blood tests cannot tell you how you feel so ...?
I have severe headaches with Hashimoto's at the moment and I also have a filling that needs re doing as it dropped out in lockdown but I don't think it's connected I am on NDT and metativive at the moment bcih I think I am gonna cut out as might be sensitive to the filler as I still get bad headaches and the weather influences it alot but also when I was on T3 I got bad headaches until I found the right brand so it's worth finding out if your sensitive to any binders/ fillers in the inactive ingredients aswell as checking your levels to work out optimising to a point your symptoms reduce so you not over or under medicated, to much T3 caused bad headaches and the wrong brand of T4/3 if your sensitive to the ingredients from my experience so worth looking into if you haven't already.
I take T3 only at this time (again) 3 times a day.
Do you know anything about Braxism? Technical name for teeth grinding? It's a Big cause of headaches. My fantastic dentist told me about it (no you can't have him). I will try to look up some links and put them on this conversation in a minute.
s4sdental.com/teeth-clenchi...
It seems its called Bruxism
A couple more links to follow. There's even a National Bruxism Association
Try using a water flosser/pik to clean under the gums. Bacteria develop in the pockets between the gums and teeth and cause infection and inflammation. The waterpik is the only method I have found to save teeth from this destructive process.
Every evening I floss, use little brushes between my teeth, and brush with an electric toothbrush. Then I use a water flosser/pik and there are still food particles falling into the sink.
I was told by my dentist that the continuing infections I was getting under the gums of my front teeth would eventually cause them to loosen and they would have to be pulled. He said I had about five years before I would lose them. That was 8 years ago and right after I started using the water flosser I had no more infections. The dental hygenist who cleans my teeth always comments on how healthy my gums are. IMHO, it has less to do with thyroid, and so much to do with cleaning under the gums with the method I am mentioning here.
Back on t4/t3 combo
Is FT4/FT3 ratio sometimes important? Does taking T3 enhance T4/T3 conversion? And in seek of advice? 
T3 T4
How to take T3/T4 combo
