I have posted on here recently concerning my erratic behavior, con-cerning my dosing and (re)dosing the same doses of thyroid medications over the past year or so. I was so mixed up and stymied over my thyroid situation that I just sensed a crisis of unknown proportions that I would never figure out as I have been going in circles for the last six months---like a dog chasing his tail--- I had started, by my endo, on T3, along with a low dose of T4, in October of 2019 and I was doing very well and had progressed from 50 mcg’s of T4 & 30 mcg’s of T3, to 75 mcg’s of T4 to 75 of T3, to 100 mcg’s of T4 with the same 20 mcg’s of T3, because I felt better on it, even though something went wrong halfway through the prescription when I was totally crashed and became (physically) sick and (mentally) worn out and without a clue as to what happened to me. As I just mentioned. my endo had started me on 50 mcg’s of T4 and 30 mcg’s of T3 in October of last year, 2019. So, here’s my sad, but true, woe is me, story:
I had been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia and the doctor was a gastro-enterologist who had an office just a few miles away from where we were living, in Rex, a small suburb of Atlanta. He told me the usual: I would have to take a pill for the rest of my life and, then, wrote me out a prescription for .88mcg’s of T4, which I took it in the form of a brand name Levothroid and for the next 28 years, it and the size, of the dose, 88 mcg’s, was never changed, or even discussed by any of the 4 or 5 doctors I have seen since then.
So, to continue the saga: In 2003, I moved my family back down to Florida, to Spring Hill, a suburb of Tampa, where I saw a doctor who was a G.P,, a D.O. and who leaned towards natural healing. After seeing her for several weeks she announced to me that in my “very healthy state,” I could stop taking the levothroid, which was very confusing to me, even as I stopped taking it, for a week. I was having a co-lonoscopy about a week later and talked it over with my gastroenterologist, who totally disagreed with her, saying that would be “very dangerous.” I decided he was right when I realized she, apparently, had no ulterior plan and so I took the T4 again.
In 2018 I travelled to Europe and had a bad experience with my thyroid medication: it was delivering to me a series of the worst “migraine” headaches I had ever experienced, up until then. At first, I thought it was a “left-over” symptom of having spent 10 years as an amateur, then professional fighter, and 50 or so matches, along with hundreds of rounds of sparring in the gym and fighting on the streets.
But, somehow, I knew it was my thyroid and I became keen on trying. So here is what happened: The 50 T4 was fine, as was the 30 T3 and I felt good on it for six months, when my endo, moved me to 75 T4 & 20 T3, which, again, I spent about six months on, before moving to 100 T4 & stating I would take the 100 T4 if I could stay with 20 T3 instead of 10, which my endo allowed and then, 45 days later, just after having 4 teeth pulled, I “crashed,” and the migraines returned full force, which included dizziness & brain fog, along with some memory-loss. Then I really went “brainless” and for about the last 4 months have been trying any pill or combination of pills that would make me feel a little better. I stopped last night, when I found out the truth: The T4 was Synthroid, which I know because I took it, or Levothroid, another brand name, for the first probably 27 of the 28 years I took thyroid meds and only “crashed” in Europe, when I began getting the first “migraine” headaches. When I came back, after con-versing on this website & reading of the many T3 stories I became very keen on trying it, T3, which I did & I “liked” it, mostly because I was “sick” on the T4 only and, as I said above, I got an endo and got all the way to 100 mcg’s of T4 & 20 of T3 before I crashed. Then, as I have had 3 months of the headaches, I heard a not unusual complaint from a couple of patients about their intolerance of taking different “brands” of T3, something I thought I had no problems with but then looked at 6 plastic bottles of pills and checked them for the manufacturer’s name because I knew every manufacturer had a different pill to sell, even though most patients who take T4 & T3 rarely check them. I had 7 bottles of pills and was absolutely shocked into “reality” when I noticed that every single bottle but one, had a different manu-facturer.
The first pill bottle was dated 2/28/2019 and was described as Liothyronine 5 mcg TAB with, in small print you could barely notice much less read: “Sub for Cytomel 5 mcg tab (tablet).” The manufacturer had replaced the T3 original tablets that I had previously taken with a different pill, made by a different manufacturer, Paddock Labs, without ever telling me. The next pill bottle was labelled 50 mcg of T4 & had been filled on 10/12/2019. It, too, was a different manufacturer, Mylan Labs. The next pill bottle I had was filled on July 27, of this year, 2020 and was also filled by a different manufacturer, Alvogen, inc., and was a Levothyroxine 75 mcg tablet with the color listed as violet. This pill was written as a re-placement for the 100 mcg’s of Levothyroxine I had gotten sick on because of migraine headaches, said headaches continuing, making me absolutely befuddled as to what to do, NOW? So, I went back and forward on the same 100 mcg’s of Levothyroxine prescription that had been filled, 3 months previously, on 8/19/2020, then back on the above mentioned 75 mcg tabs but to no avail, the headaches continuing until I went back on 75 mcg’s written specifically to test if the Synthroid would get rid of the headaches because it was, I believed, the same as Levothroid that I had been taking for most of the 28 years on T4 only This prescription was again filled by a different manufacturer, Abbvie US, LLC, and was a pre-scription for 75 mcg’s of Synthroid, T4, and, again, was filled just 7 days ago, on 11/19/2020 & may have worked. I say “may have” because I am still taking it, with the T4, 20 mcg’s of T3, a large bottle of 540 pills which continue giving me “thyroid storm-like” headaches. I, again, think (with whatever parts of my brain are still functioning) that the T3 pills are either too weak or too strong but continue to be the pills that are giving, & prolonging the headaches. So, anyway. The Synthroid, I believe, was Levothroid not Synthroid, I now believe but, the Synthroid, although ‘stronger” (I could feel it) than the Levothrox-ine serum I’m now taking, is not strong enough to make much difference because it’s T4, an inactive hormone. The Cytomel, on the other hand, which I took one 5 mcg pill was way too strong for me and gave me a terrible headache. I paid $60 for a month’s supply and so, will now stop taking it. The T3, an active hormone, is much stronger than the T4 but I still don’t understand why it’s that “much” stronger. It’s half the size of liothyronine serum I’m taking.
BTW, I began taking 100 mg’s, 1 tablespoon of liquid chlorophyll a day, which is supposed to lead to a healthier metabolism along with a more balanced body chemistry just yesterday & I’m also trying to decide on a minimum amount of other vit’s to supplement what, I believe, every hypothyroid patient needs: like vit D, B, C, calcium, selenium, iron, ferritin & cortisol. Does anyone have any ideas of what a “minimum” of these supplements should be?
Well, that’s it, if you can cut through the brain fog and dizzy spells, to have any opinion, through per-sonal experience, I would be grateful to hear it, esp. if you can actually “explain” it better than I can.
Overmedicated on Armour Thyroid? 
switching to armour thyroid
My T3 is too high and need to reduce cytomel
Hoarse voice new symptom after Thyroid Med increase
