I was late to recognize my mixed bag of symptoms over a few years were likely tied to hypothyroidism (as were my doctors!). Now that I’ve started reading it seems that many things are likely connected to my thyroid functioning. Here’s my list in no particular order, some seem so odd...
1. Fatigue (of course)
2. Constipation
3. Brain fog
4. Dry dry skin. Scales on my feet practically
5. Slow heart rate
6. Low body temp
7. Hair taking longer to grown in. I rarely need to shave these days, just noticed that my eyebrows haven’t needed grooming in ages.
8. SIBO I recently had this test done and was surprised to test positive (bacterial overgrowth from slow moving bowels)
9. Hypoglycemia. My blood sugar is consistently very low.
10. No sweating. Another symptom it took me awhile to notice.
11. Weight gain and total inability to lose weight, despite dieting
12. Stiff joints
13 Sore throat (GERD)
14. A bout of sciatica
Anything else I missed?
What have your symptoms been?
Written by
kikiweight
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Hi kikiweight I've also experienced much of what's on your list, along with: Anxiety, Dry Eyes, Muscle Twitching, Headaches, Pins + Needles, Slow Speech, Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, Weakness and messed up hand coordination.
Despite me having awful symptoms, not one doctor I consulted or other specialists - not one could diagnose a patient who was blatantly hypothyroid without a blood test.
None even thought of the commonest autoimmune condition could be a possibility.
Ignorance is not bliss if a person's well-being is being neglected.
Oh yes, ditto. Even an Endo didn’t dx me as hypo. I self diagnosed basically. And then found an Endo who was willing to confirm she believes I am hypo based on symptoms (imagine that??) and ‘low voltage’ on some EKG test. I’m not sure what that is exactly but I was thankful to have someone confirm.
A professional who diagnosis by the patients' symptoms is to be congratulated as it now a 'lost' quality in the majority of GPs and doctors in general.
Yup, most of that, but I’m not sure I have had an experience with not sweating - I haven’t noticed it, put it that way!
Additional symptoms for me which I think are hashis related include(d) and I think you do mention these, but honestly, I think I’m just taking the opportunity to whinge about the extent of them!
- going to the gym and weight lifting and crashing my T3 which was likely under range anyway (as it only happened on the times I felt hashis unwell to start with) and getting the most agonising flare ups of joint pain. I am now medicated for that with a strong anti inflammatory ( because medicating my T3 levels would be too much like solving the root issue, don’t get me started on that!!)
- constant muscle pain - to this day - in my shoulders, back and hips; worse with inactivity, rainy lockdown days do not help at all... the anti inflammatory medication helps a little but not a massive amount...
- intermittent joint pain (unrelated to weightlifting on hashis days!) Particularly knees, hips, wrists. Although this is more of a recent addition, so I’m not 100% sure low T3 is playing a part... but I will shortly find out, I hope!
- vitamin d crashes - I know my vit d has bottomed out when i get night sweats. It does this when my autoimmune system hoovers it all up to mount an attack in my thyroid. Grr. Time to double the dose!
- I tend to get frequent UTIs when I’m in a hashis hole too... had problems with those for years to the point of hospital visits, but they stopped when I started the levo, so I think it must have been related, although it isn’t something you read about much.
- really stiff in the mornings. I do yoga and can get my hands flat on the floor in a forward fold by the afternoon, but struggle to reach my knees in the mornings.
Thanks for starting the thread - that was a therapeutic whinge!
Hi I’m new here 🙂 and I just want to say that everyone here is keeping me sane (as much as I can be anyway). Diagnosed in September. I have had crushing headaches, a weird ‘down’ feeling sort of like depression but not quite, a sense of loss of ‘me’ that I couldn’t explain, inability to speak with friends - needing to hide a bit, only able to manage to work and walk the dog every day and no more than that, a sudden embracing of couch potato 🥔 behaviour (even in the day time!), an amazing ability to sit and stare at the wall for ages, pain, pain and more pain. Big puffy face staring back at me in the mirror and loss of hair. Now convinced I’m going to look like Dara O’Briain soon (gawd), memory shot to pieces (I lecture - this is a problem!), swollen legs and fingers. But no constipation? Anyhoo, that feels better, thank you for letting me vent a bit. Still slightly in shock that I have this thing! But if I’m to have a thing it’s nice to meet others who have similar who are all so lovely and really knowledgeable. I’m amazed at how much people know! X ☺️
I remember those years of reclusive behaviour, Josephineinamachine, I also had a constant feeling of discontent. Looking back, life was a constant struggle to function.
I can often be found staring blankly at carrots....
And i can totally relate to the desire to hide a bit.
And everything feeling so heavy that when you sit down on the waiting room chair , your arms and hands and legs don't move at all from where they landed... you just sit there with your coat on and look around at all those other people...
moving their arms around and taking their coat off like it was easy...
Back in the good 'ole days , when the doctor used to come out to the waiting room to fetch you in for your appointment, they used to notice things like that.....
You are so right about the heavy feeling. Since being on Levo my arms can now hold the hairdryer up over my head, but before they could not. However my legs are still feeling like lead blocks.
My HRT doctor (a GP in a former life) still does that. She comes all the way down the stairs to fetch each patient up. It's good for her, but it also gives her a long visual on the patient as they either bounce chattering up the stairs with her, or drag themselves up by the handrail.
I used to sit and stare at the wall for hours and not know I was doing it. I went from avid reader to not reading at all. I was so sad (still am most of the time). I went from never sitting down to never getting up. As a result of all the exhausted sitting I now have sciatica that is giving me numb and tingling toes and painful feet and legs.
I lost my natural gait and can now trip over nothing. I have been better in some ways, but never well since. And my last dose increase of T3 has made me feel much worse so I'm at a very low ebb right now. I have to hang on to the next blood test.
I'm on the same 125mcg Levo and now 35mcg T3. Taking T3 has really knocked my FT4 for six. It was only 18% into the range last test (was always over 50% before I began) and now it feels even lower. I think it's the low FT4 that's affecting my sleep so badly and making me so tired.
After the next blood test I will have to see what's changed. But I don't think I can do without T4. I might have to dial the T3 back and add in more Levo. Increasing Levo before adding T3 didn't work. But perhaps I need to do that now.
Are you having difficulty getting to - and staying - asleep? I’m having this a bit the last week or so. Takes ages for new doses to settle doesn’t it?
My T4 dropped well under range after adding T3. It didn’t feel too bad although feet were getting painful in the evening. I tried upping it but felt worse. So I’ve upped my T3 by another 2.5mcg - now 75 T4 and 12.5 T3.
Physically better with more (restless?) energy on extra T3 but now thinking it’s making me lose concentration and sleep is not so good.
Going to hold for another week and see. Might have to reduce. I’m beginning to slowly realise my ‘old normal’ is never going to return so I’m trying to find a ‘new normal’ which I can live with. It’s really hard. I feel for you 😞
Balance is poor. Alcohol intolerance, 2 glasses of wine and almost falling down drunk. Messed up leg coordination and close vision problems. (Probably all linked). Odd bouts of lisping.
Poor balance might be caused by low vitamins B12 and/or low folate. There are lots of other causes too, but the B12 and folate being low would be common to people with thyroid disease.
That was my very first symptom. Long before I was diagnosed. One winter I noticed that if I sat down with a nice glass of wine, wood stove on, book in hand, I'd drink half the glass and be unable to continue reading and I felt really drunk. It was horrible.
I can remember one day, in my teens, when I was waiting for a bus. There was a snowstorm blowing and I was freezing. And yet, at the same time, I had sweat trickling from my armpits down my sides.
Nowadays it is more likely to be my head that rains rather than my armpits.
Exactly like me. Exactly. I used to live in a flat about 2 minutes walk from my first office job. I would arrive and go straight to the loo to try to dry the underarm and sides of my blouse with paper towels and then I'd spend hours with my arms pinned to my sides to try to hide it. It was mortifying. But I could wear makeup on my face then.
Now it's my head that pours with water and I haven't been able to wear makeup for years. It literally drips off my hair. Horrid.
Not sweating is a distinct problem when we have hot days. I used to love summer days, now I just feel uncomfortable, couple that to cold hands and feet and you have a perfect storm!!!! According to Medichecks my Folate and active B12 are well up.
I contracted (think but can't prove)Covid 19 in March 2020. Never diagnosed as no routine testing then (and I didn't know anyone who had recently returned from China!!) so 3 weeks recovering from severe chest infection, coughing for England, fever, weakness fatigue, etc., etc. Thought I was getting better but went downhill again in August, which is where I am now, on a sort of low level roller coaster! The same set of symptoms listed above, but much, much worse. Any mild exertion, even just standing upright for 30 minutes, talking, reading, even thinking or digesting a meal, renders me "useless". Long Covid is often talked about in the same breath as "over-active or over-compensating, immune system as well as mitochondrial problems. Connections? Beyond my pay grade, but it's increasingly being looked at as a similar process as CFS/ME. Maybe Autoimmune diseases too?
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On Block and Replace - can I have both hyper and hypo symptoms?
What kind of pain do you get with hypo?
Does anyone have a clicking jaw that seems to worsen with hypo symptoms?
How many symptoms did you have before seeing your GP?
