Levothyroxine and racing thoughts (a few questions)

[ErraticAspie]

Hi (again!),

Every time I go up past 75 mcg on Levothyroxine I get significant muscle twitching, nausea and really severe racing thoughts. I had been put on 100 mcg, but due to very low normal TSH and T4 out of range, I was put onto 100 mcg Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 75mcg the rest. On this dose, sometimes I feel pretty good, sometimes incredibly tired, and sometimes manic. This feeling of mania seems to have worsened since taking a very minimal amount of Vitamin D (1000IU per day), after being found to be deficient.

The racing thoughts have not been anywhere near this bad since I first went on Levothyroxine in December 2020. I am wondering if either the Vitamin D is having some direct effect, which presumably would have to be in virtue of some undiagnosed condition which makes me intolerant to it or by somehow raising caldium levels. Or if it is potentially an indirect effect, with the vitamin D somehow raising my metabolism of Levothyroxine by enough to push me back into overmedication. Or indeed, whether it is entirely unrelated.

Thanks in advance.

[radd]

ErraticAspie,

We can get racing thoughts, anxiety, etc when already compromised adrenals are struggling to keep up with the increased metabolism caused by Levothyroxine. This might be observed in members struggling to raise or maintain the correct thyroid hormone replacement med dose, and then perhaps meds or other being mistakenly blamed.

To improve adrenals health some members take supports, ie glandulars, androgens, Vit C, optimising all deficiencies & improved management of stress, (basically anything to help improve adrenal function). However Dr Peatfield used to suggest an alternative is to drop Levo dose for several weeks whilst improving adrenal health. Sadly his recommended Nutri glandular supports are now not available but I read members use others.

Maybe stay on present Levo dose for another six weeks or so and look into cortisol levels. The adrenal 24 hour saliva stress test can be useful in identifying levels and circadian patterns.

When hypothyroid we risk becoming deficient in many nutrients due to insufficient gastric acid effecting absorption. Intolerance to Vit D can be due to parathyroidism issues but because you have seen some improvements I would carry on trying to raise as it will be helping in numerous ways, ie modulating the immune system (reducing inflammation & calming Hashi), helping proper calcium utilisation, etc and (indirectly) making thyroid meds work better.

It is difficult to suggested one solution but hopefully working on low thyroid hormone, poor adrenal health and trying to raise Vit D will eventually help alleviate racing thoughts.

[ErraticAspie in reply to radd]

Sorry, I may be being entirely stupid. but can you explain precisely what you mean by the first two paragraphs. What I take it to mean is that the problem may be a problem of the Thyroid putting increased demand on the Adrenal system that it cannot cope with effectively. Would this manifest in lower or heightened cortisol results. I have had my cortisol tested twice, and on both occasions it was out of range on of range on the high end, which two endocrinologists and a doctor have said is very likely to be benign, rather than Cushings. The symptoms have significantly lessened since I went down on dose to 75mcg yesterday (and remained there today), which inclines me to think that if anything, it is a problem of inconsistent Levothyroxine dosage (I have tolerated 100mcg with increased, but managable racing thoughts before, but on the alternate day doses things become unmanagable).

[Batty1 in reply to ErraticAspie]

Look up the ingredients inside the pills you can’t seem to tolerate. I had a similar issue a while ago and it was discovered that the pill I was on contained and inactive ingredient (Acacia) which is absolutely poison and will never understand why some manufacturers use it in thyroid meds.

[Mugs19 in reply to Batty1]

Same here