Levothyroxine giving me insomnia?

[Candyboxx]

I have been on Levothyroxine for Hypothyroidism since 2010. I take 75mg before breakfast. For the past month I am having trouble sleeping. I can get to sleep ok but then wake a couple of hours later and that continues through the night. I do not feel that I have had a proper deep sleep most mornings. My doctor will not consider lowering the dose as blood test show my levels are "normal". I can't think what else the insomnia could be due to. Has anyone dropped 25mg and felt ok?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Candyboxx

My doctor will not consider lowering the dose as blood test show my levels are "normal".

Why not just take a lower dose yourself, you don't need permission from your doctor. In fact I wouldn't even tell your doctor in case your prescription is lowered and if you need it increased again you might have difficulty.

Perhaps just take 12.5mcg less daily for starters, see what happens.

Experiment.

[Candyboxx in reply to SeasideSusie]

Indeed yes - I am thinking of dropping 25mg every other day as I have that as a single pill - don't fancy trying to cut it in half!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Candyboxx]

There should be no problem cutting it in half, many of us halve our tablets. You can do it with a pill cutter or sharp craft knife. I use this pill cutter although it was much cheaper at my local pharmacy:

amazon.co.uk/Safe-Sound-Pil...

[Candyboxx in reply to SeasideSusie]

Ok thanks will try cutting the pills. Defo feels like something is keeping me awake - if I was 16 again, I would be comparing it to feeling like I'd taken speed!

[Pearlteapot]

I had terrible insomnia prior to diagnosis and was very hypo. It also felt like speed even though I was exhausted. I think insomnia is a symptom of both hypo and hyper. Since I have started Levo I have been able to sleep. Is it equally possible that you are under-medicated as over-medicated?

[humanbean]

You could try taking your Levo at a different time of day. Lots of people prefer to take theirs just before bed, as long as they haven't had anything to eat or drink (except for water) for a couple of hours beforehand.

Your description of waking up early after getting to sleep reminds me of the description helvella has given of his symptoms early on in his treatment. (I hope I've got that right.)

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

Very much what I was experienced before I took any thyroid hormone at all.

When I started, and I have always taken mine at bedtime, I found improved sleep was an early sign of treatment. This slowly got better as my dose was titrated up.

It is very important for Candyboxx to know that it could as easily be under-dosing as over-dosing.

[Bearo]

I have also had gradually improving sleep with titration of Levo dose. Poor sleep before diagnosis dropping to worse sleep - only about 4 hours on 50mcg Levo, but improving with two dose increases each giving me another hour of sleep - so now I generally get six hours.