factitious hyperthyroidism

[Denny39]

hi, how long does drug induced hyperthyroidism take to clear in the body? Been 7 days for me now. thanks

[Incoguto]

Generally 2 weeks for me, is anything diminishing? Was your ft3 really high? It depends on that too.

[Denny39 in reply to Incoguto]

FT3 was 3.17 but was only on NDTArmour for one week and it sent me hyper

But doesn’t show on bloods yet. How did you get yours to diminish - did you completely stop meds? Did you take a drug to help it along or was it natural? Doctor has suggested propranolol but I am going to try without this. Thanks

[Incoguto in reply to Denny39]

Was this ft3 3.17 range 3.1-6.8? How much NDT were you on for that one week and what were you on before that?I don't stop meds, I reduce and ride it out, but if overdose is big, then stopping for a day or two might be okay potentially, depends on levels.

I didn't take anything for it, no.

[Denny39 in reply to Incoguto]

Yes range was 3.1 to 6.8. Took Levo 25mg for 7 months, took levo 50mg for one week then switched to NDT armour 15mg on a morning & 15mg on an afternoon for one week. It was when I took this my body went hyper x

[Incoguto in reply to Denny39]

Okay, so you are bottom of the range on ft3.30 mg Armour has 19 t4 and 4.5 t3.

I moved to Armour like you, from 25mcg of T4, 7 years ago.

Did you try to take 15 mg instead of 30 mg? Even though you took 50mcg Levo for a week only, the level of ft4 could have built up and the you added Armour on top of it plus t3....this could be a bit too much.

[Denny39 in reply to Incoguto]

How long will i change back from hyper do you think?

[PurpleNails Administrator]

Very difficult to predict, because the calculation would differ in each case.

If it was a slight overmedication then a slight reduction should be adopted.

It would very much depend on how much excess hormone you took - and for how long?

Then each individual depletes (or uses up) hormone at a slightly different rate.

It often takes around 6 weeks for new (unchanged) dose to settle & many can feel hyper & hypo symptoms when altering doses. Hyper & hypo symptoms can actually feel very similar to some.

You may feel hyper but have you had any recent blood test showing how hyper you are?

When you feel unwell it’s tempting to try and make quick changes & increases or decreases but often that’s not the best thing to do and further confuses your system & induced unusual symptoms.

You need to be guided by you blood test result & make small alterations which you keep to consistently.

[greygoose]

It depends how much you were taking. The more you take the longer it takes to get it out of your system. What was the range for your FT3? Was it over-range? You're only over-medicated (NOT hyper) is your FT3 is well over-range.

There are no drugs that can help if you were over-medicated. Antithyroid drugs stop your thyroid production. If you're taking Armour, doubtful your thyroid is working, anyway. Antithyroid drugs do not get the hormone out of your blood or cells. And propanolol reduces conversion of T4 to T3, but if you've stopped taking the Armour, that's not going to help.

Just for general information, T3 has a half life of about 24 hours, but what gets into the cells stays there for about 3 day. T4 has a half-life of about 7 days. So, you can do a rough calculation for yourself.

But, I'm doubting you were ever over-medicated, if you don't feel better after 7 days. Do you have Hashi's?

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Range 3.1 to 6.8 and mine was 3.17. I think in total over the week (7 days) I took 180mg of NDT amour. Based on your calculation t3 should be out of my system now, when will t4 be out? And yes I have hashi’s? Thanks

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

If you have Hashi's, then it's probably you had a Hashi's 'hyper' swing, and that your symptoms of over-medication had nothing to do with your dose of NDT. And, if that is the case, it will take a lot longer for levels to go down.

Did you start Armour on 180 mg? That's a very high starting dose. Could be that has something to do with it, too.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

No I started on 15mg on a morning and 15mg on a afternoon. 180mg was the total I took over 7 days. I think the NDT armour attacked my system more which has possibly caused a hashi hypo swing

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

Well, I don't know that we can exactly call it 'attacking your system', but Armour can trigger an immune system attack on the thyroid, yes.

Have you ever been on levo?

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Yes I have and done ok on it

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

I think that’s what has happened the armour has triggered an attack. I’m now taking no meds until the attack end. Do you know When this will be?

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

Absolutely no idea! I don't think the actual attack lasts very long - although I wouldn't swear to it - but the effects (hyper-like symptoms) will continue until the excess hormone in the blood has been used up and/or excreted/synthesised. And, there's no telling how long that will take. I've never seen any research on that subject. From experience, they didn't last long. Then, I had a lovely long period of euthyroidism until going hypo again. But each time was different.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Did your heart rate go high when you went hyper? Mine is usually 55 and it’s resting at 90 !!

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

I wouldn't really say I 'went hyper'. It was more like a blessed relief from the hypothyroidism. But, as I wasn't diagnosed at the time, I had no real idea what was going on. It's only with hindsight that I can pinpoint those 'hyper' swings.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Do you get anxiety?

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

When I'm under-medicated, yes. That's a first sign of under-medication for me.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

My heart at resting is now 110. I feel like I’m going to die 🥲 I’m not back in the U.K. until Thursday to get check at hospital.

[humanbean in reply to Denny39]

I would guess that your anxiety will be one big factor in pushing up your heart rate.

Other possible causes and symptoms of fast heart rate (tachycardia) and possibly chest pain too :

1) Low serum iron and/or low ferritin (iron stores)

2) High carb and/or sugar intake

3) High intake of caffeine

4) Shortness of breath

5) Fainting

6) Feeling light headed

7) Unbalanced or high or low levels of electrolytes

8) Taking illegal drugs such as cocaine or methamphetamine

[DippyDame]

" drug induced hyperthyroidism"

I take it you mean overmedication

If you are hypothyroid you cannot physically become hyperthyroid!

Are you taking T4, T4/T3 or T3 only?

What dose(s) are you taking?

The half-life of T4 is 5-7 days; the half-life of T3 is only 1 day.

So depending on dose you can work out roughly the clearance time.

Important to note that unless FT3 has risen above the ref range you will not be overmedicated!