Hungover/rough feeling without any alcohol?

[Thyroid_mum]

Hi all,

I am moving from Levo & NDT to Levo and T3 and since I've started the changeover I get random periods where I feel really rough, almost like a hangover but I haven't had any booze for over 3 months.

My head feels weird, heavy on my neck. I feel ill inside and have electric pins and needle sensation around my head. I normally test my blood pressure when I feel like this and it is under 100/60 when I test it.

The starting of these episodes coincides with when I started changing my meds and I just wondered if anyone else experienced this and if it will go away when my meds have stabilized? Because it really is a horrible feeling.

I was on 100mcg Levo and 12.5mcg T3 with the attached results and upped the dose slightly to 150mcg levo and 15mcg T3 on 04/12/2022 - however on Saturday 9/12/2022 I started feeling anxious in the evenings and on Tuesday I dropped the dose back to 100 Levo and 10Mcg T3. The anxiety has stopped and have retested on Wednesday and will see if I need to adjust anything again.

as a note: These results were just to check T4 & T3 Levels, the test I did yesterday had all 10 biomarkers.

Any suggestions as to what could be causing the hungover feeling with a lower blood pressure?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Always test thyroid levels early morning, ideally just before 9am, last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Day before test split T3 into 2 or 3 doses spread through the day and last dose approx 8-12 hours before test

There’s no point testing until been at least 6-8 weeks on unchanging dose and brand levothyroxine and T3

Essential to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least annually

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

[FancyPants54]

your latest retest is pointless. Yo need to be on a stable daily dose for 6-8 weeks before testing again.

Also I’m worried that you said you made a slight increase in meds. But actually increased a huge amount in one go. You should only increase one thing at a time and allow it to settle. You would normally increase Levo by 25mcg at a time, but often 12.5 mcg is good for gentle adjustments. To increase T 3 it’s no more than 5mcg at a time. Often 2.5 mcg. You did both together and too much of each. Little wonder you felt bad.

When this change settles, if you feel you need an increase, pick one and do the smallest increase you can.

[Lotika]

Yes, I definitely get that feeling when my medication is all over the place!

Looking at your numbers and considering that you're moving from NDT, I would suggest keeping T4 at 100 and upping T3 slightly, by between 2.5 - 5 mcg a day. If I got the anxious feeling back upon doing this, I'd drop T4 by 12.5 and then let the dose stabilise for 6 weeks. In my experience, my anxious feeling is usually caused by having more T4 than my body knows what to do with, seeing as it hasn't got the foggiest how to convert it into T3... that being said, we're all different!

The other thing that helps me massively is a good vitamin B supplement.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I was on 100mcg Levo and 12.5mcg T3 with the attached results and upped the dose slightly to 150mcg levo and 15mcg T3 on 04/12/2022 - however on Saturday 9/12/2022 I started feeling anxious in the evenings and on Tuesday I dropped the dose back to 100 Levo and 10Mcg T3. 

Far too dramatic changes

We need to FINE TUNE……slowly slowly

How long had you been on 100mcg and 12.5mcg T3 before test?

Was test done early morning and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before

Always same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

Last 1/4 tablet of T3 approx 8-12 hours before test

Results

FT4: 18.3 pmol/l (Range 12 - 22)

Ft4 63.00% through range

FT3: 4.29 pmol/l (Range 3.1 - 6.8)

Ft3 only 32.16% through range

With these results next step is to increase JUST T3 by 1/4 tablet - up to 15mcg T3 (as 3 x 1/4 tablets spread through the day)

Wait at least 6-8 weeks and retest

You might ……or might not need TINY dose increase in levothyroxine after that ……depends on results and symptoms

A TINY increase would be 25mcg ONCE a WEEK……probably cutting in half to get 12.5mcg twice week