Hashimotos double vision

[Girtonian]

Hello everyone. Just wondering if anyone else here has experienced double vision with Hashimoto's ?

I have been feeling tired, heavy, low mood, brain fog, memory problems etc. I went to my optician for a routine check up 3 weeks ago and the letters on the chart were swimming around in a way I'd never seen before. The optician said my eyes are not working together properly, causing double vision, which is something they normally see in people who have thyroid disease but have not been diagnosed yet. I'm taking 100 mcg T4 daily and normally my FT4 levels are toward the top of the range and TSH slightly below range.

In other news I have just had the result of my DI02 test and it turns out I am type CT, so my conversion of T4 to T3 is indeed sub optimal. I will now try to arrange to see a private endocrinologist and attempt to get a prescription for T3/combination therapy. My optician thinks the double vision might stop when I am properly medicated.

Anyway just wondered about the double vision thing. It looks like it is more common with Graves disease, but can also happen with Hashimotos.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

I have TED but with Hashimotos and an under active thyroid and not Graves, so it is possible that you could have this too. My TED specialist ophthalmologist recommended combination treatment to get my FT3 higher and this did help reduce my eye swelling.

It was recommended to me to take 200ug selenium daily for 6 months as this has been shown to help with mild/ moderate TED and use preservative free eye drops liberally, such as HycoSan or Hyloforte.

Can you share your blood results for TSH/ FT3 and FT4 plus the lab ranges?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

By the way ……..It’s Dio2 (not D102) …..letters not numbers

[Girtonian in reply to SlowDragon]

OK - it was all in capitals in my results letter, hence the confusion!

[Knowsnothing]

I have Graves and went to see specialist at hospital and he said to me if I ever got double vision I was to go and get seem to asap.

[Regenallotment Ambassador]

I get this sporadically, I’m auto immune with a small thyroid , (Ords) the blurry double vision has improved recently but always worse when I’m tired. Some days I need reading glasses other days I don’t. Worse in the evening or on waking. Worse at the end of a long week. I asked the optician for advice but they said as it wasn’t Graves I should just try reading glasses and eye drops. Hmmm based on the answers here maybe I need a different optician 🌱

[Girtonian in reply to Regenallotment]

Thanks for your reply - yes my eyes are more blurry on waking, especially the left one. I tend to lie on my left side and to me it feels somehow squashed. I also had a bad PVD in that eye last summer and the hospital eye clinic say there is a cloudy patch in the aqueous. I originally thought all my eye blurriness/soreness was due to that. My thyroid wasn’t mentioned at the eye clinic as all the focus was on the PVD. I don’t know if the PVD/double vision are in any way connected. I wear varifocal glasses all the time and have done for many years, so my sight wasn’t great to start with. How did you find out about the fillers in Tevo causing your problem? I take Wockhardt but I’m not sure if I should because like every Levothyroxine brand, except I think Tevo, they contain lactose. I avoid cows dairy, but I do have goats milk. Again, I’m not sure if I should… it’s all so complicated.

[Girtonian in reply to Regenallotment]

some of my earlier reply (about Tevo/fillers) should have gone to Debimm, sorry.

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to Girtonian]

no worries I figured it out. Interesting observation about the Teva. Thanks for for mentioning PVD, I get a lot of floaters and my mum had wet, now fry macular degeneration so I need to investigate all this. Likely all related… I was taking 200mcg selenium, did for quite a few months but can’t afford the test so have dropped to 50mcg (quarters with a pill cutter) could also be related. Hmmm lots to think about 🌱

[Debimmm]

I had this, I used to call it binocular eye, it progressed to trigeminal neuralgia so please take it seriously. My optician identified that because I was not medicated adequately the muscles supporting my eyes had drooped causing not only this issue but also the trig ( please google), it turned out it was not the amount of medication I was prescribed ( 100 Levo 20 liothyronine) but the fillers in Tevo brand causing me to have zero uptake! Also look out for a filler called Mannitol, this can cause uptake issues in people with food intolerances like fructose or gluten intolerance. Sadly the pharmacy can’t answer regarding ingredients you have to contact the drug companies/ manufacturers.

[Girtonian in reply to Debimmm]

Thank you for your response, so sorry to hear your experience. Yes I will take this seriously. I looked up trigeminal neuralgia. That must be very difficult to live with. I’m sorry you have it. Binocular eye is a good description… In fact, a few weeks before this was diagnosed, I was on a weekend break by the coast and tried to use our binoculars as normal to see the birds, and found it really hard to adjust them so I could use them.

[Girtonian in reply to Debimmm]

Also, how did you find out about the fillers in Tevo causing your problem? I take Wockhardt but I’m not sure if I should because like every Levothyroxine brand, except I think Tevo, they contain lactose. I avoid cows dairy, but I do have goats milk. Again, I’m not sure if I should… it’s all so complicated.

[Debimmm]

Hi, the optician asked me if I had any allergies and to check my prescription, he also asked if my brand and had been changed if so when. He was so right because I had been changed from Morningside to Tevo about 12 months before he brought it to my attention. I have been switched back to Mercury Pharma lio ( it was changed to save costs) and accord levo. Morningside no longer available.

Just as FYI I have an allergy to sweetener, mannitol was used to replace citric acid as cheaper and is a sweetener! The Tevo filler is some kind of talc and mannitol.