Having a hard time with levothyroxine.

Hello,

I’ve just finished a full 6 weeks on 75mcg levo (after reducing dose from 87.5mcg as felt this was too much for me) on the higher dose I was very tired, had an upset tummy, hand tremors and heart racing.

Is joint pain, muscle weakness and twitching, involuntary movements all side effects of levo/hypothyroid? Is it normal for them to come and go?

I struggled with some of this before levo but the tremors, involuntary movements and twitches are new and I’ve noticed my muscles/joints tire more quickly on levo and ache more.

My limbs just feel really unsteady but it comes and goes but makes work really challenging among other things.

I’m waiting on blood results and having a bunch of other investigations too atm.

Just feeling fed up I guess cos the only thing that levo has helped is less dry skin and pooping regularly…🤷‍♀️

is it even possible that 75mcg may be too much for me? For ref I’m 5ft5 and 53kg

last results were whilst I was on 75mcg for barely 4 weeks (test was sprung on me but I luckily followed the protocol on here as I suspected they’d do thyroid!)

Tsh 2.63 (0.27-4.2)

ft4 19.9 (11-21.2)

And on 50mcg after 5 weeks

Tsh 3.8 (0.27-4.2)

FT3 4.7 (3.1-6.8)

Ft4 17.6 (12-22)

It seems like I convert fine so just feeling in a big giant mess with all this and kinda don’t want to keep taking levo…

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Sorry your post was missed this morning

This is extremely busy forum

Which brand of levothyroxine are you taking

Is this same as when on 50mcg

Many people find different brands of levothyroxine are not interchangeable

ESSENTIAL To test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Have these been tested

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Muscle twitching is often low magnesium……many thyroid patients find it beneficial to supplement magnesium

Magnesium best taken bedtime (or late afternoon if take levothyroxine at bedtime)

Magnesium must be at least 4 hours away from levothyroxine

See on other posts you have/had low GFR (kidney function) …..this is common when hypothyroid and will improve as you get settled on levothyroxine

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

The GFR is reversibly reduced (by about 40%) in more than 55% of adults with hypothyroidism[40] due to several reasons.

[Hidden in reply to SlowDragon]

No worries, thanks for your reply!

I think I seem to do okay with mixing brands so far and seem to do okay with teva brand too.

I haven’t had vitamins tested recently until this morning so just waiting on results for those.

I will definitely add magnesium into the mix though and see if this helps my twitches but again this is something that started after taking levo and gets more pronounced with higher doses.

I am currently supplementing vit b complex, vit d spray, folate and iron.

Yes i have had low GFR since starting levo, bizarrely it was totally fine before I started levo in feb this year but was very up and down back in 2020 too.

I suppose I’m just worried because I don’t seem able to tolerate more than 75mcg of levo and I’m wondering if even that is a bit too high for me considering my symptoms…

[Petgirl2]

Hard for me to reply, as I don't convert to t3, but I have neuralgic symptoms, numbness , tingling, cold. Twitching, fatigue, nausia, joints hurt and swell(not as much since gluten and dairy free), heart all over the place, Felt 10 times better when I stopped taking levo, but tsh went to 16. (Not 1.6 no)

Just trying to scrabble enough money to get bloody done and go back to endo.

[Hidden in reply to Petgirl2]

Definitely sounds as though our symptoms are similar, which is so odd cos I seem to convert okay.

My Tsh has never been higher than 7 so I’m just starting to wonder if maybe my body has some how righted itself!?

I totally understand, I’ve booked a consult with private endo to try and get an idea of what’s going on. It’s so crazy we have to pay to get proper thyroid care isn’t it!? Maddening!!

I hope you get sorted and feel better soon!