New to levothyroxine

[moljanie]

Hi ihave just started 75mg of levo. 3 days in and find it intolerable. Heart rate up, headache, shaky high anxiety feel terrible..Woke up Saturday night afterc2 hrs sleep and terrible effects felt sped up chest pain . Just horrid unsettled feeling. Past graves disease and it felt like thyrotoxicosis that I had years a go. My body really cannot cope with that now I'm older. Any ideas as to what's happening .

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

75mcgs is quite a high starting dose. Most people begin with either 50mcgs or even 25mcgs depending on their GP. It might be just a shock to your system if you have been hypo a long time so a lower starting dose might be beneficial for you.

What supplements are you taking?

What were your latest results for ferritin, folate, B12 & D3?

It's ideal if you can always get the same brand of levo at every prescription. You can do this by getting GP to write the brand you prefer in the first line of the prescription. Many people find that different brands are not interchangeable.

Always take Levo on an empty stomach an hour away from food or caffeine containing drinks & other meds. Many people find taking it at bedtime works well for them.

Many with autoimmune thyroid disease aka Hashimoto's benefit from a gluten free diet. A smaller percentage of those also need to remove dairy from their diet to feel well. These are intolerances and will not show up on any blood test.

[moljanie in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thankyou for your advice . I think too its too much for my body . Going to try a lower amount I think.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

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Your Ft4 wasn’t very low

So not sure why GP started you on 75mcg

Standard starter is 50mcg ….some people have to start on 25mcg

Teva brand doesn’t suit many people

Suggest you cut tablet in half to reduce to 37.5mcg daily

Only take half per day …..possibly as 1/4 tablet waking and 1/4 tablet late afternoon

Meanwhile contact dr who prescribed

[moljanie in reply to SlowDragon]

Thankyou so much . I was so frightened as to why I was feeling so wrong. Way too fast heart which has been very slow below 60bpm jumped up to 150 when I walking the dog at stroll pace so know its not right. I have not took meds this Am but will do as you suggest later this pm. Feel much calmer today .. Really could not cope over the weekend felt really messed up . Don't know what I'd do without this forum and c your advice . It brought me comfort that others know what it's like . Teva brand is what I have and I am sensitive to some things so maybe that's a cause as well .

[moljanie in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi took your advice . Took a lower dose . Doctor stated it is a normal reaction when starting levo due to T3 pooling and cortisol reactions. She has said maybe dose is too much for me and recommends 25mcg dose. Not sure what initial t3 pooling but will look into it and see if I can understand better. My cortisol tests were OK but high at 12 pm then lowered normally apparently .

[Hedgeree]

Hi moljanie,

I would start very slowly as others have advised. I also felt very unwell when I started taking thyroid hormones last year.

I was getting very scary chest pains and I realised it was too much for me so I split a 25mcg tablet into tiny pieces and started very slowly titrating upwards.

[HealthStarDust]

It’s a very high starting dose. That’s the issue. I also didn’t react well with a full starting dose of 100mcg.

It’s needs to be 50mcg and if you can’t cope with that then 25mcg. If you have heart difficulties, then I believe you start at 25mcg anyway.

My advice would be to stop taking it for a few days, and resume again at a lower dose.