Over medicated on Levothyroxine . Symptoms and advice

[Chopperbike]

Hi all , has anyone experienced the symptoms of being on too high a dose of Levo ? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Many have experienced being on slightly too much. And for many, just dropping the dose slightly resolved the issue. But your post makes it sound as if you are on much too high a dose?

Being warmer than you expect, having a higher heart rate, impaired sleep, and in general the symptoms associated with hyperthyroidism as to be expected. But if the level of overdosing is marginal, then you might not actually notice anything.

Please let us know more.

[SarahJane1471]

when I’m overmedicated I feel jittery 😬. I’ve just started an experiment to try upping my dose by 12.5 mcgs. It’s been a couple of weeks now and the jitters have gone. I’m trying to ride it out as I seem to have a bit more energy. Last time I tried upping the dose I gave up too soon.

[Chopperbike in reply to SarahJane1471]

Hi Sarah Jane,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

It has helped me understand some of my symptoms.

Take care .

[radd]

Chopperbike,

Welcome to our forum.

It is possible to experience symptoms from being on too high a dose but more common to see members unable to utilise their medication correctly, causing symptoms of both under and over dosing.

Reasons for this are deficiencies in essential cofactors such as iron, Vit B12 & folate and Vit D required to make meds work. Also if you have Hashimotos, elevated thyroid antibodies can not only give you heated and jittery flu-like symptoms but interfere with the workings of thyroid hormone function making you feel very unwell.

How long have you been medicating and what dose of Levothyroxine are you taking?

Have you any recent test results to share, complete with ranges (numbers in brackets)?

[Chopperbike in reply to radd]

Hi radd,

Thank you for this information.

Am slowly building up a picture of how everything is fitting together.

This info is very helpful.

Thank you for your help .

[McPammy]

If my levo is too high I’ve had issues of too low heart rate 37bpm. It seems to knock me out just very tired and falling asleep. That was before I introduced T3 to my daily intake. Now on t3 also if my t4 gets too high I get stiffness and muscle aches all over. And can’t walk briskly like I normally do these days. I feel like I’ve over excised when I haven’t. I try to keep my TSH and both t4 and t3 in range with no symptoms. If I go over range I get symptoms.

[Chopperbike in reply to McPammy]

Hi Mcpammy

Thank you for sharing your experience.

It is helping me understand some of my symptoms.

Take care .

[MissWilliams in reply to McPammy]

When my levo was elevated I struggled to get up the stairs

That is why I took my levels down by dropping back to 100 from 150

But I’m awaiting bloods so let’s see

[McPammy in reply to MissWilliams]

Hope you feel better dropping your levo dose. It does help me if I ever go over the level. Get your next bloods and also see how you feel in a few days. Hope it works for you 👍

[Chopperbike in reply to MissWilliams]

Hi Miss Williams,

Wow , you have described exactly what’s happening to me .

It’s like walking a mountain when going upstairs isn’t it ?

Hope your bloods come back with a more comfortable range .

Mine are due next week .

Let’s hope we all feel better for Spring 🌸.

Wishing you all the best .

[Forestgarden]

Hi there, in Feb last year I increased my levo from 100mcg to 112.5mcg per day in an attempt to raise my ft3 out of the gutter. My ft4 was already close to top of range. I stuck it out until November. I felt quite anxious, mind whizzing about, unable to concentrate, and then in October I started to get tremors in my hands again. At that point I dropped back down to 100mcg again and the worst of the hyper systems eased (my ft3 had hardly increased at all). The confusing part was that due to low ft3 I was also experiencing hypo symptoms at the same time.... cold, sluggish digestion, dry skin, exhausted etc. I'm now adding in some t3 slowly, so fingers crossed. Just to add, make sure you get full bloods before making any decisions about changing your dosage, theres a lot of overlap between hyper and hypo symptoms.