I have most if not all the standard symptoms of hypothyroidism. I am diagnosed and on meds (recently just upped from 25mg to 50mg)
However I have recently deteriorated in my symptoms which started before my uplift in meds, the 25mg was the first 3 months and got bumped up to the 50s after my first blood test.
Since the additional deterioration I have been experiencing yellow eyes, husband says the capillaries also look like they have burst.
Had anyone else experienced this?
I can't see much on it other than in infants??
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I think it is a common symptom of liver damage. I would suggest seeing a doctor ASAP and getting it checked out urgently, just in case it is a sign of a liver problem.
You could call 111 and ask what you should do but I've read the waiting time to get an answer is very long, so be prepared for that.
I always thought yellow eyes were a sign of jaundice, years ago as a student working in a hospital there was a man who had jaundice and he was very yellow. .
When my husband had a liver, pancreas and gall bladder infection a couple of years ago there was something yellow about him although his eyes weren’t as yellow as the person I had seen so I decided I was probably imagining it - turned out I wasn’t. He was actually quite ill so if your eyes are yellow then I’d do what humanbean suggests. Are you by any chance itchy too?
I think it probably depends on whether your sight is affected, or you are in great pain.
If your sight is affected and/ or your eyes are very painful then it is an emergency, if it isn't then an optician or pharmacist would be worth visiting to start with.
Non-emergency :
I would suggest making an appointment with an optician and asking their opinion on what you should do. Note that you need the right kind of optician :
Another possibility to consider is that some hospitals have an A&E department specifically for eyes, separate from the main A&E, but they could have limited opening hours.
Or there are urgent care, walk-in centres in some towns who will direct you to the appropriate services.
How long have you been left on just 50mcg levothyroxine
This is only the standard STARTER dose
Levothyroxine doesn’t “top up” failing thyroid…..it replaces it
Unless extremely petite, likely to eventually be on at least 100mcg per day
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change or brand change in levothyroxine
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested
Also both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once to see if your hypothyroidism is autoimmune
Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum
Have you had thyroid antibodies or vitamin levels tested
About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease, usually diagnosed by high TPO and/or high TG thyroid antibodies
Autoimmune thyroid disease with goitre is Hashimoto’s
Autoimmune thyroid disease without goitre is Ord’s thyroiditis.
Both are autoimmune and generally called Hashimoto’s.
Significant minority of Hashimoto’s patients only have high TG antibodies (thyroglobulin)
Low vitamin levels are extremely common when hypothyroid, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease
20% of autoimmune thyroid patients never have high thyroid antibodies and ultrasound scan of thyroid can get diagnosis
In U.K. medics hardly ever refer to autoimmune thyroid disease as Hashimoto’s (or Ord’s thyroiditis)
Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins
Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing
Even if we frequently start on only 50mcg, most people need to increase levothyroxine dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps (retesting 6-8 weeks after each increase) until eventually on, or near full replacement dose
In the majority of patients 50-100 μg thyroxine can be used as the starting dose. Alterations in dose are achieved by using 25-50 μg increments and adequacy of the new dose can be confirmed by repeat measurement of TSH after 2-3 months.
The majority of patients will be clinically euthyroid with a ‘normal’ TSH and having thyroxine replacement in the range 75-150 μg/day (1.6ug/Kg on average).
The recommended approach is to titrate thyroxine therapy against the TSH concentration whilst assessing clinical well-being. The target is a serum TSH within the reference range.
……The primary target of thyroxine replacement therapy is to make the patient feel well and to achieve a serum TSH that is within the reference range. The corresponding FT4 will be within or slightly above its reference range.
The minimum period to achieve stable concentrations after a change in dose of thyroxine is two months and thyroid function tests should not normally be requested before this period has elapsed.
TSH should be under 2 as an absolute maximum when on levothyroxine
If symptoms of hypothyroidism persist despite normalisation of TSH, the dose of levothyroxine can be titrated further to place the TSH in the lower part of the reference range or even slightly below (i.e., TSH: 0.1–2.0 mU/L), but avoiding TSH < 0.1 mU/L. Use of alternate day dosing of different levothyroxine strengths may be needed to achieve this (e.g., 100 mcg for 4 days; 125 mcg for 3 days weekly).
ask your Dr for a liver test. I get yellow eyes often because I have a condition called Gilbert’s syndrome- it’s totally benign. My eyes go yellow when my thyroid goes off (handy indicator) or if I’m ill/dehydrated/fasting etc
I had jaundice from non alcoholic hepatic steatosis at the same time my thyroid began to fail. My liver function test was normal. An ultrasound was the tests that had shown fatty liver.
I had the typical hypothyroid symptoms of weight gain, acid reflux and high cholesterol. As for the jaundice, I remember being constipated for 5 days and waking up to see that my eyes were yellow. My skin around my eyes was yellow as well. I went to my doctor who ran a urine test. My bilirubin was high. He sent me to a Gastro doctor who ran a lot of blood tests and scans.
I have experienced eyes issues, especially dry eye, so I use non-medicated eye drops several times a day. For some reason, my right eye gives me more trouble than my left—I periodically wake up with my right I looking sort of red and irritated. However, I’ve never had yellowing of my eyes. I recommend that you talk to you doctor because jaundice can be a symptom of more serious issues.
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