going up the walls

[Holaguapa]

guys I am seeking advice.

after having my children in 2013 and 2015 I have never been the same person. I have suffered with every single symptom of hypothyroidism.

in the end i actually went hyper for a few years which other than the hair loss and lack of sleep I thought I’d become well again. Well, little did I know I would fall into feeling absolutely terrible in October last year, unable to function, sleeping 18 hours a day, joint pain, severe hair loss, toe nails falling off. I saw an endocrinologist in February and had some bloods done. I eventually managed to get levo for low t3 and t4 at 50mcg but now I feel as if I’m going hyper.

I had high tpo antibodies at 486 and low t3/t4. TSH wasn’t massively impacted at 3,16 but I still felt horrendous. Any advice.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Welcome to the forum Holaguapa

So we can offer better advice, can you share blood test results (with ranges in brackets) for FT3 and FT4 in addition to TSH. Plus key vitamin tests (ferritin, folate, vitamins D and B12)

If your GP is unable to complete all the above, you could look to do this privately, as many forum members do, for a better picture of your thyroid health. I’m unsure of private testing companies in Spain, so can’t advise on this.

TSH should always be under 2, with most members indicating they feel best when this drops significantly below 1.

50mcg is a starter dose of thyroid medication, so highly likely you will need more.

When you say you ‘went hyper’ do you mean that you had hyper- like symptoms (eg weight loss, tremor, palpitations, fast heart rate etc)? Many members with hypothyroidism (myself included) have experienced such a ‘swing’ but invariably needed more not less Levothyroxine. This is not the same as ‘hyperthyroidism’.

[Holaguapa in reply to Buddy195]

Hello

Thanks so much for your advice. I will post my results below.

ibb.co/QPHzq2r

ibb.co/M6h1cZD

ibb.co/58CB5Fz

ibb.co/27H1XqY

ibb.co/BC7nNpy

Ignore the testosterone and SHBG out of range, I’ve been marked as a man instead of female. On these results my TSH wasn’t too bad but on the ones before it, it was showing 3,16 thanks.

[Singwell in reply to Holaguapa]

I can confirm I experienced some of those 'hyper' symptoms when uploading levothyroxine. You may be very sensitive to meds and just need to go slowly. It took me 12 months to get comfortable on 75mcg.

[Holaguapa in reply to Singwell]

Thanks, should I ask to be reduced to 25mcg?

[Singwell in reply to Holaguapa]

Not my place to advise. But if - for example - you might have had thyroid issues for a while, your system will have adapted to it. To an extent. So a burst of thyroxine can cause an initial imbalance. It's what I found anyway. So, you might ask your GP if you could titrate up more slowly. Perhaps have 2 X 25mcg tablets and go slowly up to the 50 a day.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Holaguapa]

You could try splitting the dose

Try 25mcg waking and 25mcg either late afternoon or bedtime

Levothyroxine is a storage hormone so it shouldn’t affect how you feel if you take it at bedtime

But some people do initially find it might not suit them

Because you have been hypothyroid some time you have been living on excess adrenaline

That “wired” adrenaline takes a few weeks to slowly reduce

So you can feel better because you are getting thyroid hormones…..but at same time too wired and on edge

It should improve

[Buddy195 Administrator]

With a TSH above 2, I certainly wouldn’t want to reduce Levothyroxine. I like to increase slowly over time to achieve my ‘sweet spot’ where I feel most well. I add 12.5mcg daily at first until well tolerated.

Please can you provide the date of the test results. What time of day was the blood draw? Did you take Levothyroxine prior to the blood draw or after?

Regarding other bloods, I will tag in SlowDragon who is very knowledgeable.

[Holaguapa]

thanks so much for all your help. These were taken in the morning around 8:30 on the 24th January and returned to me on the 29th but I’d literally had no sleep as I was also doing cortisol tests and after 11pm I became wired. These were prior to starting it. They weren’t my worst TSH and T3/T4 and it actually looked pretty good that day. Except for the antibodies.

My toenails appear to be growing on the levo, I actually lost one as it lifted off, also my smell and taste are coming back day by day, something I lost around 2 years ago. I also have energy (but I feel as if it’s too much energy) and my hair is growing back in as in my eyebrows (yey) I’ve still not lost the total puffiness in my face yet.

[humanbean]

This is something that can affect women who have given birth and had huge haemorrhages in the process :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheeh...

The condition might have no relevance to you at all, but so few people have heard of it I thought I would bring it to your attention in case it struck a chord with you.