My last blood tests showed I was under-medicated, with a low tsh. I’ve booked to see a thyroid specialist and will be having a whole raft of tests done in the next couple of weeks (I think ….thyroid, cortisol, vitamins, sex hormones). The problem is - anxiety. I’ve had it for years on and off, low-ish level, but it seems to have massively ramped-up lately and I’m getting anxious and over-thinking literally everything I do/say and every decision I make…worrying about decisions I’ve made and things I’ve done to the point of tears and imagining that every situation is going to end in a catastrophe!
Could this be related to hashis/hypo/under medication?
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JoJoloveschocolate
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Thank you so much greygoose I’m glad you said that and it’s not just me! I’m low on energy as it is and the added anxiety is burning me out. I’m not sleeping well either which isn’t helping.
Ah, ok. Every evening, I feel exhausted can get to sleep ok, but wake in the early hours with repetitive thoughts in my head…like song lyrics!!!! It doesn’t happen all the time though. It was better when I increased my levo, and then came back after a few weeks. Weird!
Oh my yes, low thyroid but also when my oestrogen is low I get the horrible flashback dreams or wake with a feeling of dread, self-gaslighting and anxiety... this raft of tests should shine a light on how to rebalance things 🤗
Thanks,TiggerMe. I’ve been on hrt for 13 years or so, but I don’t think I’ve ever had my oestrogen tested! I’ve never had cortisol tested before either. It’ll be interesting to see what the tests show.
That’s exactly what I have. You’re the first person to mention it. Mine can be a tune from an advert on TV too. I have this a lot. I never put it down to anxiety. It’s sad because of it I’ve stopped playing music in the house & car. Apparently I had been under medicated for years when I first saw the Endocrinologist. Good luck with the tests.
OMG!! That is exactly it! I sometimes get the advert tune too! It comes on suddenly in the early hours of the morning. Do you think it’s related to being undermedicated?
I have no idea. Everyone I have ever mentioned it to thinks i'm crazy. I'ts dreadful especially when it's songs I don't even like! Sometimes it's the same song for a few days. It's actually a relief to talk to you to find I'm not the only person with this. Now we have to find the cause & the solution.
I was wondering if it was related to what people refer to as being “wired and tired” feeling that I think is related to hypo….not sure. Maybe we get a version of that - “wired for sound and tired” 🤣
Thank you, SD. I’m seeing a thyroid specialist next month and am having a full range of tests done before the appointment. I think it includes iron and ferritin and all the other vitamins as well as thyroid and cortisol.
I think I might have a look at trying dairy free. I’ve recently gone completely off cheese and I don’t like cream.
Lol! I just wrote a reply about trying dairy free and was literally just sitting here thinking …what about chocolate!? I don’t eat loads really, just four small squares of very dark chocolate…every hour…hehe! No, just four squares after tea in the evening. Willing to try vegan though. There is lots of vegan stuff I like.
I’ve had to stop the usual 85% I go for recently, something must have altered in manufacturing. Co-op now says ‘not suitable for dairy allergy’ and I’ve had a lactose reaction to Asda’s despite it only being ’may contain’. I’ve now got a subscription (nearly wrote prescription 🤣) for the dark buttons (my daily dose is 10 buttons 🤣)
Ooh! Thank you for the link. I want a prescription for ten buttons a day too! 🤣🤣 I could definitely cope with that. I’m going to order some….medicinal purposes..
Hey JoJo, sorry you're anxiety is high at the moment (mine too!) I hardly want to mention but dark chocolate makes me feel a bit anxious now too as it has caffeine in. Maybe try avoiding it for a few days and see if you sleep better? I know if I have any in the evening it affects my sleep 🫣
Ahhhhhhh, yes, caffeine!! I’ve switched to decaff drinks because I was having a bit of floaty/spaced out feeling, so yes, it could be that!! I forgot all about it. I’ll leave the chocolate off and see how I go. Thanks D and D! xx I’m sorry you’re having anxiety too - it’s exhausting.
Just a thought, I used to love very dark chocolate and like you ate mine in the evening. I too found issues with sleeping. Chocolate especially dark chocolate can have high levels of caffeine, which isnt ideal for winding down.
Yep…this is very possibly the issue as I had some other problems with coffee/caffeine recently. I’ll stop the choc and see what happens. Thanks Sparklingsunshine x
Raw Halo 85%, delicious, vegan, organic, raw. If you can stop at 4 squares...I can't! I only eat it in the morning to avoid possible sleep upset due to the caffeine content.
I'm wholefoods vegan, so do message me with any questions about dairy free unprocessed foods.
I liked 85% or even 90% dark chocolate but one day in Sainsburys found a 100% one. Intrigued, dear reader, I bought some. I've got to be honest and say it was probably one of the worst things I've eaten.
Absolutely grim. I was having real problems just swallowing the stuff. My husband joked I looked like I was chewing a wasp. It was so bitter and just revolting. You have been warned 😪
Thank you for posting as I have been struggling really bad with anxiety the past couple of weeks and thought it might have been my hormones due to my period but out the other side of that and it is still there. Some really interesting responses from everyone that I am going to consider.
hi JoJo I’ve had a look at your profile and a few thoughts. There’s increasing evidence about the gut microbiome and mental health. I would start with priming your gut for optimal health. Your diet could do with adding more veg. You have bran cereal for breakfast. You could swap that over for cut up veggies, tomatoes and boiled eggs or cheese. Sprinkle over fresh herbs (gut bacteria love them).
Don’t deprive yourself of fruit and add in nuts and seeds. It really helps with digestion and hunger pangs. Good quality high fat yoghurt is good. Goats is low in lactose though yoghurt generally is low in lactose
For digestion I find these tiny mint oil capsules a lifesaver. Lindens Peppermint Oil 50mg... amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BP6F6K2?...
My constipation has been banished with 2 tablespoons of cracked linseeds soaked for a while. You could up your dosage of that too.
Thanks so much! Great suggestions, janeroar. I’ll five them a try. I appreciate your advice….apart from the cheese bit…for some strange reason after going gf I have gone off cheese completely. I used to love it, but now I just can’t stand the thought of it. Weird.
I find anxiety and trouble sleeping are related to low T3 levels. I used to wake up during the night with vague anxiety and overall feeling unwell. For years I treated it with eating and sometimes it helped, sometimes not. After a few posts here I changed my time of taking thyroid from T4 and 1/2 of T3 in the morning and the other 1/2 T3 in the afternoon to all of T4, 10 mcg T3 right before bed, 5 mcg T3 in the morning, and 10 mcg early afternoon. I sleep so much better and all through the night, no anxiety at all. I don't get going as quickly in the morning as I am still low in T3, but overall life is much better when sleep is good. I haven't found anyone willing to increase T3, as my TSH is low, but just this simple change in timing has made a big difference. My recommendation is that the first thing you should focus on is raising your fT3.
Wow! Thanks for sharing your experience, Sisaket. Everything I have read and all the advice on here along the way seems to be pointing to a conversion problem and ongoing symptoms being related to low T3. Sleeping all through the night sounds just wonderful. I’m absolutely exhausted this week. There are so many things I want to do, but I have to break things down into very small chunks of activity because I run out of energy really quickly. When I use a lot of energy over a couple of days I then completely crash! When I was diagnosed hypo my t4 was 12.3 on a range that started at 12…I didn’t get my t3 done then because I didn’t know anything about it, but I would love to have known what it was back then in the beginning because it is still low now.
Dried herbs are good as well as fresh. For eg for breakfast I cut up tomatoes and cucumbers and liberally sprinkle with dried oregano and drizzle olive oil. Other veg would be just as good.
I’m growing thyme, oregano, mint and sprinkle those on pretty much anything eg into salads casseroles soup. Etc.
I’m also growing rosemary which is a wonderful antifungal herb. I put this on roast meats or steak. Ditto sage. Dried sage makes a lovely tea as well. Its very nice on roast potatoes and chicken.
Tim Spector (he of the Zoe app fame) recommends 30 plants a week which might be a bit daunting but Herbs count! So do legumes. I’m hugely into tins of different beans, adding them into salad with carrots, tomatoes, celery, red pepper, chopping an onion up to give more flavour and sprinkling on some fresh herbs. . Add a good amount of decent olive oil (avoid vegetable oils), lots of fresh lemon and top with some toasted walnuts and missed seeds. You might get 5-10 different plants in there. Nuts and seeds count in the 30 a week too. Add in a can of good tuna (in olive oil) and you have a high protein, high roughage, lowish carb meal. And will fill you up with lovely fresh veggie goodness!
Thank you so much for the info! I love herbs. I’m growing coriander, sage, rosemary and basil outside my kitchen door. The salad sounds lovely - I’m going to try that at the weekend.
hello I’ve been suffering with realy bad anxiety, I do have a heart rythym problem so this is where it stems from , but I was on 75 Levo , now on 50 as said it was to high , but Everytime I take Levo after about half hour I feel the anxiety creeping through my body , I feel absolutely in fear until early evening ?
Sorry to hear you’re having anxiety too. It’s horrible. I don’t feel anything after taking the levo. Hope it settles down for you. It’s so hard to balance everything.
I’ve booked to see a specialist GP, but I haven’t seen her yet so I don’t really know how it will go. I’ll have to post an update after my appointment. You could post a message asking for recommendations for specialists in your area/online consultation. I think Thyroid Uk have a list of recommended endos/specialists too.
I’m sorry to hear about your anxiety. I started to suffer badly with anxiety over the last few years going in to menopause and with Hashimotos. I had unbearable anxiety when I was over medicated and when I’m under I get tend to get low mood and anxiety but since I was advised a year or so ago to cut out chocolate (which seemed to give me sore throats all of a sudden), dairy, soya and gluten - I walked out of the appointment thinking that’s impossible! But I was so desperate to feel normal and take some control I did it and oh my goodness it’s helped so much. I don’t have the need for any of these anymore, I was a real cake monster and loved sweets and would be snacking needing that pick me up mid afternoon- I don’t have any of that any more. I know we are all very different so just wanted to say it has helped me generally and to help feel calmer. Good luck and hope you have a good day x
Thanks for sharing your experience. I think you might be right. I’m doing well on gf even though I originally thought it would be awful. All the gf food seems easier to digest. I’ve gone onto decaffeinated drinks because of feeling lightheaded after coffee and that has helped. I’ll stop the chocolate (JoJoNoChocolate) and have a look at dairy free too.
I always know when I'm undermedicated as anxiety goes through the roof. Never had it before becoming hypothyroid and I do enough breathwork to know how to reduce it naturally. But even the normal natural strategies (which are applied in NHS mental health settings) didn't work. More levo however, did. And I was titrating up gradually for years so it kept happening ever time my body decided it still wasn't enough.
However, that said, I also get it when I am oversupplemented with B vits...particularly B6 which seems to have quite a detrimental effect on me generally. So it's a battle to keep everything level.
Everyone is different. The advice on the forum is to optimise the vits as well as looking at meds so I concur with everyone here who has suggested that. Good luck.
ps. whoever said something about too much cortisol may have it - the nightime pattern you describe suggests it.
Hi SilverSavvy, thanks for sharing your experience. I’m not taking any B vits as my last test was ok, over 500 I think, so maybe it’s a combo of hypo (needing an increase) and cortisol. I’ll know more when I get my blood tests done and see the thyroid gp. Thinking about it, the anxiety has been settled for a while whenever I’ve increased the levo. At the moment it’s off the scale. I keep having anxiety that I’ve done something wrong. Like when chatting to someone and I say something and then come away thinking about it and thinking “omg….I hope they didn’t think I meant this/that….or I hope I didn’t upset them…even if it’s only a very minor chit chat about nothing much. Then it plays on my mind.
Yes, I recognise the over rumination...easy to think one is going mad when trying to get sorted. My family didn't recognise me to begin with as I have always been a coper but over the years as I have repeatedly had it and then returned to 'normal' (whatever that is ) they have started to realise it's the thyroid playing up. Sometimes before I do!
I also discovered that I don't convert T4 very well so I now have a small amount of T3 and that has been the very best addition ever. So much more mental clarity.
This disease, it's so demanding. Just when one is feeling at one's most vulnerable. Good luck with it all.
Oh blimey!! It’s been said a few times on here that my conversion is not good and I might need to look at adding some T3!!! Thank you so much for sharing that. It’s one of the things I planned to ask the thyroid gp about: about increasing levo and/or adding t3.
I know what you mean about being a coper;I think this disease makes us even more like that. I do a lot of “masking” how I am/really feel so people don’t really know how bad the suffering really gets! All best wishes to you xx
And you. Good luck getting T3 on the NHS....it's a massive battle in UK. If you do get to see an NHS endo about that, please be aware that they sometimes issue prescriptions to start you on 15 or 20mg daily. Be careful to titrate up on very small doses to begin with. There is lots of info about this on this site.
I am convinced that's why (apart from horrendous cost to NHS of T3 in this country) that they are now saying that combination therapy does not work because people get atrial fibrillation. Of course they do, if they start on such high doses straight away. This whole area needs very careful clinical research and it does not seem to be happening. Other countries supply combination therapy without these problems. It never occurs to our endos that they start too high or that they have not done their homework. More cynically, maybe due to the cost, they are doing so to provide statistics that it is clinically ineffective or dangerous.
Either way, if you do go on it, go low and slow. People on this site will advise. In my experience, they seem to have a better grasp that some of the doctors.
Great advice, thanks. I believe they set people up to fail and it’s all cost-related. I also think that’s why they’re reluctant to diagnose hypothyroidism in the first place, especially as diagnosis = free prescriptions. I also think the majority of gps and endos have no clue what they are doing! Some of the things people go through blow my mind! A lot of it defies even common sense. I think people need to go very low and very slow most of the time because they’ve been left in a state of hypo for years instead of being treated quickly. I’m seeing a private gp thyroid specialist to start with and will see how it goes. Will bear your advice in mind. Thanks x
Oh, that may well be good news for you then. I hope your private thyroid specialist GP is excellent and that find your personal solution very soon. All the best.
Thank you so much. I hope so too. I just want to run everything by her and get her opinion on results and treatment. Apparently she will write to my NHS GP too.I’m hoping whatever she suggests can be done through the NHS. If not I might just have to see if i can afford to continue with her until things stabilise. My gps diagnosed me with fms and then cfs and then left me to manage on my own.
ps. the dark chocolate contains magnesium. I've never had my levels of that tested but some would say that's important too? Certainly appears to have an impact on ability to sleep. I've read on here that some folks add magnesium in before bed...
Well, I tried otc magnesium from the supermarket but it seemed to irritae my bladder (the irritable bladder stopped when I stopped the magnesium). It did help with sleep though and muscle aches. Then I bought some mag bisglycinate, but I’ve been scared to try it. Maybe I should just grasp the nettle and try it.
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