Why do i feel this bad?

[Snowy14]

Hi been off work since before Christmas skins tingling,eyes sore.ears ringing feels lethargic.also lips keep turning blue am on 175mg of levothyroxine .is it the medication or the under active throid causing this?can anybody help?

[shaws Administrator]

Blue lips , sore eyes etc can be a sign of hypo. It maybe that you are still not on enough medication.

How long is it since you've been diagnosed? Can you get a print out of your recent blood test results complete with ranges as labs differ. If you haven't had a recent request a new one and also check ferritin, folate, iron, B12 and Vit D. Post your results in a new question.

Many GP's try to keep our TSH within the normal range but we should have a TSH below 1 or suppressed to get well.

[emma_marie in reply to shaws]

I'm sorry to interrupt this conversation but interested to read that you say we need a TSH below 1 or suppressed to get well. My TSH is currently elevated at around 6 but my Endo suggests that this is not overly high and I very much get the impression that as soon as I reach 4.5 she will class me as within range. This is worrying me because I am not functioning on my current level on levo (100mcg) and am suffering from all sorts of symptoms. Is there anything I can show her to put forward my case for aiming for a TSH of below 1?

Thank you.

[shaws Administrator in reply to emma_marie]

I am sorry you are suffering unnecessarily - what are Endos doing??

If you email [e-mail] and ask for a copy of the online article by Dr Toft, ex President of the British Thyroid Association and Question 6 should be attributable, I think, to you still having symptoms.

Before the TSH was invented/used we were medicated until symptoms went altogether. That was before levothyroxine became the only medication to be prescribed for us.

This is a link to an archived site and you can find lots of info from the topics at the top of the page but some links within may not work.

web.archive.org/web/2010122...

[emma_marie in reply to shaws]

That's brilliant, thank you shaws. I will definitely be emailing for he article and browsing the archived site as you suggest and I have also ordered several of the books recommended by Thyroid UK. I am determined to be in control of my own health!!

I saw my Endo on Wednesday and, thanks to this site, I knew what to ask for and she has agreed to test me for B12, Folate, Ferratin, Vitamin D etc. She also said that she would like to test me for Addison's Disease and I will be seeing her again next month. So thankfully she is taking me seriously but she was very adament that my TSH wasn't overly high so I'd like to return next month with evidence that being at the upper end of the range is not good enough so thank you.

[Snowy14]

Was newly diagnosed 2 years ago started levothyroxine.whiched was monitored by gp.was ok till before Christmas.went down hill gp said could nt do anything had to demand to see a specialist.had all bloods done again put up to 200mg and put on vit d tablets.also had a short synatin test which came back ok.after a few days on 200mg got a bright red itchy face plus itching all over.rung the specialist told to drop to 175mg.not back at endo clinic till march feel worse than ever nobody wants to know

[Hashi_since_age9-1988 in reply to Snowy14]

could you be allergic to something in the pills?

[Snowy14]

Iam not sure,I was thinking of having a private York test done to see if i had any food allergies.with lactose been in the tablets not sure,heard good reports and bad reports about the test

[shaws Administrator in reply to Snowy14]

This is some advice from Dr Lowe

Question dated September 6, 2001

Your wife can test whether she's having an allergic reaction by taking an antihistamine, such as 50 mg of diphenhydramine HCL. She should take the antihistamine an hour or so before taking her next dose of thyroxine. If after taking the antihistamine, the thyroxine preparation doesn't cause the reaction, it’s safe to conclude that she’s having an allergic reaction to some constituent other than thyroxine in the tablets. In this case, her doctor should switch her to another brand of thyroid hormone.

web.archive.org/web/2010122...