Thyroid function symptoms and conditions

About a week ago I was having a severe headache that had not subsided for about two days. I knew it wasn't a migraine because I had suffered with migraines before and the pain was not at all similar. The symptoms I was having were fatigue, severe weakness, and the two day headache. The doctors then ran the usual blood tests and ruled out my adrenals for the fatigue and weakness issues. Just as a side note, I also suffer from Depression and Anxiety so keep that in mind as I continue. The doctor decided to give me Reglan with Benadryl in my IV. Bad choice! About 20 minutes later I started to feel droggy and in an altered state of mind. I felt as if my body was heavy and my sense of tough was lessoned. Then the fun part came. Without my control my left arm would shot up straight in the air as if I was a 6 year old trying to get the attention of my teacher. It was horrible because I would feel a tingling sensation right before it would occur. So I started to time the sensation and hold my arm down, however, I almost hit my mother who was beside me. So just to recap, here I am sleepy, droggy, in another state of mind, and with my hand flinging in the air. I was not a happy camper. Did I mention this all toke place at 2-3 in the morning! The doctor just told me that the reaction was an adverse reaction that some patients get. Thanks Doc ;)! The only way to offset the Reglan is by administering more Benadryl. So if you are ever found in the position where you are having an adverse reaction to Reglan try some Benadryl. The next day when the rest of my panels came back I have hypothyroidism, which means that my body does not produce enough thyroid enzymes to support my thyroid function. Hypothyroidism causes depression, weight loss or gain, fatigue, weakness, and many more symptoms. Good Luck to everyone and stay off the Reglan not a fun trip to be on.....

wow- glad I found you guys! I'm female, 54, thin, healthy, have always exercised and watched my diet. cholesterol went up to 280 a couple of yrs ago- tried more diet/exercise but it only came down to 250, so since then have tried 4 low-dose (40 mg) statins (crestor, lipitor, zocor, and now pravastatin), all of which after 2-6 months made me feel like I was jumping out of my skin and caused chest pain and palpitations that stopped almost immediately when I discontinued them. Also, I've always fallen asleep quickly and now take an hour or more, and recently my fingers have started falling asleep/tingling. I'm stopping the pravastatin today! Maybe 250 isn't so bad, if this is the alternative. Does anyone have any remedies to suggest besides low fat/low sugar diet? I just read that we should avoid reduced-fat milks (I drink 1%) because they contain oxydized cholesterol, which irritates the artery wall.

Hi, my name is Eva and I am 27 years old.
I am a mother of 2 and had Mirena IUD inserted a few months after my 2nd daughter was born. This was 3 1/2 years ago.
Since then I have developed Eczema on my hands (which is the least of my concerns). More importantly I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease (hyperactive thyroid function) last year.
I had developed a goiter on my neck (enlarged Thyroid) , my hair was very brittle & my eyes were always dry and itchy.
Since then I have undergone Radioactive iodine treatment to destroy my thyroid. Reading all of your posts seriously made me angry and I teared up because I definitely think that there is a link between Mirena and thyroid problems. It makes sense that your body would try and fight off any foreign object in your body and maybe that send the thyroid into a out of whack mode ?
I am currently researching if there are any clinical studies out there on this possible connection. If anyone would like to join me - pls. contact me at ******
I have an appointment to have my Mirena removed in a few days, I sincerely hope that it will make a difference in my health.
Best regards,
E.

I am a 48 year old woman, 5'1" (now 145 pounds). I had Mirena inserted almost exactly 5 years ago, and am scheduled to have it removed in 2 weeks. I gained 25 pounds over the course of the last three years; prior to that, my maximum weight for my whole (non pregnant) life was 123 (I was at 120 when Mirena was inserted, four years after the birth of my second child). I have always been very healthy, never abnormal blood tests except during my two pregnancies was tested as pre-gestational diabetic and had to watch my carbs.

I never put it together with Mirena until just recently, when I started doing research on hypothyroidism after a friend told me that my symptoms could be due to that problem. Depression, hair loss, acne on my back, and the terrible weight gain. I went to see my G.P. who referred me for blood work. I hoped to see evidence of low thyroid function (actual TSH value, 3.12 -- I was told this is normal on a range of .4 to 4.5). I also discovered that I now have high cholesterol (269 triglycerides, 251 total cholesterol, 46 HDL, and 151 LDL). My fasting (14 hours) glucose # is 99 (I was told this is normal on a range of 65-99 mg/dL), and my vitamin D, 25-OH is 21 (also was told this is still normal but low on a range of 20-100 ng/mL). I tried to give blood six months ago, and was turned down because of anemia, so I've been eating a lot of spinach, greens, and more red meat than I normally would, so I was interested to see if I am still anemic -- the red blood cell count is 3.8 (told it was normal on a range of 3.8-5.1 mill/uL). I mention these specific results because although I was told they were normal (except for cholesterol), when I physically went to the doctor's office and requested a copy of the results and did some research online I see that my thyroid IS actually low-functioning -- according to guidelines revised six years ago, anything over 3.0 is considered hypothyroid and should be treated. Plus, isn't a fasting glucose of 99 pretty high? Yet my doctor's only suggestion: diet and exercise. Good grief, I've been on a diet since I had my first child, 13 years ago. True, I don't exercise regularly (I'm a teacher and mom of 2; I never seem to have the me time.) I guess I have an excuse to get a gym membership now.

Also, for the last year I've had increasing pain in my shoulder (I couldn't lay on my side, for example, and lately I can't reach behind me or over my head). An x-ray turned up mild bone degeneration, but not enough to cause the pain I've been having. I was referred to an orthopedist, who today diagnosed a shoulder rotator cuff injury (I've had no injury; he says it is a common degenerative complaint in the over-40 crowd). He gave me a cortisone injection and I'll be on PT for a while to see if the pain goes away. If not, I'll have to have an MRI and surgery to correct the tear.

I'm posting all of this in case it might be useful to someone out there who might be going through the same thing. I had a thyroid test done about six years ago at my OB/GYN, and it was normal then (though I don't have the number; I'll get it in 2 weeks at the OB/GYN). It will be interesting to learn whether my thyroid level has gone up since Mirena. Also, although my research suggests that the effects of these synthetic hormones do not wear off for some time, possibly even years, I will finally feel like there may be hope if my symptoms improve over the next few months when Mirena is gone. If so, I will share it with you.

If you are reading this, perhaps you have a similar story. I wish I had been more aggressive about checking out the possible causes of my many symptoms, but I let them go for years because, I guess, I just figured I'm a healthy woman who is no longer young. (Oh, one more thing: for the first year or even two years that I had Mirena, I had incredibly heavy periods. The blood flow was similar to that during the day or two after the vaginal births of my daughters. Don't know if that's significant, but it took a couple of years for my periods to get fairly normal on Mirena.)

You Can Now Boost Your Thyroid Function,

Eliminating Your Most Troubling Symptoms…

Without A Prescription and Without

Begging Your Doctor!

How? By adding a simple but vital supplement to your diet: Iodine.

Just how important is iodine? Consider this… about 25¢ worth is all that stands between an infant developing normally and one that’ll be severely mentally handicapped the rest of its life.

Iodine is essential to a proper functioning thyroid. But as we grow older, our thyroid starts slowing down. It just can’t metabolize the iodine it needs as efficiently, and that means the hormone produced (also known as thyroid) goes down as well.

There are 2 other reasons why most of us are iodine deficient:

Inadequate dietary intake, and
Exposure to toxic substances that displace iodine.

Iodine is a mineral, but one that is not abundant in the food we eat. Primarily found in very small quantities in seawater, soils are naturally deficient in iodine, especially the further away you get from the ocean.

Iodine is also fairly easily displaced from your body by toxins called toxic halides… fluoride, bromine and chloride.

Fluoride is by far the worst culprit. Found in toothpaste and in your water supply, every time you take a shower, brush your teeth or drink from the tap, your body gets a little exposure to fluoride, leeching out good iodine. And contrary to popular belief, fluoridated water is actually rather poor at preventing tooth decay.

Why is it in our water supply then? Poor science combined with corporate greed and political ignorance paved the way. Basically a toxic by-product of aluminum production, fluoridation was sold as a way to prevent cavities because some areas with natural fluoride in the water also had lower instances of tooth decay. Based upon that spurious observation, fluoridation began.

If You’re Human, You’re Most Certainly Iodine Deficient!

Because of these factors, 96% of all people tested are iodine deficient! This according to a study of 4000 patients conducted by Dr. David Brownstein, Medical Director for The Center of Holistic Medicine, and renowned author of several books on hormones, iodine and hypothyroidism.

The World Health Organization also concurs, estimating that 72% of the world’s population is being affected by iodine deficiency.

This trend is worsening. Over the last 30 years, the NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I) shows iodine levels have dropped 50% in the U.S.A. alone.

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hypothyroidism) about 9 years ago. My teenager was diagnosed 2 years ago. I have done a good amount of research and have also learned a lot through experience.
*The most critical thing is to NOT accept a generic brand of thyroid replacement. My GYN, family doctor, and my endo (who specializes in thyroid) have told me that generic pharms are only required to match the original drug's ingredients/strength by 75%. As my GYN said, if you're in the business of making a profit, and you can get away with putting in 25% less of the expensive (and unfortunately, the essential) ingredient, that's what you're going to do!
*Measuring T4 alone may not reveal hypothyroidism in the early stages, and it will probably not show everything that is going with your thyroid. I knew something was not right, but my old GYN (got rid of her) tested T4 only and said I was fine. I went to an endo who measures 1/2 dozen indicators, including antibodies and thyroid uptake, and I was correctly diagnosed. He also diagnosed my son early on, albeit, my son was exhibiting numerous symptoms. Which brings up another point -
*Everyone exhibits a different degree of different symptoms. So don't be surprised if your thyroid levels are higher or lower than you thought they would be based on your symptoms.
*Find a doctor that will work with you. I had a doctor that insisted my dosage was correct, even though I was still feeling very tired, had dry skin, etc. I finally found a doctor that acknowledged that there is a range of "normal" thyroid function. He upped my med a little, and I've felt much better.
*Know the signs of too high of a dosage - restlessness, eye and muscle twitches, trouble sleeping, etc. Our endo has us come in 1 month after prescribing a new dosage to make sure it is enough or not too much. If I was exhibiting hyper symptoms, I would not wait 1 month to be rechecked.
*Hormonal changes of any kind can wreck havoc on your thyroid - whether you're a male teenager or a peri-menopausal woman. Your thyroid levels can change quickly. If my son or I experience any new symptoms - fatigue, rapid weight gain, unusually dry skin, muscle aches/pains, etc. - I make an appointment w/ the endo. My son's thyroid had plummeted the last time I took him in, and the endo adjusted his med. Illnesses (flu, pneumonia, etc.) can effect your thyroid levels, as well as stress, so have your levels checked after going through a serious bout.
*Once you have your dosage correctly set - watch your appetite! Hypothyroidism can reduce your appetite, and once you've got that corrected, your appetite comes back. Keep a food journal to track your calorie intake.
*Have an annual thyroid ultrasound to make sure your thyroid is not enlarged and to look for nodules (very common w/ hypothyroidism.)
*TAKE YOUR THYROID 1ST THING IN THE MORNING BY ITSELF 1 hour before you eat. I had a friend who was taking her calcium supplement along with her thyroid every day and later found out the calcium was basically canceling the thyroid. Her doctor should have warned her about this, but I think they assume we know these things. Vitamins, herbs, cold medicines, certain foods, and other medicines/supplements can greatly interfere with your thyroid replacement.
*Women with hypothyroidism should take a calcium supplement (take one with magnesium for better absorption) because we are at greater risk for osteoporosis. I take mine at night, so it does not interfere w/ my thyroid replacement.

Everyone here PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! Dr. Holtorf in Torrence, California is the only one who tests for REVERSE T-3 and 80% of people are not being treated properly for thyroid function. The Holtorf Medical Clinic is the ONLY way you will find the answers and people are experiencing miracles.

I have just gone back onto Yasmin after an absolutely horrifying experience trying to come off it.

I have taken Yasmin for 3 years with minimal problems. My skin was fantastic - never a blemish. I actually LOST weight while on it and went up a up a breast cup size. I got lighter periods which was a godsend. I did get a few problems though - gas and stomach bloating as well as headaches sometimes shortly after taking it and occasionally break-through bleeding. But for me the pros outweighed the cons.

I came off it recently as I'm no longer in a long term relatonship and it was just awfull. My skin broke out, I got very oily hair and skin and felt like I was going through puberty again. The worst problem was that in just 3 weeks I blew up like a baloon. I literally stacked on weight every day and my family all made suggestive comments like "been enjoying the cake lately?" I was so angry since I'm such a healthy eater and excersize every single day!!!!! I have never had a problem wth my weight before and the only change I made in my lifestyle was coming of Yasmin. I was so upset with my appearance I have actually gone back on the Yasmin. However its ridiculus to stay on it for beauty's sake.

Has anyone ever experiecend this before??? If so what did you do????

I have read some of the board and would like to know if anyone else has had prolonged side effects after being off Prednisone for almost a year. I think Prednisone caused all my current health problems. Was on the higher dose 5 day plan for a severe inner ear infection. I stopped taking it after the third day cold turkey, which I know was wrong because of blurred vision and stomach distention so bad I thought I was going to burst (almost the same as when I was pregnant). The first 4-6 weeks of stopping it were pure _ ell. So many withdrawal symptoms. I went to my doctor and he said I couldn't possibly be having all those symptoms from the Prednisone since I was only on it three days (but it is the regimen where you take the higher doses/multiple pills in the beginning and then it lowers the dose each day). Every few days it seemed I was having something new happen - heartburn, sweating, headaches. Then my thyroid function began acting up (hypothyroidism) and glands seem to swell with my monthly cycle. I started having a daily dry throat. All my symptoms seem to be on my right side: blurred vision, dry throat, swollen lymph glands, ear pain, groin swelling. It is one month shy of a year when I originally took the Prednisone and nothing has decreased, only new symptoms appear. My doctor keeps treating each symptom individually and won't look at the whole picture. I tried acupuncture and it didn't help. Any suggestions/comments?

Hi again ....I went to see my G.P regarding my symptoms posted here 18th Jan. He has ordered blood tests for kidney, liver, thyroid function, blood sugar levels and a full blood count....he doesn't feel that the symptoms I have are attributed to the lisinopril therefore I am back on this drug again!! I am not so sure and I will wait to see if the blood tests reveal any problems. If not I intend to carry on like this for another 3 months and then I will approach my Doctor again if I am still experiencing the same problems and suggest that we try an alternative BP drug! In the meantime I found that the itching had abated after not taking the lisinopril I guess I am going to be a scratch bag again!! Thanks Jill xx

I was born without a thyroid gland so I can't compare the way I feel now to the way I would've felt with a thyroid. I've been on Synthroid my entire life (22 years), and I'm up to 112 mcg now. I am very skinny (5'5", 104 lbs) and feel constantly fatigued no matter how many hours I sleep, what I eat, and how much exercise I get. I periodically get pain in my hip joints, heart palpitations, and intense mood swings. My thoughts race but I have very little physical energy. I feel restless and gloomy almost all the time for absolutely no good reason. My doctor tells me I'm depressed but I honestly have no reason to be depressed and I wish she would see it as a symptom instead of a diagnosis. I graduated from a good college, I've got a job I like, I have friends, I enjoy life and my hobbies, yet I feel overwhelmingly sad. This does not seem like depression to me.

I find that after I do aerobics I get a tightness in my chest, which makes me worry about my heart, but again my doctor doesn't seem to think this is cause for concern. I have been irritable/fatigued for YEARS and I suspect I'll feel this way for the rest of my life. The worst of it started when I hit 16 years old and started the 112 mcg. My tests are always normal and it frustrates me that my doctor disregards my symptoms. I've tried other doctors, but they always send me away with my 'normal' test results. Can anybody help?

HI,
I stopped Lisinopril since "August 1st. It took until last week for the heart palpatations to go away. For the last week I finally can sleep a full night again without waking up with a racing heart beat. I feel so much better, it is unbelievable. The hair loss people mention, which I also experienced, is caused by the rise of lithium levels, which in turn messes with your thyroid function, this causing dry skin, flaking scalp and hair loss! I just knew that I never had dandruff in the summer time, but never connected this with the hair loss and of course lisinopril.
Good luck to all of you!

I am a 57 yr old female who has been taking lisinopril for about 4 years, after the Zestril became too expensive. I have had the cough and intermittent shortness of breath for several years, but really did not attribute the shortness of breath to the drug until it became quite severe recently. I stopped taking it three days ago, and of course, am concerned that my BP will be out of control. I exercise, eat pretty well, and am about 20 lbs overweight. I also experience abdominal bloat that by evening I look six months pregnant, but no ankle swelling. I hate that. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat, still the bloat. Anyone else bloating? My question, have any of you who stopped taking the drug finally experienced an end to the shortness of breath? I notice I can still exercise moderately, and have the shortness regardless of sitting or exercising. Anyone out there truly get relief for symptoms and how soon after stopping

This medicine can cause weight gain, energy and stamina problems, shortness of breath, etc...

It does this, I believe, mostly by interfering with thyroid function due to selenium and cysteine depletion.

Selenium (and zinc too) is depleted as the immune system uses these minerals to detoxify from the lisinopril and its associated chemicals and toxins.

Cysteine is depleted because it is used in repairing the lungs from the damage caused by lisinopril with the cough side-effect.

With selenium and cysteine depleted, the body runs low on selenocysteine, which is necessary for thyroid hormone reception and response all through out the body.

Also with selenium depletion, the thyroid has more difficulty making the thyroid hormone.

hi sophie,
sorry to hear you are still suffering so badly,were you on yasmin for long? i was on it for 1.5 years and have been off now for nearly 6 months like you. i think it depends how long you took yasmin and how badly messed up your hormones have become. i'm not sure if i have replied to you before (i think i have ) have you had your thyroid checked? i ask this question of most people who are still feeling bad. your thyroid levels (tsh) should be in between 0.3 - 3.0 .most people feel best around 1 - 1.5. my thyroid was out of whack whilst on yasmin so i had a dose increase (i have hashimoto's) when i had my test 1 month ago it showed that i needed my dose reduced again so bcp's definately can effect thyroid function. thyroxine is afterall a hormone so it is quite likely that it has been effected too. Your periods could be an indication that all is not right with the thyroid. underactive tends to cause depressive feelings,muscle pain and heavy periods and also headaches. yours may be fine but it is worth ruling it out. the previous poster recomended prozac..i know nothing about it or any other anti-depressants as i never took them (apart from a short time on diazepam for my anxiety/panic attacks) but as she says if you are still not finding any relief from your symptoms it might be a route to consider (do rule out the thyroid 1st though). i read many helpful books that helped me learn to handle my anxiety/panic attacks and that has done wonders for me,even if i have a few bad days i KNOW they will get better and i just use what i have learned to work through it,it's not easy, some times are worse than others but i know i am getting better slowly. i hope this will be the case for you and that you will start to see some improvement in your symptoms. with regards to your periods it may be a sign that they are trying to regulate themselves again.mine were 28 days for the 1st 2 cycles but now can be anything up to 38 days apart and are so light they are gone within a day or 2. my periods were always regular as clockwork before i went on yasmin. even after i had my last child and breastfed for a year. as soon as i stopped feeding her my periods came back at 28 days on the dot,then i started taking this rubbish.

best wishes to you sophie.

sarah

Lisinopril seems to put a heavy detoxification load on the immune system. As a result, the body seems to use up zinc and selenium (and other things, of course, like vit-c, vit-e) at a high rate.

When the body runs out of zinc or selenium, additional problems happen. The immune system is not able to keep up with the detoxification needs, and I think this is a major factor with the cough.

In addition, other systems besides the immune system are also negatively effected when these nutrients run low. For example, selenium, is very important for joint health, and, it is also key in thyroid function (both at the receptor site as well is in the thyroid itself), among other things.

The combination of direct lung damage related to the cough, plus the lowered thyroid function from lack of selenium seem to me to be the major causes of the breathlessness or shortness of breath problems that I've had so much of.

Another problem is that taking selenium supplementation, even when deficient in selenium, further depresses the thyroid. So, I have found a number of things that help me counteract that, in order that I can take the necessary amount of supplemental selenium to feed my immune system. These other things are calcium, boron, iodine, tyrosine, zinc, magnesium. Also, I take the extra selenium only at night, when extra thyroid depression is more tolerable.

Also, for really damaged lungs, as mine were, I found that cysteine, msm, and horsetail (for silicia) also helpful.

And to help with the stomach problems that lisinopril caused me, I found glutamine helpful.

My problems persisted for a long time (2+ years) after quitting lisinopril, however, each time I discovered one of these helpful nutrients, my recovery took a leap forward. I'm pretty sure that if I'd known right away about the zinc & selenium, in particular, I'd have been able to get back on my feet in several months instead.

hi ladies,
yet another update! i have just been to visit my doctor to tell her about my recent revelation that i think yasmin caused all of my anxiety/panic attack/depression issues not to mention the huge list of physical symptoms, she hmmmm yes that can happen with contraceptive pills especially if you have hormone problems or thyroid problems..which i do! she is running some new thyroid tests to see what my levels are doing now i am off the yasmin as i became hypothyroid while taking them (i have hishimoto's disease but it has been under control for ages). she seems to think there is definately a link between poor thyroid function and contaceptive pill side effects because the tyroid controls your hormones as well as countless other processes in the body.She was totally behind my decision to stop taking yasmin and suggested a total detox from any chemicals and to eat well and drink loads of water as dehydration is also a major factor in anxiety/panic attacks and depression. rather than just dismiss my ideas she actually agreed with me!!! i was shocked as my male doctor looked at me like i was mad for making such a suggestion last year when i started to get all my problems,i was perfectly healthy before i took it! well there you go ladies that is my rant for the day! the moral of the story is...if you were fine before you started taking yasmin and you're not fine now maybe your birth control pill is the prime suspect!

sarah

I posted here in early Sept. about my problems with lisinopril. After reading other posts I started doing some google searches. Because a previous HBP medicine caused my thyroid function go down I was switched to Lisinopril. Two years later, my throid levels which had recovered are now going down again. Several posters mentioned suppelmenting with zinc to deal with the cough so many people develop. A "lisinopril zinc" search had several sites that all stated in practically the same words that no research showed a link to zinc and lisinopril but supplementation might be a good idea. (Don't dose yourself with zinc because that can cause things to go out of whack.) I also found an article by Dr. Ron Hoffman about "Drugs That Steal." He reported that ACE-inhibitors caused zinc to be depleted from the body.
Then, I googled "zinc TSH". TSH is the indicator of how your thyroid is working. There I found several articles about how low zinc levels may cause low thyroid symptoms. Ask low-thyroid sufferers how hard it is to get doctors to diagnose and deal with this wide range of symptoms that are often vague.
Now I'm stuck. Is it lisionpril or is it my thyroid? My doctor sees the HBP first and wants to add medications to deal with the first medication's side effects. But then suppose there are more side effects from the next medication. This is a real quality of life issue.

I was on propranolol for 3 years for mitral valve prolapse and hbp. When I developed symptoms of hypothyroidism I finally convinced the dr. to take me off it and I was put on 20 mg of lisinopril. My thyroid function went to normal range after one year but after 2 years the symptoms are returning. Has anyone seen a connection with this medication and thyroid function. I'm having twitches, cramps, indigestion, some lightheadedness, cold feet, tingling in hands, increased ringing in the ears.