Synthroid and meds

After reading so much about Armour, earlier this year I decided that I would like to try it. I was actually feeling very good on Synthroid but wondered if I could feel even better. I was on Armour for a month and got very ill. Dizzy, legs swelling, hard time walking and standing. I went back to the Synthroid and it has taken me about six months to recover. I had a thyroidectomy about 3 years ago and never gained any weight until I was on the Armour, about 15lbs. My Endo says everyone is different with the meds. I really wanted the Armour to work out for me and will be hesitant to try anything else now because of my terrible experience.

Where to start!! I was also put on Synthroid and have been on it now for 6 months, before that I could hardly get around and thought I was lazy. It has been changed 4 times and now I am on 88. My legs ache all the time, cant sit for long periods of time, they drive me nuts. I take Xanax at night so I can sleep but I wake up 3-4 times a night and cannot hardly walk they are so stiff. Does anyone know what the heck is wrong? I am on 12 different meds for COPD and an aspirin every day from a Heart Attack and Bypass, truly a bummer. I was so active before all this and could think on my feet, now I am just completely forgetting everything.

Since on 0.175mcg of synthyroid after thyroidectomy and neck dissection two years ago, I have started to feel great fatigue? I can go to sleep at anytime during the afternoon. I also have a lethargy and malaise of the mind! If you mention this to the G.P., nurse or consultant you get vague looks!! Can anyone help?

I've had numerous side effects from Synthroid, but the ones that finally scared me off the drug were the thoughts of death, dying and suicide.

These thoughts came as casually as thoughts of what I'll wear tomorrow, which was more frightening. They also came unbidden. First, I was thinking about death generally. About a month later, I began thinking about dying, and the whole process of dying. Then, when I started thinking about just walking in front of a train, I got on the Internet and did some research.

Synthroid was the only medication I take daily, so I stopped taking it at once. And about a week later, the thoughts of death, dying and suicide stopped. My doctor refuses to prescribe natural thyroid, so I'm out of luck until I find a doctor who will help me.

I was diagnoised with thyroidism 3 months ago and have been on synthroid. My throat is still very sore as it was before I was diagnoised. Why, I thought thyroid meds was supposed to correct the problem??

I thought my fatigue and mild depression symptoms were something separate but after reading these posts, it sounds like they could be linked to taking Synthroid? I've been on it for 2 years now. At first, I felt great. I started feeling tired again & my dr. upped the dosage. I just saw him today & complained of feeling tired, depressed, and getting light-headed and off balance at times. He wrote me a Rx for anti-depressants and changed my blood pressure Rx. I'm thinking about trying a Naturopathic Dr. to see if I can get the results I need without all the side affects. It couldn't hurt to get another opinion.

Hello, I have been on synthroid since 1999. I am hypothyroid with hashimotos. Endr. docs couldn't seem to get any levels right so I went to my Intergretted doctor . and he put me on 1/4 grain armour so I took anywhere from 50mcg to 100mcg of synthroid in the AM and 1 armour at night. It worked but after a short while I felt terrible. Then I had to start taking high blood pressure presc., it was about 170/116 after I had some shots in my back for pain, never had hp. before these shots. In Sept. of this year I stopped the Topralxl because I felt my heart was pounding out of my chest which I was in hospital for they said I was having a heart attack, had anigram, but I didn't have a heart attack and and angigram came out good. Then this summer they put me on 2 Topralxl. My heart was pounding with 4 extra beats so with a ultra sound{echo]of my heart and 24 hour halter it was all good, so I figured it had to be something I am taking. So that lead up to the stop of Topralxl which I researched and took a few things from Health Food store and got my pressure down to 140/80. My heart quit racing and beating so hard, but still felt depressed, puffed up, confused, teeth felt loose, urinated a lot, gained weight, rashy on my neck, tired all day, did not sleep good, eyes were always red and watery, skin and hair dry, blemishes on my face{ I am'56 yrs. old] just didn't feel good and the list goes on. Came across this site and read them all. Realized so much from you all. Sythroid only has T4 which your cells should be able to covert T3 out of that. T4 stores in your body and T3 is used up as the day goes on. But some peoples bodies don't convert the T3. Several people have talked about TSH which is your thyroid stimulating hormone which comes from your Pituitary Gland. When you thyroid or your meds. don't give you enough thyroid of what you need the Pituitary kicks in there to tell your thyroid gland to to produce more. It's not good for your TSH to be high so Docs. put you on a higher dose of Sythroid or whatever you take for the pituitary to stop producing TSH. So I want to say I am not a doc. but have felt so terrible and researching what I could I quit my Synthroid on the 29 of Dec. and started taking my armour thyroid 1 AM, 1 late afternoon and 1 PM on my own cause I figured I am still getting my T4 and T3. I went to my Endr. Doc. yesterday and told him I went off my Synthroid and just taking Armour. and told him I felt so terrible, after stopping the Topral heart felt great but the rest of me felt drugged, I just felt desperate and horrible. So again it had to be something I was taking. Well I have to say that I feel 100% better than I was. I am much more alert with my surroundings and whatever i am doing, sleep so good, teeth feel good, no rash, urinate normal, not confused, face cleared up, eyes not red or watery, pretty much I already feel normal again. Working at my job is not exhausting, my neck, which I didn't mention before quit hurting. In a whole it was the right thing for me but maybe not for everyone. I just felt that it was slowing taking me out. Blood Pressure, Thyroid issues are to be concerned about but seems like a person should feel better not worse with the meds. So this is the information I have learned and I'm sure there is much more. So good luck to you all and listen to your body and talk to your doc.about how you feel. It can be very scary when you are diagnosed with something but we are all different in what our body needs and our side effects.

i have a lot of the same symptoms and had a nodule and was told i may be able to get off of my thyroid medicine after it went away, but please be careful and don't just stop taking your medicine. Your body is not making enough of the thyroid hormone that is why you had a swollen gland it was trying hard to make enough but couldn't keep up. Your body has to have that hormone to function without it. If it doesn't have enough it can throw you into toxic shock and a coma. the side affects are terrible and I agree get to your doctor and demand help! But the side affects are nothing compared to what going without your medicine can do to you. i know i tried it and ended up in the er!

I have hypothyroid. Have been taking Synthroid for about a year, 0.075MG a day. Had my levels checked 3 times since on the meds and still have never gotten to normal, but a lot closer. I have gained 20 pounds that I can't get rid of, which for me, is crazy. I have never had a problem dropping weight, and for the past month or so, I have started losing my hair. Not just losing it, but the texture and everything has changed. No matter what I do it looks dry and flat, and even when I condition it and also use a leave in conditioner, it still knots up and tangles. I have NEVER had a problem with tangles. It's coming out in handfuls. Im not taking any other meds, so I imagine it has to be the Synthroid. My problem is..What else can I take? I mean, I have Hypothyroid, so I can,t just leave it untreated, But I have no wish to be fat and bald either. Please...anyone know of others meds without these side effects?

I AM SO GLAD TO KNOW THAT MOST OF YOU HAVE THE SAME SYMPTOMS. I am 25 yrs old and I went from 117-162 in about 4 years. I have been miserable!!!!! I was diag. in Aug. and have been taking SYNTHRIOD ever since when I first started taking it I took the medicine in the morning like the bottle and the doctor recommends, but I felt just like all of you. So I tried taking it in the afternoon for kicks and giggles to see if it would help at all. After about a week taking it at about 2pm I started feeling like a champ so I continued and now a month later I have lost 10 pounds. Just a suggestion......... The one question I do have is that I recently noticed that I have actually been ovulating and I am convinced that I haven;t in years hince why I have no kids I guess... Could your thyroid levels mess you up that bad to where you spend years not ovulating or should I go through the expensive process to see a fertility specialists. This is a question that I asked my doctor and of course they want to do 1000 $$$$$$$ tests to find out. Which I have no problems with in the future if worse comes to worse but I would like some advise from my fellow hypo sufferers and see if anyone was in the same boat as mee before being diag.

I've been feeling dizzy for about a year and half. Recently switched from levothyroxine to Synthroid and upped the dosage slightly. Now I'm feeling worse! My endo seems to think there is nothing he can do for me but get my thyroid under control. Is anyone else experiencing dizziness from the meds? Is there a med that is better for this?

I was on synthroid for 10 years after getting treated with Radio Active Iodine. As the years went by my period was all all over the place. They were heavy the first three days and lasted 9 days or more days. I spotted all the way through the month. Other times I was so late that I thought I was pregnant. I had PMS two weeks before I started and was irritable. I had low grade depression. I had anxiety and heart palpitations. My skin was dry and rough. I went to the doctor and had my blood test. He checked for TSH and T4 and T3 levels. He insisted they were normal and that something else is wrong wth me (he wanted to give me sleeping pills, anxiety pills, depression pills) and that it had nothing to do with my thyroid. He sent me to an endo to get a second opinion and he said my levels were normal too. I ended up going to a holistic doctor (paid over 1000 dollars for two visits plus meds) that checked under my feet (yellow) and my reflexes. She checked my reverse T3 and my free T3 and T4. It turns out that my body was not converting T4 to T3 the way they said synthroid (T4 only med) should. My diagnosis was hypothyroid. I was put on Armour and felt the difference in my skin. It was softer and moist! My teeth felt strong compared to before I felt like my teeth were getting loose. My stamina last longer and can run on the treadmil 45 min at six miles per hour. I am less nervous and my low grade depression seems to be lifting. My days are brighter and less anxious. My hair is falling less. I know I have a long way to recovery because my Adrenal glands need some healing and I am still being optimized. I might still need to be raised on the dose that I am in. I will never go back to synthroid! My period has improved drastically as soon as I started on Armour! I am down to 4 days of period and less heavy. I still spot on day 5 and 7 but it is nothing compared to what I went through when I was on synthroid (T4 med only). My gynecologist wanted to burn my uterus to control the menstrual flow. He said that he could also pull it out. It seems like main stream doctors are more interested in treating the symptoms than looking to see what is the problem that is causing the symptoms.

I have been on synthroid since 1982 after RAI to treat Graves. I had 1 child since then and was early 20's but around 30's started having weight gain and fatigue etc. I stopped the meds in 1992 on my own for several months then dr was very scolding and said never do that again. Ever since I went back on I have been gradually worse and worse. Went from 105 in 1982 to 192lbs now. I feel so helpless and lack of care from doctors in trwating me. 1996 had hysterectomy and both ovaries removed which has caused even greater imbalance of the estrogen and thyroid. I pray that I can find a cure that does not require medication like synthroid. Tried Armour in 2005 but did not get better. Lost a little weight but now I found it again and more. The only doctors in MN that I believe can help do not take insurance and I am single parent of 2 children and cannot afford to pay out of pocket expenses. I have already spent close to $1000 to the naturopaths but they sold me way too many supplements, I cannot even take all them its too much plus they both said lose weight. I have no energy or mind skills to implement a structured diet and exercise plan. Anyone know a doctor in twin cities, MN that takes insurance Preferred one that can help me with bio-hormones? Tmaya

IN FEBRUARY MY DOSAGE OF SYNTHROID WAS CHANGED FROM
100 MCG TO 200 MCG ... I AM WONDERING IF THE MAJOR CHANGE COULD HAVE MESSED UP MY MENST. CYCLE BECAUSE IN APRIL
I FOUND OUT I WAS PREG . AND DID NOT HAVE SEX ANY WHERE AROUND THE TIME OF MY USUAL MOST OVULATION CYCLE ... IN FACT BY THE ULTRA SOUND THAT WAS DOWN THE DOCTOR TOLD ME THAT MY LAST PERIOD WAS ACTUALLY LATER THAT I TOLD THEM
NOW MY HUSBAND IS ACCUSING ME OF CHEATING ON HIM
BECAUSE HE WORKS OUT OF TOWN AND WAS NOT IN TOWN
WHEN I SUPPOSEDLY GOT PREG I KEEP TRY TO TELL
HIM THAT MY MEDS PROBABLY MESSED IT UP

It took 3 years for me to be diagnosed with hypothyroidism and for a year I tried levethyroxine. This was a total waste of time. I was so exhausted the kids kept missing school, I kept walking into things, couldn't remember anything so I asked my doctor to let me try armour thyroid. This has apparently T4 T3 T2 and T1 and the T2 is the one that helps your metabolism (weight).
The change is nothing short of miraculous...I know it may not work for everyone but it is worth trying. I also had very extreme mood swings and the doctors were considering manic depression, but the latest thinking with that is to take your TSH levels higher before considering drugs such as lithium. I have just moved to Reading and my new doctor thought my T3 levels too high so reduced my armour dosage by half .....BIG mistake. Ended up in bed for days, couldn't remember which day it was, and the mood swings
!!!!!!! screaming, tearing my hair in frustration, punching my boyfriend. I staggered, literally, in tears back to the doctor who reinstated my original dosage of 2 grains one day 3 the next etc. For me my TSH has to be 0.1,
T4 around 14 and T3 around 8 to 9; basically on the high side but my blood pressure stays low as does my body temp and I feel alive again. It is worth trying different variations synthetic T4 AND T3, and don't rule out armour thyroid if nothing else is working after 6 months of use.

I've been on synthroid now for about a year. My dosage is VERY little (0.075). My doctor keeps running blood tests every 3 months and assures me I am within the "lower-end" of the norm, but I still feel tired, sleep deprived, wake up with night-sweats and I keep gaining weight...

I am only 24 and have just been told that I need to take this medication for the rest of my life, it\s pretty depressing. I keep asking if there are other ways to lose weight and feel more energized. He tells me that I need to keep taking this medication and has put me on a "sleep hygeine" routine where I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

Does this "disease" mean I will always be overweight and tired for the rest of my life? I would like to know if someone else with more experience with this medication can give any sort of advice? Feeling a little hopeless about it and not really interested in complaining to my doctor anymore.

Thanks:)

Hello To All,

I too am on this med, I have been on it for 1 year as of July 2008-

35 pounds, brain fog, headaches, eye sight for reading, chest pain and fluttering heart beat. My doctor who is my friend has told me that he will up my dose... "Dear God" any more and I will go nuts. Does anyone know of any study done in a medical journal that theu could forward to me so I can show my doctor.

Please email me at ****** I would be so very thankful.

Thanks to all and be healthy.

I am a diabetic with hashi. I had been taking synthroid longer than metformin and had been on both for at least a year now. Recently I have been to ER due to heart palpitation and shortness of breath, so I had stopped my synthroid .1 for one day and felt better. So I stopped taking synthroid altogether, After 3 weeks I took it again because I was afraid not to follow my doctors order. 3 days into it, I was back to a high pulse, shortness of breath, chest pin and palpitation. I went to a different doctor,
and he agreed that we experiment on the dosage and try a generic brand.
I took .25 this time and I had the same reaction as taking synthroid .1.
I have now stopped completely, I am hoping to that my doctor will listen to me and will give something else other than synthroid.

My thyroid troubles started in 1993. I am not sure how long before the discovery I had the problem. Mine started as a nodule on one side. I was immediately put on Synthroid and had to go see the Endo every 6 months for a biopsy. In 1995 I became pregnant. I had one more biopsy until after the birth of my daughter. The Endo told me he wanted to see me right away after she was born to do another biopsy. I had my suspisions, but didn't think anyhing until after she was born and went for my biopsy. Well, I had cancer. I went through the whole thyroidectomy, the 3 days isolation with radio-iodine, and every year to every few years after I had to go back and get the radio-iodine treatment, while not the high dose as the first time, it went with the complete body scan. In fact, I am due now, but don't have health insurance. My dose has been switched a lot, I have probably been on every dose from the lowest up to .200mcg, which has been the highest for myself.

Symptoms: pre-thyroid disease, I am 5'2. I was always 110-115 lbs, I was 22 yrs old and 120 lbs. when I married in 1993. I did notice gradual weight gain, probably because of my thyroid problems. I am sad to say that now I am around 180 lbs. I cannot seem to lose the weight unless I go on a total starvation diet. I managed to lose 10-15 lbs over the past summer, but unfortunately for me it has come back over the winter. I tried to stay as active as possible by going to stores and malls to walk around. I do for a fact notice that when my dosage for Synthroid goes higher, so does my weight gain. I was on .137mcg over the summer, and I think that was a good dose for me, that was through the regular dr. The Endo is the one who put me back up to .150mcg. My Endo told me the thyroid is a regenerative organ, so it CAN grow back. I guess they don't want that in case of cancer again, and I guess that is why he keeps me on higher doses.

I personally cannot stand it. I feel it is a horrible curse. I feel very robbed of my previous active life. I have been dealing with this now for 12 years not having a thyroid and being on this medication. I feel angry that I do not have the energy to do things with my 12 yr old and 3 yr old. I miss the way I was before having thyroid disease. I feel very sad when they come up to me asking to do certain things and they (nor anyone else I know for that fact) can understand that I just feel so whooped, and no energy. All I ever seem to want to do is take a nap. I have migraine headaches constantly, I am constantly tired. I cannot concentrate, I have some memory loss. My ex-husband, and my current husband too for that fact think I am just being lazy. Well, that is not so. There are moments when I do feel a burst of energy, but then, I have to use that burst to do the things I need to do around the house.

Pre thyroid disease I was always active, never tired, could do anything. After: TIRED, I was 24 in 1996 and felt like an old lady, dry skin, no matter how much lotion I put on. The tub is full of hair, while it doesn't come out in clumps and I still have thick hair, I have hair all over the place. Irritable, mood swings, happy to angry and the snap of a finger. I can have insomnia some nights, constipation, lots of the same stuff others have listed on this forum. Those side affects are the same no matter what dose I am on. And like I said the higher the dose for me, the more weight I pack on. It is instantanious. Over Christmas, and no, it wasn't from eating all the goodies, I gained a lot of the weight I had lost over summer back, and that was because a few weeks before, the Endo had put me on the .150 mcg.

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?

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in April of this year (2007) kind of by accident through a routine checkup. I had gained a bit of weight over the past two years, but that was really my only symptom. I was begun on 75 mcg of a generic brand of Synthroid, levothyroxine. Since I began this medication, I have rapidly gained another 15 pounds despite a 1,000 calorie per day diet. I retain fluid horribly. My ankles, wrists, hands and face swell daily. My muscles ache, especially my legs, upon walking across a room. I'm fatigued, short of breath. My LDL cholesterol level has skyrocketed in only three months and now I'm being told I need to be on a statin drug. I cry frequently and feel uncharacteristically anxious and irritable, but this could be due to the frustration I am experiencing with the loss of my sense of well-being. In essence, I felt much better before being placed on the medication. I may, in fact, discontinue the medication totally and see if over time I begin to feel better. Like so many other stories I'm hearing, my doctor seems totally unconcerned.