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Thyroid  (Expert Forum)
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side effects
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Mark Lupo, M.D. - Thyroid Nodules, Thyroid Cancer, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, Thyroid Ultrasound
Thyroid & Endocrine Center of Florida Sarasota - FL
Questions in the Thyroid forum are answered by Dr. Mark Lupo. Topics covered include goiter, graves disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, hyperthyroid, hypothyroid, thyroid cancers, thyroiditis, and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).
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MedHelp Member's Question

side effects

by 99999, Apr 03, 2006 12:00AM
Over the past three years I have been taking thyroid stimulating hormones. I started with 25 mcg of levethyroid (TSH at 5.8), increased to 50 (TSH 4.9), then 75 (TSH 3.4) then 100 of synthroid (TSH 2.9)and now 125 of synthroid.  The first two years I really didn't experience any bad side effects, now this September I constantly have itchy mosquito looking bumps on my right thigh and both of the backs of my heals. I want to scratch them off. I also starting having really annoying ringing in my ears and I am constantly worrying about trivial things. I even worry that I am dying of some type of brain tumor because I get shooting brain pains and frequent headaches. Oh yeah and I have 0 libido.  I went to my doctor and he gave me some samples of lexipro and suggested that I try them and see if I feel better. He thinks I am depressed and my endocrinologist thinks I just need more Synthroid. I haven't taken the lexipro because I have heard scary stuff about it (like synthroid) and I only took 2 days of the 125 mcg's of synthroid because I felt wired, couldn’t sleep and was extra panicky. Now I haven't taken any synthroid because I want to see if the hive like bumps, shooting brain pains and the ringing goes away along with everything else. My endo insists that the ringing wouldn't be from synthroid and the bumps are from dry skin ( I use a bottle of lotion each day). I am just a wreck I feel like I am loosing my mind. I used to be such a happy go lucky type of person, now I am a worry wart and I would rather sleep than deal with life.  Is it that bad if I stop the synthroid?

Doctor's Answer

by Mark Lupo, M.D., Apr 05, 2006 12:00AM
It's not likely a drug allergy but it may be not the right dose -- perhaps 112mcg may be a better fit -- in these cases I also consider switching to another brand just to make sure it's not an allergy to one of the fillers in the pill.  Unless you are severly depressed, would hold on the lexapro until changes in thyroid meds have been tried.  If you are truly hypothyroid then you need to take medication so I would not stop it altogether.
Member Comments (9)

by THYROIDMASTER, Apr 04, 2006 12:00AM
first of all, i feel for u. ive been thru alot also. and what u are feeling is not right. find urself a new doctor,that cares about people like us. that has thyroid problems.u dont need to take all that extra medication, u dont really need it. all u have to do,is educate urself.if u dont feel good, then get another doctor and blood test. buy a book about our sickness. iam in a foreign country when i got this sickness. what i do is look on the net. buy books, and tell my doctor how i feel, and how i want to be treated! be firm with them.i hope u will feel better.it takes time.dont stop ur medication unless the dcotor tells u . get a new one. god bless. TM

by Tracy615, Apr 04, 2006 12:00AM
I think it sounds 'hyper'.  Which means you have over-medicated.  T4 stays in your system for a week, T3 for 1.5 days.  I am currently coming off major hyper--all your symtoms, shaking, extreme fatigue, etc.  (you can look at my question called "Super hyper on Armour".  I, too, have tinnitus (ringing in the ears).  I have seen a tinnitus specialist (highly trained) and he (and many, many sites) relate tinnitus to hyper.  I have been off my meds off and on for 10 days (just 1 day on but went right back to hyper).  I am now going to begin a lower dose, and I am switching to Synthroid just for the time being (as the doc indicated, I may be sensitive to T3)  My point is that you need to have your levels checked, go to thyroid.com, or some net site, and check out hyper symtoms, and back off the meds!  But, see a doc!  I've just been where you are at, I know exactly how you feel.  By the way, my tinnitus has diminished significantly, as well as all other symptoms.

by elisablowt, Apr 06, 2006 12:00AM
I wanted to tell you that I started levoxyl a little more than a week ago and also got itchy bumps right away. But they went away as my body got used to the medication.

by 99999, Apr 10, 2006 12:00AM
Thank you for the replies! I have started myself back on the meds because I started to freak out after a few days off synthroid. I was really tired and didn't want to move off the couch.  Now I am cutting a small piece of my 125 mcg pill off so I am not taking the full amount.  I am doing this because my doc said the ringing in the ears might be because of the dye in the 100 mcg? I just wanted to see if this was the problem. I still have the ringing and have been back on the meds for a week now and the ringing has not stopped. I am also feeling tightness in my legs and like they weigh a hundred pounds and have really bad headaches. I hate this. I want to be normal! I guess I will have to go back to the doc. I feel like she will just up my dosage. I think that is not what I need. I get too wired on the 125, but still feel like **** when I am cutting a small piece off (which I think might be equal to the 112). Why are some doc's so hesitant to prescribe Armour?

by Tracy615, Apr 10, 2006 12:00AM
One more suggestion- check into adding some T3 to your treatment. I belong to a thyroid group, and there have been hundreds of letters over the past 5 years about symptoms like yours that have been changed with a small addition of T3, which is called Cytomel.  If you are not converting the T4 in Synthroid well, you are going to feel like you do, as T3 is the 'active hormone'.  Suggested doses vary, as low as 2% of T4 to 12.5%, thyroid meds are tough to pin down, it's a very individual disease.

Hope that helps, and if you really check out some thyroid sites, you'll see it is often discussed in relation to Synthroid use.

by kellydahl, Apr 10, 2006 12:00AM
To: Tracy615
Hi Tracy,  I was so happy to see your post.  I am on Cytomel and scared to death.  I have all the symptoms you described.  The first and worst is anxiety.  I had ringing in my ear so bad today that it almost drowned out everyone around me.  I didn't know that was a symptom of hyper.  Please tell me that the anxiety is not permanent and it does disappear after the dose is dropped.  Also, I have had a dull headache that excedrin won't touch for the past 3 days.  I also have had trouble finding "the right words" to use in a conversation and my eye sight seems strained.  Does that sound familiar too.  I have decided to cut out my 5 mg evening dose and just take my 5 mg morning dose for a week, then cut it down to 2.5 for a week until I stop taking it all together. Do you know if this is an okay way to taper off of this med?  



Sorry to dump all this on you.  I just thought you might be able to help.



Thanks!

by AnnSepula, Apr 12, 2006 12:00AM
I took Levoxyl for 1 month and suddenly the side effects of extremet faituge, insomnia, shortness of breadth, swelling of both legs and abdomen started to appear.  I stopped taking Levoxyl for six weeks now.  The side effects of swelling of legs, insomnia and abdomen are still here.



How long will the side effect last ?



What was your experience ?



Thank you so much.



Ann



P.S. My email address is: ***@****

by SmOOOthAkshun, Apr 23, 2006 12:00AM
Hi gang. My name is Tony. I've been diagnosed hypo for about 1 1/2 years now and have been symptomatically hypo for about 2 1/2 years.



I started on Synthroid, 25 mcg, and progressively was increased up in dose to 75 mcg. My TSH started at around 14. I was having strange symptoms such as "electrical arcing" like a sudden electrical shock that would occur anywhere at any time in my body. It was really disturbing. I kept telling my doc (GP) that while I was feeling better in some ways, it was like I was getting a whole bunch of new symptoms that were replacing the ones I was getting rid of. She wasn't listening and just kept increasing the dose of Synthroid. I finally went to an endo and described my symptoms to him. He said it was extremely rare, but that some people were sensitive to, allergic, or had bad reactions to the dye used in the different pills. He took me back to the 50 mcg Synthroid (no dyes) and prescribed I take 1 1/2 of them daily to get the required 75 mcg dose I needed. The symptoms (caused by the dye) went away.



Now I'm on Armour 60's. I'm going to tell you I was feeling much better for a good number of weeks. My energy is still low. Today, I had some symptoms I haven't had in quite awhile. I became very lightheaded while sitting on my couch this morning, almost like an intense head rush, and I had some visual disturbances again. The visual thing was like a wavy area in my field of vision. I have been tested for diabetes and came out clean. I haven't had these symtoms in awhile, at least not to this degree. I honestly don't know if these symptoms are hypo related or from something else entirely different. I missed work this past Thursday and Friday because I felt so terrible. I didn't have the lightheadedness or vision thing, but just felt bad......weak, headache, crappy. It's the worst I have felt in a long time.



I just took a blood test for free T4 and T3 and TSH Saturday for an endo appointment next week. Honestly, I'm hoping that my TSH is back up again so that what I'm feeling is explainable and I can get my doseage increased. My neck feels "funny" sometimes, too. Like sort of tight and mildly sore and I don't seem to have the ease of movement or agilty with it that I used to have. And it cracks a lot.



Does anyone else have any of these symptoms.......the visual disturbances, the neck thing, the lightheadedness or head rushes?  I know the tiredness is pretty common.



I just wanted to let others know about the dye thing. It can cause a lot of problems in different ways in different people. Maybe its rare. I dont know. Something to explore. I hope to converse more with everyone here in the future.



May we all feel better. And soon.



Tony