i'm pretty sure i'm having a reaction issue with synthroid. i was overdosed on cytomel and am just starting to introduce a higher dose of synthroid back into my system. i would love to read your article, but keep getting an error page when trying to open. is there another link to get to it?
Some people (a small number, I believe) have anxiety and other distressing symptoms when they try to take T4. This reaction is to T4, not to Synthroid specifically. I know this because I was one of those people.
Without going into great detail here, you can read the history of my illness by downloading this file:
ftp://ftp.ucar.edu/era/ThyroidTale.htm
I'm much better than I was, but still not completely back to normal. The bottom line was, I had thyroid antibodies which were caused by the consumption of gluten. Once I got off gluten grains, my antibodies eventually went to zero. After I had gotten rid of the antibodies, I found I no longer had anxiety when taking Synthroid in reasonable doses. (I'm currently on 88mcg daily.)
Right now, I'm working on anxiety obviously caused by Cytomel. I believe that getting rid of the antibodies improved my body's ability to do peripheral T4->T3 conversion, and that the T3/T4 therapy I've been on for so long, may be both unnecessary and counterproductive. This is, of course, a hypothesis; few docs (including endos) seem to be knowledgeable about the connections between HAIT, anxiety reactions, and peripheral conversion.
However, thyroid treatment really is an art, so who knows where I'll end up. I'm beginning to think that doing it by the way you feel, rather than the tyranny of the lab test, may be the way to go.
I strongly believe, as the result of this experience, that low antibodies over a long period of time, can do just as much damage as high antibodies over a short period of time. I strongly suggest that everyone who has an autoimmune disorder, should have tests (e.g. ELISA) to rule out food allergy as a cause.
Doubt it's an allergy - you may be sensitive to thyroid hormone. Would stop it for 4 weeks and retest TSH/T4/T3 and if clearly still hypothyroid re-challenge with another brand to ensure you weren't sensitive to one of the fillers in synthroid.
Also, ask the docs to test for pheochromocytoma-- screen with plamsa free metaneprhines.