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Thyroid, blood sugar and confounding factors

I am a 26 year old female diagnosed as hypothyroid about 6 years ago.

In the past couple weeks I have been having what feels like fairly severe hypoglycemia.  I get dizzy, have palpitations, start sweating, feel irritable, get blurry vision and feel confused.  It seems to be "reactive hypoglycemia" as well as fasting, but the symptoms are more sudden and severe when it is reactive.  I can get them to subside with a hard candy.

I have also felt tired and kind of depressed lately and my muscles feel achy and I have bouts of nausea and diarreah.  My periods have been irregular and lighter than usual.

Could my lveothyroxine be too high?  I have been taking 100 mcg for about a year now.  Since my diagnosis my TSH has fluctuated and I've changed my meds and their dosages quite a bit.

Or could it be too low?

My weight is stable.

Confounding factor:  I went off the birth control pill Yasmin about 4 months ago.

Thanks.
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Avatar universal
A related discussion, yasmin birth control was started.
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A related discussion, Hypothyroid AFTER yasmin was started.
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nessifly, have you had your cortisol levels checked?
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Avatar universal
Hi nessifly -

I know for a fact that Yasmin can cause most of the problems you're reporting - even months after you've discontinued taking it.  Like you, I've been hypothyroid for about a year.  All my symptoms were being blamed on the thyroid when it was actually the Yasmin causing the problems.  Worst for me was depression and palpitations.  It's taken me about 8 months off Yasmin to start feeling good again.  Do have your thryoid retested though to make sure you're on the correct level of meds.  Also, consider a T3/T4 combo like Cytomel with Synthroid or just Armour alone.  I switched to Armour about 6 weeks ago and it seems to work a lot better for me.
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97953 tn?1440865392
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
With regards to thyroid -- retest TSH now and keep the TSH around 1.0 with the levothyroxine (insist on a brand -- synthroid or levoxyl and NOT generic).  Take the medication consistently every day in the same way (ideally 30 minutes before a meal or other meds).

Reactive hypoglycemia can be difficult -- the key is to avoid simple sugars and to eat small, frequent protein based meals (a dietician can help guide you).

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