Thyroid med synthroid is increasing blood pressure.

[grandmasue410]

I had my thryoid removed in Sept due to cancer.  I was put on 88 of synthroid and was increased to 100.  My blood pressure just keeps going up and staying up.  I don't feel well.  I am almost 70 and in pretty good health.  Dr. increased my blood pressure med but not really helping.  Everyone has been gone for the holidays and not getting much help.  Any one have this problem?

[flyingfool]

First you have to be VERY specific.  You have to ask for the FREE T4 and FREE T3.  If you ask for simply T4 and T3 they will likely test "total" and not the FREE hormones.

your body ONLY uses the FREE hormones. Which means they are NOT attached to a protein molecule.  This is important because once the hormone gets attached to a protein it becomes useless and your body does NOT use it.

Secondly there should be no real advantage what so ever for taking your Synthroid medication twice a day.  Synthroid is a synthetic T4 hormone.  T4 hormone takes up to 6 WEEKS to stabilize in your blood.  It is VERY SLOW acting.  So taking once versus twice or more during the day compared to 6 weeks is insignificant.

That said, some people have intolerance and sensitivities to the buffers and fillers in T4 medications.  There are several manufacturers of T4 medication and many people have found who have these sensitivities that simply switching manufacturers that use different fillers and dye's etc are not sensitive to another brand.  One manufacturer the medication known as Tirosint is a liquid gelcap and does not use any fillers or binders and is said to be hypoallergenic. many people who have sensitivities with hard pill T4 medications have found this Tirosint to be tolerable.

Finally I would tend to agree with FT4 above. That your BP response may be more due to improper Thyroid balance and possibly under-medicated and not getting sufficient Thyroid, rather than a reaction to the synthroid medication itself.  Although anything is possible I suppose.

[grandmasue410]

Thank you.  I started the 100 a month ago.  I don't beleive I have had a t3 or t4 test  After reading the comments here i know I need to go back to the doc and have the t3 and t4 done.  Will make an appointment today. They seem more concerned with pth and calcium because I had a tumor onone parathyoird and had that removed also.  I did cut the 100 in half and take it twice a day  early am and early afternoon.  That does seems to keep the bp a littler lower.  sure hope it stablizes  Thanks

[FTB4]

When did you increase from 88 to 100? Do you have your last lab results you could post? If so please post the reference ranges provided with each. I know Hypothyroid disease caused my BP to go up, and thyroid removal, due to the lack of thyroid hormones being deficent would also cause a rise in BP, once your medication is at the right level the Blood Pressure should stablize. Do you know if your MD had a Free T3 and Free T4 thyroid tests done? If he did we can give a better response. Ask you MD for those results, If he did not do the Free T3 and Free T4m ask him to do them and request a copy of the results. Best Wishes FTB4