Freaking myself out...

[dpleiman]

How long does it take to convert t4 to t3? I've been on Synthroid 88mcg 3 days and i feel like i'm more foggy brained "zombie" and worse each day as well as muscle fatigue. I feel like i'm losing cognitive, am i just freaking myself out? my last labs before starting the synthroid are.. should i be perking up soon? i feel like i'm losing my mind.. can i "run out" of t3 before the t4 converts it? and if so what symptoms would you have if this happend to that degree? by the looks of my t3 numbers a week ago is it possible to have depleted? i'm worried..

TSH 102 (0.34 - 5.0)
FT3 1.98 (2.3 - 4.2)
FT4 0.17 (0.9 - 1.8)

[TamraW]

Unfortunately, lab ranges aren't always reliable for us Hashis who swing from hypo to hyper early in the disease.

Your frees are very low. I imagine it will take more bumps of Synthroid before you are feeling yourself again. Maybe when your T4 levels are high enough, it you still feel tired, etc, then look to your three levels and see if they are still low. If so, then adding Cytomel could help.

Three days really isn't that much time. I didn't start feeling better until last week when I was bumped. Now I'm feeling sluggish again, so I guess I need another bump.

If things worsen, maybe a natural drug like Nature Thyroid or a compounding pharmacy equivalent (since they are low now) is what you need.
:) Tamra

[dpleiman]

i don't think i've ever felt this bad.. even off of meds... on my other labs prior to these ones it looked as tho i was converting because i would have hi t3's and t4's with lo TSH..

One more thing i wanted to ask if anyone has ever heard of this, about 1 hour after i take the synthroid i get this tingle all over my body almost feels like a fight or flight response.. it's like a "surge" of adrenal... Anyone heard of this?

[goolarra]

You are going to feel worse for a while until your levels start to come up; it takes a while for them to build up in your system.  Don't even think about conversion issues until you have stabilized your FT4.  It will take several weeks before you can even expect to feel better.  And more likely than not, you will need meds adjustments.  There is no way to hurry this process...it takes patience, patience, and when that fails, more patience.  Just concentrate on one thing at a time, take one day at a time, and don't worry about problems that "might" arise.

[dpleiman]

Thanks for your support and encouragment, I definitely needed it. I was worrying myself way too much, I began to anticipate dangers and threats that don't or haven't happened, over worried.. I found a really great article online about this and has helped defuse some of that anxiety.. There was a quote from Mark Twain that said "I’ve experienced many terrible things in my life, a few of which actually happened."  This has been me for years... Thanks again for the support :)

[TamraW]

I LOVE that Mark Twain quote!

No, I don't get the tingling. Then again, I started at 50, then worked up to 75 eight weeks later. I am not on 88 yet, but hoping for a boost next month. Do you think that all of this starting and stopping could be the cause?

I thought that most people started at 25 or 50 and then worked up in slow increments.

If I remember correctly, you were off for a while, then your endo started you on 88? Maybe you need more baby steps.

I started okay on 50, but some people need to start lower. My mom and dad took Synthroid with no problems, so I guess it's a family thing to be tolerant to Synthroid. Some people don't do well on the synthetics at all and it might be just a matter of you going to the natural stuff.

:) Tamra

[dpleiman]

yeah, i'm gonna give the synthroid a chance.. I did start at 88mcg but i was on 100mcg just 3 weeks ago so i'm thinking that's why they didn't start me out again in a small dosage.. Actually this morning i did not have the tingle feeling so hopefully that means some of the "too much too soon" symptoms are going away and my body is adjusting again "i hope" but either way, i'll give it some more time, i have labs in about 4 weeks so i'm going to re-evaluate then based on my symptoms and labs i'll make a decision if synthroid is working out for me. If i had to base it on the past 3 years of levoxyl i'd have to say senthroid type meds are not for me because i've always had issues with the levoxyl even taking baby steps but i'll give name brand synthroid a chance.. I'm sure one day i'll find my match :)  

[Totie]

Just hang in there if you can, BUT if your symptoms get worse call your doctor immediately!

It always took me 6-8 weeks to feel the dosage change weather it was decreased or increased.