Just throwing it out there to ANYONE

[EMT9549]

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism 5 months ago... was over treated and then got this dizzy fog in my head that makes me feel lightheaded ALL the time... I am now Hyperthyroid with a level that cant even be picked up in the lab report because I am taking to much replacement.... I was then said to have anxiety which is funny because I have never had anxiety my whole life.. but I mean I do get anxious in situations like standing in front of a class and what not... But my question is has anyone been through this same situation... and could this thyroid hormone be causing the anxiety... even if my levels of TSH get back to normal could the medication still be causing it? and Another question is does anyone recommend going on brand name synthroid in comparison to generic...? what do you guys think?

[AR-10]

Anxiety is one of the symptoms of thyroid disease. You can experience anxiety when Hypo or Hyper, either one.

Generic Levothyroxine is not as reliable as a name brand form like Synthroid or Levoxyl. You will do better over the long haul on a name brand product when treating the thyroid.

Have you stopped taking the Levo for a while?

After you get started on it again, you should have your blood checked every six weeks until you know the dose is correct for you, and then you should have a test run every three months or so to make sure what happened to you does not happen again.

Hope you're feeling better soon.  

[anree]

I would recommend stopping the Levo awhile too. That's what my dr. did for about a week. Now I'm back down to hypo, and slowly getting adjust. The word is SLOWLY. It takes forever, but it's better than hyper. I thought I was crazy!

[EMT9549]

So were you hyperthyroid before... then you stopped taking the meds? did the anxiety go away? and does levothy

[EMT9549]

sorry I got cut off... anyway does levothyroxine cause anxiety do you think?

[AR-10]

Being Hyperthyroid often causes anxiety.

I've been taking Alprazolam for two years for anxiety.

You were driven to a hyperthyroid state by too much medication. You were started on a dose that was too high, and it sounds like you didn't get very good monitoring.

Were you told to stop taking the Levo for a while?

[EMT9549]

No I was told to keep taking it.... See I dont think i should be on this zoloft because I was never an anxious person until this thyroid stuff happened when I was first started with .100 mcg of levothyroxine about 4 days later I had this weird panic attack... and then after that I was seriously bed rest because I could not get up and walk around because I was so lightheaded and weird feeling... Then i just got used to the feeling and was able to atleast walk around and do things... But I seriously think it is this levothyroxine that is killing me here I am not sure what to think because I still feel like **** when I have had this levothyroxine in my system for about 5 months now... you would think I would start to feel well..

[AR-10]

Zoloft is not an anti-anxiety med. It is an anti-depressant. I wouldn't want to take it either, unless I was depressed. Ask you doctor to wean you off of it.

I think yout care is shoddy. Either you are not keeping appointments, or your doctor is not keeping a very close eye on you. I'm leaning toward the doctor not being so great.

1) Zoloft is overkill for anxiety.

2) You should have been told to discontinue the Levo for about a week or two, and then started back at a lower dose.

3) had your doctor monitored you properly after starting you on Levo, you would not be severely Hyper right now.

Maybe you should seek treatment elsewhere. Maybe the Levothyroxine does not agree with you, and you should try a different brand.

It takes six weeks for Levothyroxine or any T4 med to come up to full strength in your body. When you stop taking it, it takes six weeks to get most of it out of your body.

If you had a reaction to it after four days, the doctor should have cut your dose way back at that time and slowly increased the dose over a course of several weeks.

If you are overmedicated now, lowering your dose but keeping you on the med means it will take a lot longer for you to get the excess out of your system. You could have stopped for a week and still had plenty of med in your system a week later.

At some point the doctor should have considered trying another brand since you are having so much trouble.

I don't think your doctor is giving you very good care.

[redheadaussie]

You don't happen to see the same doctor as I do, do you? I was made hypo after my surgery, then went Hyper, Now after speaking to the surgeon I am still hyper but she wants me to go to a low dose which made me hypo to start with. If you read my journals you will see how I, too, have had to deal with the anxiety, which in fact is just a symptom of being hyper.
My doctor was going to give me valium but I insisted on saying NO! Being hyper is the pits, then again so is being hypo! But the doctors think that anxiety is a separate issue and rarely realise it is due to being hyper.
   Yes, as AR-10 says Zoloft is NOT an anti-anxiety medication and DO NOT stop taking it suddenly, you think you have problems now!
  Personally you are not obliged to stay with your treating doctor, ask for copies of your test results and get a new doctor as soon as possible!
With great understanding here, I wish you well.

[EMT9549]

Thank you very much for the comments.... Please anyone else have a opinion on this topic of anxiety and over treatment of the thyroid?

[MKlacza]

If you are still on the high dose of Thyroid meds...then you really need to have that lowered and in my opinion...you need a new DR!!! When I was having my symptoms... Dr said he thought too much meds but to be sure he checked labs... sure enough too much and lowered me instantly!! The Zoloft can be having the same effect. Call your Dr tomorrow and tell him your thoughts about possibly stopping the levo for a week to calm your system down. when I was on the too high of dose and changing to Armour... he had me of meds for 5 days to help my body heal from the hyper symtpoms..Hang  in there.. like Anree said...this is a very slow process.. I am about to be upped in my dose and it is normal to have some hyper symproms while transitioning!!!

[cbread]

Well in addition to the advice from everyone else, I say give up coffee if you drink it. I weaned myself to one cup a day  (I live in Seattle....coffee is our lifeblood) and then drink decaf if I need another cup and it really helps a lot.  A small change but helpful to me.

[EMT9549]

I understand that I need to get my dose lowered, but as it is right now I am having labs done this week and then having it lowered from there... in a way I hope I am still hyperthyroid because I Dont want to be some mental case with anxiety and fear of leaving my house because of my anxiety and weird attacks... I should just get the damn thing taken out!

[eronski]

Be really careful - go with your gut.  For me, Zoloft worked wonderfully for my anxiety and has proven to be a great tool for my anxiety.  I have taken a low dose 25mg.  I have been on it for 5 months and am now in the process of quitting.  No med is perfect and they ALL have drawbacks so be prepared.  The one thing I was NOT going to let happen was.....Stacking up on drugs, I was told the Zoloft could make me more anxious in the beginning so I was given Xanax for that and a sleeping pill too!  I thought this was crazy!  I only took the Zoloft and very rarely 1/2 a Xanax.  As far as thyroid issues I don't know much about that, but I have heard it can be challenging to figure out.

I think this forum is a wonderful tool for venting and meeting people with similar issues.  I will only tell you how the Zoloft effected me - and it worked - with some side effects.  Was it worth it, yes - now I have another tool to battle anxiety.  I have had people say, Zoloft is not for anxiety and I was imagining it was helping me...  Not so, I pay close attenttion to what's going on in my body - I keep track of everything.    If your doctor doesn't feel right, or is impersonal - try another.  That's one of the beauties of our health care, most of us have options.  One suggestion I have is to keep a journal of all your symptoms, all the food you eat, what time of the month it is, man or women.  Then when and if you see a doctor that info is very helpful.  Best of luck to you in your journey, Erin