New 16 year old user on synthroid (5mcg). heart racing, not sleeping

[dcthompson]

Our daughter was just diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and started taking 5mcg synthroid per day.  She also has JRA and is currently taking 2 ml of Embrel per week.  She is 16 and very active; swims, plays soccer and runs track.  

She is complaining about her heart racing, not sleeping and hair loss.

Is the heart racing part of getting the synthroid regulated?
Would taking the meds in the morning help?
Any diet or vitamin recommendations?
Would love to hear some ideas on helping with the heart racing, not sleeping and counter-acting the heart loss.

[ChitChatNine]

HI and welcome.  There also is a pediatric endrocrinologist as well as our own expert endocrinologist on thyroid but he's on vacation.  They may be able to help you with the interactin of the Enbrel if any or our friends on the arthritis community may have some idea if that has anything to do with it.  I'd call your pharmacist maybe, too.

What were her TSH #'s?

I had nausea the first two weeks in the AM on synthroid.

5mcgs is a very low dose. so I am wondering about these effects on such a low dose.  Usually 25mcgs is a start dose.  Could it be 25 and not 5 maybe?

C~

[Rachel4]

I agree. I've been on Levoxyl for just a month now and the first week or so was rough while my body adjusted. I felt anxiety. I changed taking my medication from the evening to the morning which made evenings a little better. But after two weeks I was feeling much better (less anxiety and better on my thyroid symptoms too!).   Good luck.

I'm a fan of nutritional deficiency testing. This really helped me feel better (in conjunction with the thyroid medication). Check out http://vitamintesting.com/. My DO uses SpectraCell to process the testing. This helped us identify several deficiencies and begin treating them.

[laura1967]

How long has she been on the Synthroid? Usually the first week of taking thyroid meds or increases of dosages this can happen. I think I felt racey for the first week and a half to 2 weeks even. It will subside once your body gets use to the medicine. What it is doing is jump starting her body and metabolism from the thyroid slowing everything down. Keep an eye on it with a blood pressure cuff or take pulse manually. If it gets high and stays that way, then call dr asap.
She should be taking her synthroid in the am when she wakes up.....1 hour before food.
Make sure she is getting good whole food source vitamins and minerals. Hair loss won't begin to subside until her body starts to heal. The thyroid takes quite a while to adjust and to heal....takes time to find right dosage of meds as well. It is not an overnight fix and will take some time. Try to help her realize she may have some physical limitations for a while that she may not be use to.
Also just a quick note that if she is not treated properly with the Hashimotos, it will prolong her healing. Very important that she get TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 ran each time she has her bloodwork. The TSH should be supressed to between .50-1.0 for her body to properly heal. Anything over that and she will continue to be sick and not heal according to what my Endo has educated me on hashi's. I was undertreated by a different endo for 2 yrs and just kept getting sicker and sicker. Don't tolerate a doctor who doesn't specialize in thyroid...a lot of endo's specialize in diabetes and only know basics of thyroid. She is already dealing with 2 auto-immune diseases now....unfortunately once you have one you are more apt to develop another.
Be patient with her when she doesn't feel well and realize she cannot control it. Love her and show her this website if she needs support from other patients. My heart goes out to her at such a young age and having both disorders.