Upping snthroid

Been on 1 25mcg o synthyroi for a month now now,went to dr now and she said to up it by half starting toay..so i took the half this aternoon as i had my morning one....is this ok thats how she said do it,but i read u should take it in am,so im wondering o some people take 1 in am and 1 in ppm? This is new to me Thanks

[Super_sally888]

Hi,

synthyroid (T4) has a very long half life.  There is no benefit to splitting the dose morning and night (though there would be if you were on a T3 drug).

You can take it all at once in the morning.  Better to take it at least 30 - 60 minutes before eating to maximise absorption.  Be very consistent in how you take ti.

[medicmommy]

If it helps, I was told to take it first thing in the morning with water on an empty stomach. If you take an iron or calcium-containing supplement, take it at night so the two are as far apart as possible because of absorption/drug interaction issues.
In Dec '11 I was started on 25 mcg of levothyroxine. It did not seem to have an effect and my TSH kept rising and my "frees" were reverse of what they should have been. 5 weeks later, my endo increased my dose to 50 mcg and switched me to Synthroid. After two weeks, I began to see quite a difference. 6 weeks later, my labs were checked again, and he increased me to 75 mcg. Each time I've had an increase (except for the 25 mcg) I get sporadic palpitations for about two weeks, and then these are replaced with feeling even better. Currently, I am no longer dragging through the day, my joints don't hurt, I can remember things again and my female issues (hot flashes, irreg periods) have resolved. -so hang in there! It takes time, but it is important to go slowly to find your "happy place". ~MM

[hazyworld]

yes i think she had me hust take the half yesterda afternoon and this morning i took the one and one half pills at once,my levels are ok,but she goes byy a ersons description on their syymptoms..i o think its helping me,,,and im told they wont affect the sex drive..do u know anything about that?

[flyingfool]

Low sex drive is a very common symptom of being hypo.  Thus low thyroid usually has a result of having low sex drive.  So getting onto thyroid meds most likely will IMPROVE your sex drive.

Unless you think it will get too high????

[medicmommy]

I can say I have had a definite improvement in the sex drive area. I had deteriorated to the "nope, just don't care" level, and even though I didn't miss it, my husband did and began to take it personally. It nearly ruined our marriage. I can't say I have the drive I did when I was 20, (I am now 46) but I am definitely interested again and it doen't take an act of Congress to spark that interest. -So, yes, it should improve things! ;)~MM

[hazyworld]

Thanks for your response,what do you mean unless i think its high.....has anyone eles dr put them om thyroi me even if levels are within the normal..i feel a little jittery toay,maybe from uping the synthyrio and a heaache..hope that goes away..so far no improvement is sex an been pn syntyroid since april 15 i think..does it take time?

[Barb135]

It takes at least 4-6 weeks for an increase or decrease in medication to have an effect. It's not unusual for people to some jittery feelings, heart palps, etc when first increasing; this usually subsides in a few days.

I think flyingfool might  have been joking about your sex drive going too high....... I haven't been that lucky!!

[hazyworld]

so is ok for levels to be in normal range but dr uts u on syynthyyroi anyway,due to symptoms..I have ba heaheache since uppping it and a knot on  my forehea an i ont remember hitting it..go in for sinus surgery on Tuesay..very scare,i rea where alot of people gain weight on synthyroi,,dr sai it should help with weight loss an low sex drive and energy..not oing much for me so far/

[medicmommy]

I think I am finally reaching my "happy place" at 75 mcg. It took me 6 months to get here, but I am nearly symptom-free, my sex drive is increasing, and I have stopped gaining weight -actually, for the first time in 3 years, I've lost a bit. -And I have energy without the dragging fatigue. Be patient. This takes time and it is best to go slowly as everyone's "happy place" is a bit different. According to standard lab ranges, my labs were in "normal ranges" yet I had all the hypo signs (I'm also a Hashi's patient.) Hang in there! ~MM

[flyingfool]

My wife is Hypo.  And we've been struggling with this.  She also can not virtually under any circumstance lose weight.  No matter how much she lowers food intake and exercise.  As in doing weight watchers religiously measuring and weighing everything she eats along with walking up to 6 or 7 miles a day.  She lost only a few pounds and then stopped losing anything at all.  Total pain in the rear and little weight loss.  Totally not worth the effort it took and if she skimps at all.  No matter how small of a variance from the strict diet BOOM instant weight gain!

She has always had a low sex drive. Although even when first married in our 20's she didn't have much of a sex drive.  I'm pretty sure she was undiagnosed Hypo for many years.  She has told me as stated above that if she never had sex again it wouldn't bother her.  Well as her husband it DOES bother me.  And it has caused some marriage problems.  I NEVER feel wanted.  And a guy DOES start to take that personally!

This is what lead me to this site in the first place.  As I was desperate to try to help my wife feel better.  It is me who tends to be more interested in fixing this issue than her.  Which pains me that I have to insist on keeping up on this.  It seems to her the changes are so slow that she doesn't notice them and then depression usually is common or at least laziness and she just doesn't care to take the effort.  So I have to be the pain in the rear husband nagging her to go get a blood test etc, etc, etc.

I keep thinking that if we can get the proper med dosage that will trip the trigger that will allow her to loose weight and also enhance her sex drive and she will generally feel even better than she has been.  But until we get to that sweet spot she is a lot less tired but still with weight and libido issues remain.

Also I started another thread related to seasonal change in med dosage related to the change in weather.  Last year about this time we started to get more tests and increased dosage of Lovvo.  The Dr raised the dosage three times in small steps. And things got better in terms of fatigue and temperature tolerance.  But again didn't seem to help with weight loss or libido.  Now again this spring she is getting tired again. Which makes me think it is possible she needs another increase in dosage. As nothing else has changed in her life that would indicate an increase in fatigue.

I personally believe my wife has Hashi's but her Dr. will NOT test for it.  The Dr's logic is that the treatment is no different so there is no point.  I disagree.  I think it is vital to know at the very least in order to set up a blood test schedule that may be say every 3 months instead of every 6 months or a year.

[Barb135]

Your doctor is correct - even if your wife has Hashi's, the treatment will be the same.  Many of us have Hashi's and while we get blood tests every 3 months until levels stabilize, once that occurs, it's customary to drop down to 6 months to a year for blood work.  I'm thinking that my endo might start spreading my blood tests out to a year.  

Even if your wife's doctor wants her only to have blood work every  6 months, he should be willing to retest sooner if she's not feeling well.  If he's not willing to do that, you might have to look for another doctor.  When my endo spread my labs and visits to him, out to 6 month increments, he was very quick to tell me that if I need him sooner, to call.  

Has your wife had her reproductive hormones tested?  There are things, other than thyroid issues that can cause the low libido.  

[medicmommy]

After reading your post, my heart went out to you and your wife. My husband and I have been experiencing the same thing (minus the dpression on my end) for several years. We've been married 20 1/2 years and have been together for 24 -I really know where you are coming from.
Some things that she should also look at -how much is she trying to cram in one day? How available is she to you, the children, and whatever/whomever demands her time? Has she taken on so much that she would be in a chronic state of exhaustion regardless of thyroid issues or not? Does she feel good about herself? Is she giving herself a few minutes of quality time each day that she just gets to sit and breathe without being interrupted or is her day filled from dawn to dusk without a break serving others? Is your relationship strained?

I ask these things as I have had to face these questions and I finally had to admit that I was not the superwoman that I thought I had to be. I didn't ask for help, because I saw everything as my responsibility -right down to "servicing the husband" before my bedtime as if it were a house chore to check off the list when all I really wanted to do was succumb to exhaustion. I would never get more than 4-6 hours of sleep per night, I was working full-time 12 hour shifts, doing on-line school full-time so I could get away from working 12 hour shifts, trying to keep up the house (hubby and daughter didn't help with house chores) and do all the other errands that kept the house going and the family fed.

My husband and I became complacent and stopped communicating and couldn't understand why we were both so unhappy. The more unhappy and angry he became, the less desire I had to be with him because I blamed myself for being a poor wife. The hypothyroid stuff and stress made me gain 40 lbs, and my self-esteem went into the toilet. I began to let other things I cared about slip too. My cooking became less creative, the house became a chronic mess, and I felt overwhelmed as if I could never catch up.

I tell you this as I know there are a ton of other women out there who are experiencing the same thing and their hubbies -who just want to participate in some "quality bedroom (or sofa, or livingroom rug) time" with them are baffled as to why their wives "just aren't interested". Yea, us women are complicated creatures and our brains certainly work differently.  I had the difference of techniques between men and womens' multi-tasking explained to me.

Men's brains "single-task" rapidly -meaning they can do one thing at a time in rapid succession, and when they are done with it, they are done with it. Women's multi-tasking is more like a computer program with a variety of windows opening and closing running in the fore and back ground. Constant pop-ups interrupt tasks, and there may be more than one program running in the background that has been there for years. Too many open windows or running programs slows it down and can cause crashes -and with mental or physical fatigue (crashes), libido goes out the door.

A good part of a woman's libido is in their heads (as we don't have another that drives our thoughts like men do!) You get that fixed, and many other things -especially health problems that are aggravated by stress, will fall into place.

Something that may be beneficial for both of you (if she hasn't already) is have your wife seek counseling to get some "survival tools" to help her get herself going again. I'm sure if you went it would give you some "tools" too that would help get some happiness back into your lives again.

Well, I've kidnapped Hazy's thread long enough. Fly -I hope some of this helps. I wish someone had pointed this out to me ages ago as it would have saved my very caring and understanding husband and myself a lot of unhappiness. ((((((((HUGZ)))))))))~MM

[flyingfool]

Wow.  Your post almost exactly nailed my situation to the point that I was wondering if you were my wife.  As she knows I post here so maybe she joined and started posting?

My wife and I will celebrate our 21 anniversary this summer and have been together the two years prior.  My wife or at least I definitely feel that she is simply "servicing me".  It is exactly like you said, sex is something to check off the chore "to do list".  I've described this several times to others and at another forum list.  So it is funny that you would exactly describe it as you did the same way only from a women's perspective.

She does not feel good about herself in large part due to her weight I believe.  She always has low self image or self esteem.  I know low thyroid is associated with difficulty in losing weight.  So I think as you say this is all interconnected in her head as well as physically with her thyroid levels etc.

My wife works as a lead teacher in a day care (4 and 5 year old students) and our 6 year old daughter (youngest of 3 girls ages 17, 14 and 6) hangs on her all the time.  My wife has made this her own worst enemy by doting on her too much.  Now she won't leave mom alone for 2 minutes.  I warned her that this might happen but I was just being a jerk. now she's paying the price and I have to keep my mouth from saying I told you so.  I'm at least smart enough to know that! (well sometimes)

I think she did have her other hormone levels checked several years ago when I/we were searching for what was "wrong" with the low libido.  But that test came back "normal".  Well I sort of think this is the same wicked scenario of the blind faith in the test results being in the "normal range" just like Thyroid.  Again it is symptom related and just because you are within a statistical normal range means nothing.  Some of those people who make up that "normal" range are NOT normal.  Just because they eliminate the upper and lower 2.5% to make up the 95% normal range is nice statically.  But if in the real world 15 or 20% of the people are not where they are supposed to be that means that they would need to eliminate 15 or 20%, not the 5% they do to determine the "normal" range.  So in effect the "normal range" may have a fairly high percentage of people that have blood levels that are NOT ideal. but they do fall within the range.  And the Dr's will do nothing for these poor people.  They are said to be "normal" but they are NOT anywhere near where they should be.  

Thyroid is a hormone and we know that one is "off" in my wife. And all the hormones interact pretty complexly throughout the body. So when you mess with one it messes with the balance of the others.  So I'm a bit hesitant to start juggling too many hormones at a time.  But if her thyroid blood work comes out good, maybe it is time to look elsewhere.  I've read that Progesterone really plays an important role.  Even more than estrogen or testosterone.  Also read that messing with these is VERY, VERY tricky.

She has tried an over the counter libido enhancer you can get from health food stores like GNC.  But she has been unable to tolerate them.  She immediately started breaking out and generally not feeling well so she could not take them more than about 2 days before she stopped and tried it a couple of times with the same bad reaction.  Should have known it was too good to be true.....

I am familiar with the single task/multitask differences between men & women.  The Book Love and Respect among others have helped me immensely in that regard.  Hasn't seemed to help out my wife too much at least not yet ;)

I know libido is more complex than just thyroid.  And I have a role in how it all plays out in her life by my behavior's etc.  But having virtually no interest (even when first married) what so ever for her entire life does not seem right.  Something is wrong.  Low thyroid is at least one thing to point get under control to at least eliminate as a contributing factor.

[hazyworld]

upped to 1 1/2 synthroid..myy sex rive i swear since stating this med has gone,i was getting it back,also on prozac,wellbutrin sr,xanax,femring,estratest,,,,,,,,my energy level is better,but can  it d..something is going onecrease sex drive

[Barb135]

Prozac, wellbutrin and xanax will all affect your sex drive.