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Weaning off Synthroid

I am having side effects that I so do not enjoy from this medication. The more I read, the more I see other's are having the same side effects. I missed my medication one day by mistake and was surprised how good I felt. Well adjusted, not nervious or stressed out and many of my physical compliants disappeared. I felt like my old self again and took pleasure in things. When I finally remembered to take my medication within an hour everything changed, all symptoms back and nervous and agressive and staring. I have to get off of this, I'm so unhappy.

Has anyone weaned themselves off of Synthroid? And if so how on earth did you do it? Any advice is appreciated. Please tell me anything that you know.

Thanks so much

DOCHDOCH
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649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
This thread is almost 8 yrs and DOCHDOCH is no longer active on the forum, so it's unlikely you'll get a response from her...

There are 2 sides to that coin and your analysis is only partially correct.  While it's true that some people, under a lot of stress, do have adrenal issues and those should, often, but not always, be treated prior to starting thyroid hormone, the flip side of the coin is that not everyone who has hypothyroidism is under that much stress and when the thyroid begins to fail the adrenals kick in to take up for the slack to keep the body going.  The longer it takes to get thyroid hormones back into the body, the more the adrenals kick in...

Therefore, once one starts thyroid hormones, the adrenals will eventually settle back into a normal state.
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Avatar universal
I've been on thyroid meds for 10 years and have had problems all along similar to yours.  Here's the problem:  If you are under stress your thyroid goes down and your adrenals kick in, if the stress persists the adrenals kick in more and the thyroid goes down more.  It is the adrenals, the stress/trauma needs to be addressed FIRST.  But docs these days just throw you on thyroid meds and it screws everything up, the adrenals can't heal.  That's why you feel wound up, because the underlying cause was never addressed.  That's big pharma medicine for you, just create a customer for life, never mind real health.
Once you are on thyroid meds it is very hard to get off and you can damage heart and put yourself at risk for stroke.  You can still try to heal the adrenals, but you won't get that information from mainstream medicine.  I'm doing a little better because I educated myself.  I watch YT channels iHealthTube, Dr. Berg, and Dr. Bergman.  
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Avatar universal
This is an old thread and I doubt that sonia781 will notice and respond.  If you will tell us your location in NY perhaps we can recommend a good thyroid doctor for you.  
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Avatar universal
who is the endo in ny you went to see
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Avatar universal
I find it really interesting that most members here push synthroid and then tell other souls who want to go off it not to. 8 weeks ago I went to a endo, he did some test and said my thyroid was under active, my TSH was 3.87 my T3 and T4 and antibodies were perfect. I was hesitant to go on it, I called up my general dr and she said "absoultely not, you are well within the range and intact 4 years ago you were in the same range. I told this to the endo dr who yelled at me for not listening to a specialist and so I took the 50mcg of synthroid to see if it would make a difference. I felt okay for about 3 weeks then it all went down hill. I was so tired could not even get out of bed, I gained weight 10 pounds and could not even get out of bed. I got a headache and have this hump like thing on the back of neck and my shoulders feel like they are soar and enlarged. When I went to the endo again, 8 weeks later, he said your TSH has come down to 2.87 and your numbers are great.

I told him I feel horriable and he increased my dose to 88mcg, which I took for three days and stopped cause I felt like a zombie and shakey.  Today I saw a top endo in NY, rated the top ten, and he told me that I should stop synthorid and that I was well within the normal range and that if I was truly hypo my numbers would have come down significantelly since if you are hypo taking sythorid would shut your thyroid down. So I am stopping, the new endo is now testing my adenerals and cortisol which the dr never did. This new dr is willing to call me with results and wants to get to the bottom of my issues. Let me ask you guys who started taking synthroid and had a TSH below 5 did you endo exhaust all other things it could be before putting you on this. I am glad I was only on this pill for 8 weeks and maybe can get off it withoutmajor harm. Please seek multipe opionions, some people have  low thyroid levels naturally and they were born that way. Also ask your dr to test for cushings which mask similar symptoms.
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Avatar universal
I had the same symptoms but blame them on the hypothyroidism.  I started running and felt much better.  It's hard to keep running everyday so now I'm looking at changing my diet to mainly fruits and veggies so I won't have to run everyday.  Are you exercising at all?  It is very difficult to get going, but I promise you'll feel better.  
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Avatar universal
This is a very old thread.  You will get lots more response if you will start a new thread under your own name.  Just click on the orange Post a Question button at top of page and post again.  

When you do, please include your thyroid test results and reference ranges shown on the lab report.  Also, please tell us a bit more about your history before starting the thyroid meds.  What symptoms were you having, etc.  Also, what is your daily dosage of Synthroid?
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Avatar universal
please help me.  Am new to thyroid problems.  Synthroid is giving me nerviousness heart palpatations high blood pressure ringing in my ears . Oe Pa. told me to stop taking it,  I did was so weak i couldn't function,  No one gives me an answer.  please need advise
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Avatar universal
Why do you want to get off Synthroid?
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Avatar universal
My MD was very emphatic about not using a synthetic hormone, such as Synthroid, which I believe only contains T4.  T3 is also a very important hormone.  He prescribed Armour Thyroid for me, although there are also other brands of the "natural" hormone.  He also recommended I read a book called, "Stop the Thyroid Madness."  I found it helpful despite the fact that it was full of a lot of information that didn't pertain to my specific diagnosis (Hashimoto's Disease).  Best wishes to you!
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Avatar universal
Is it possible to get off synthoid without any harmful side effects?
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1748837 tn?1311723180
i feel i may have been misdiagnosed. i lost 50 pounds over a year, then my hair started falling out. the doc said i was hypo. my levels were 8.2, 4 months previous they were 2.8. so he started me on generic synthroid. i within 4 months gained back 40 pounds! wtf? and then after switching doctors to try and change my meds, i still wasnt happy. the only symptom that left was my hair loss. i also recently was treated for a large ovarian cyst wit a blood clot, was told i might have pcos instead of hypo. im so confused and my doctors dont help at all. i want off synthroid but am afraid of symptoms  HELP!
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Avatar universal
Oops, I'm new sorry for the triple posting.
Dianne
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Avatar universal
Wow, I thought you might say this. Thank you for your honesty.

I am allergic to corn so I'm having my perscription recompouned without the corn or lactose and it's made a big difference. Also I am taking it at night instead of in the morning which works better too.
I just had my levels checked and they are fine.

Problem is this. When I'm on a dose that's high enough for me to be physicall functioning without tiredness, then emotionally I am a wreck. Anxious, anitsocial and unhappy for no reason. And I feel like I have a battery pack on that drives me all day long.

So if I take a lower dose where I feel emotionally happy and well adjusted and like my old self then my body starts to get really tired and deteriorates.

I've tried extroxin, synthroid, levothyroxin and some natural formulas and it's all the same. Seems I have to either sacrifice my emotional well being or my physical well being either way.

Whew, well, if you know anything else that might help that would be great.

I really appreciate your comments and learning from your experience.

Cheers and good health
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Wow, I thought you might say this. Thank you for your honesty.

I am allergic to corn so I'm having my perscription recompouned without the corn or lactose and it's made a big difference. Also I am taking it at night instead of in the morning which works better too.
I just had my levels checked and they are fine.

Problem is this. When I'm on a dose that's high enough for me to be physicall functioning without tiredness, then emotionally I am a wreck. Anxious, anitsocial and unhappy for no reason. And I feel like I have a battery pack on that drives me all day long.

So if I take a lower dose where I feel emotionally happy and well adjusted and like my old self then my body starts to get really tired and deteriorates.

I've tried extroxin, synthroid, levothyroxin and some natural formulas and it's all the same. Seems I have to either sacrifice my emotional well being or my physical well being either way.

Whew, well, if you know anything else that might help that would be great.

I really appreciate your comments and learning from your experience.

Cheers and good health
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Wow, I thought you might say this. Thank you for your honesty.

I am allergic to corn so I'm having my perscription recompouned without the corn or lactose and it's made a big difference. Also I am taking it at night instead of in the morning which works better too.
I just had my levels checked and they are fine.

Problem is this. When I'm on a dose that's high enough for me to be physicall functioning without tiredness, then emotionally I am a wreck. Anxious, anitsocial and unhappy for no reason. And I feel like I have a battery pack on that drives me all day long.

So if I take a lower dose where I feel emotionally happy and well adjusted and like my old self then my body starts to get really tired and deteriorates.

I've tried extroxin, synthroid, levothyroxin and some natural formulas and it's all the same. Seems I have to either sacrifice my emotional well being or my physical well being either way.

Whew, well, if you know anything else that might help that would be great.

I really appreciate your comments and learning from your experience.

Cheers and good health
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
and before you quit....read up on what untreated hypothyroidism can do, much worse things to you, have you had your labs done maybe you are taking too much..how long have you been on it? It takes a while fr your body to adjust to it....
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97628 tn?1204462033
Agreed. If anyhting is bothering you it would likely be in the inert ingredients in that particular brand. Synthroid  et al have a long half life so skipping one pill would not make a difference. It's just thyroid hormone your nody isn't making adequately anymore, it's not a "drug" per se.
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Avatar universal
Are you sure it's the synthroid that's causing side effects?!  You don't need to be weaned off synthroid, it's not that type of drug!!! Are you taking anything else? FYI, I had a reaction to fillers in the generic drug levothyroxine. The generic gave me burning, flushing skin, headache, nausea, diahrrea and an over all weird feeling.  I have to take the brand synthroid. I'm fine on the brand! You might try a different brand of synthroid. --  If you're taking synthroid, then you must be hypo and the symptoms of not having enough T4/thyroxine/thyroid hormone in your body will eventually make you feel very bad!!! You can google hypothyroid to read what insufficient thyroid hormone can do to your body. Take it from me, the hypo symptoms aren't worth it. Most people on this board are trying to recover from them! Try to take the synthroid, and look from another cause of your symptoms/side effects, or switch to a different brand of synthroid. Good luck!
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Avatar universal

T4 medication/synthroid is not a DRUG that you have to be winged from.

One T4 medication/synthroid, last in the system approx 6 1/2 days, then when considering all the other pills taken day after day, causes days/weeks of accumulation of the pills in our system.  So I really doubt missing one day not  taking the pill would give any effects either way - good or bad.

All brands are not equal, that is, they do not contain all the same ingredients, where you might do bad on one brand and good on another.

However you would need to have test done first to make sure that you are not over or under medicated. Do not stop medication without your doctors knowledge or approval, you might do more harm than good. Call or see your doctor first and discuss your issue!
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219609 tn?1210348114
Ga7
Really ! Don't Doctor yourself, you will do more harm then good.
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213044 tn?1236527460
You don't need to wean yourself off Synthroid. You can just stop taking it.

That may work for a day or two, but long term it is not the answer. If you need hormone replacement, you need hormone replacement.

You could try a different dosage.
You could try another brand.

It sounds like you need to have your blood checked and have your medication adjusted.

When was the last time you had thyroid bloodwork?
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