acne from change in thyroid meds

[chel 81]

I'm on Erfa thyroid and have been on both Armour and Erfa over the years going back to '05. I've been taking my pills sublingually (dissolving under tongue) for about 2 years now but over that time my Free T's have been dropping and my TSH has been rising. While there are some other things that could have contributed to that I'm trying to break it down one at a time and see if this particular change may have been what caused since my dose has remained steady since '05. About a week and a half ago I started swallowing my thyroid meds. Within a few days I started to break out really bad and it's been getting worse by the day. I know my body is obviously saying this has affected my hormones but I'm trying to determine what it is telling me. I'm not sure if by swallowing it I'm getting less thyroid which is contributing to the acne or if I'm suddenly getting more and that's causing the acne. So much of the time people talk about hypo causing acne but wondering if it's possible to get it from starting meds or increasing the dose as well? I really hope it's not making me more hypo because the 4-6 weeks I'd have to wait to check my bloodwork could take me 4-6 months to recover from if in fact I've made myself more hypo by swallowing the pills.

[gimel]

One more thing to be aware of is that hypo patients taking thyroid med often find that their TSH becomes suppressed.  That does not automatically mean hyperthyroidism, unless it is accompanied by hyper symptoms due to excessive levels of Free T3 and Free T4.  Many doctors don't understand taht and when TSH becomes suppressed, they immediately want you to reduce your med dosage.  That is wrong.  

In reality, when taking thyroid med, the TSH test is basically useless.  There are even scientific  studies that conclude that a suppressed TSH is a regular occurrence when taking thyroid medication.  This is a link to related info that I posted some time ago for another member.  

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Thyroid-Disorders/TSHsymptoms-not-numbers/show/2379736#post_11538925

[Still_learning07]

I'm so glad to have found some other instances of acne with hypothyroid. I've been struggling for ages and trying all sorts of treatments. In the last year. I started Nature-throid/synthroid mix with great results.. But it sort of got really good, then okay, then tapered off again. After some dose changes my doctor suggested WP thyroid, which just seemed like a better option with less ingredients.

Boy was I wrong. My levels still indicate hypothyroidism yet my TSH is undetectable. We reduced the synthroid twice after more labs and still have funky numbers. My face began breaking out with cystic painful acne... In my mid twenties this was new and unappreciated.

Months later... Through a miscommunication with my doctor and the pharmacy, plus trouble getting the WP thyroid for a couple weeks from the supplier I went back on Nature-Throid for a week and a half. My face cleared up almost completely! Light bulb!! I was supposed to retest my levels in a week, but now will go back to Nature-Throid for six more weeks to see if my numbers are regular. I've also been having horrible exhaustion problems and other not so fun experiences, it will be interesting to see how the next six weeks improve!

[nuttmegs17]

Keep us posted.  I've seen a lot of people complain about acne from meds but there aren't many updates to let us know if it ever settled down or what. Good luck!   Finding the perfect thyroid match isn't easy. The synthetics haven't been bad for me but there are a few odd symptons that came on despite the good they were doing :  medicine head/super groggy , sinus troubles and the cystic acne ( that is unlike any acne I ever used to get....it's around my mouth and my jawline up through my cheeks. In the past it would only be a random zit in my t zone.).

I also recently had all my hormones tested (it was super pricey) and everything came back great! My testosterone was fine (in the past it had actually been too low). So not sure what is up

[chel 81]

Thanks for all the responses. I think I'm just going to have to wait it out until I can have bloodwork done to see what exactly is going on. At least it does sound like an increase in meds could also cause the symptoms so it doesn't necessarily indicate I'm becoming more hypo.

Unfortunately I can't rely on my body temp, blood pressure, or heart rate when it comes to my thyroid. IF I'm in the process of going REALLY hypo then my BP and heart rate will dramatically increase as my weight increases (body temp them increases as a result of my extra "padding") but small fluctuations in my thyroid typically don't change those things by much.

I have tried various thyroid meds over the years. I'm highly allergic to ALL synthetic thyroid meds including Synthroid/Levo & Cytomel etc. They tried me on them for almost a year and I was having major trouble breathing the entire time. I had the worst air hunger 24/7 unable to catch my breath and was the scariest year of my life. My husband would wake up in the middle of the night just to make sure I was still breathing. I'll never try that stuff again. I've been really happy with the switch to Erfa. I was on old Armour and converted to Erfa when Armour went on backorder and they reformulated it in 2010. Erfa seems to be much more like old Armour. I would like to try NP by Acella or even WP since it would be nice to not have to order from Canada but for now I'm going to stick with Erfa.

I had a bad reaction to vitamin D so I'm steering clear of that for now but I'm on a bunch of other vitamins for my deficiencies. Hopefully my skin is just going through a phase and will be back to normal soon.  

[nuttmegs17]

I actually can here to post a similar problem.  I think sometimes the meds can cause acne  I'm basing this off of anecdotal evidence from searching the web.   "officially" it's not listed as a side affect on any of the meds inserts


I was an armour 1.5 grains (plus 10 cytomel)for over two years.  Never got rid of all my symptons so decided to try something else.  I've always had clear skin (and throughout feeling bad about various thyroid side affects like hair loss weight gain bloating etc,  my skin was literally the only thing I took pride in regarding my appearance)save for a bad round going off and on bc   So with  armour I didn't feel great but it didn't negative,y affect my skin


I decided to try synthroid and cytomel together   The synthroid was terrible add so I switched to tirosint which alleviated some symptons.  I'm still not 100% and still adjusting to find my sweet spot but the higher we go in meds the more my skin breaks out.   From reading other peoples account it seems sometimes just switching can help (or hurt)


So I'm deciding next steps.  I'm actually considering ERFA or Westhroid P (although I'm afraid of the inulin in WP bc inulin usually gives me terrible gas) or even Acella NP Thyroid....not sure


Some have theorized that it's simple a sign of the meds turning hormones back on as thyroid is closely related to everything.  I will say that my period on tirosint is extremely regular so maybe there is something to that. However pre thyroid disease my period was regular and my skin was great


Others say its a sign of too much or too little meds.  For me that doesn't make sense as I'm in the middle.




I will say I've Stopped gaining weight on tirosint my hair no longer falls out and my cycle is regular. My husband says my moods are better.  But on the other hand I'm still tired most of the day. Have an extremely hard time waking up (tirosint gives me a bit of medicine head so I take it at night which helps but it does make it hard for me to get out of bed) and the acne is taking a toll on my self esteem.  So I guess it can't hurt to try NDT but another brand and perhaps supp a tiny amount of tirosint as needed if my t4 gets too low. I'm. Nervous to make another switch as it's usually uncomfortable at first but I think I'm going to bring it up at my next dr appt


I guess what I'm suggesting is perhaps trying another combo.  Whether it be another NDT drug or a synthetic like levo+cytomel bc yes in my opinion it could very well be related to the drug you are on

[ahmee]

Hormones are tricky, but it does sound like your acne is caused by low T3/T4 hormone levels rather than allergy. Unless you've done something else different lately, like take some low-quality fish/krill/other sea oil or start using new makeup/facewash/anything topical, it's very likely low thyroid hormones. I had ace while I was hypo that waxed and waned from moderate to severe, and it's cleared up a lot since properly treating with thyroid meds. I am still prone to breakouts, but they are minor and not cystic acne like before.

In the interim, you can try taking a good vit A/D combo. Just make sure the vitamin A is derived from fish oil (and high quality), not the synthetic form of vitamin A. Zinc is also very good for acne, just don't make the mistake of taking it on an empty stomach.

[Red_Star]

Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism list acne as a possible symptom. Check your body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.