medication and vitamin intolerance

[edmondslady]

I have been hypo for 15 years.  I get dizzy and brain fog with meds and vitamins.  So I take vitamins every other day which seems to help.  I am currently on 2 grain of nature thyroid,  I just started in hopes that it would stop these symptoms.  WE will see.  When my labs have been normal in the past I still had the dizziness.  If I lessen the dosage it seems to help a little.  My most recent labs are 6.89 tsh / .68 t4's / 2.8 t3's.  I was on half of 5 grain cytomel and 1 grain of armour at the time.  But my symptoms were getting worse.  My other symtoms include extreme hair loss.  I am very concious of what I eat and I am a runner I still have trouble with my weight.  This is the real odd thing I have noticed when I switch meds of go off all together: for about 3 days my dizziness lessens.  My best days when I feel almost normal is when I get a serious headache the worse the better I feel.  I would like to increase my thyroid meds but I afraid of my brain fog.  I  have been tested for menaires and the last neurologist said it could be stress but never tested me for anything

[Dnarose]

You aren't on enough of the naturethroid.  I used to have the vertigo years ago, but thyroid meds got rid of that symptom.  The goal on your medication is to get a midrange free t4 and high in range free t3.

[anca77]

I can relate. I used to have the ‘brain fog’ for years, even after I start taking the thyroid medication. I started with 75 mcg levothyroxine, then only 60 mg Armour now I take 75 mcg Synthroid AND 60 mg Armour.  Only after I start taking both medications I stopped having the ‘brain fog’.
Regarding the vitamins, now I take lots of vit C, all the Bs, especially B12 and the rest in low quantities.
As far as the weight, well this is another story. I still hope, with diet and exercise, I will be able to loose the 20 ponds I want. Unfortunately, I still like to have sweets and chocolate.
I almost forgot, I before my last medication change I used to have really bed headaches. Not anymore. I also had high blood pressure for witch now I take medication.

[stella5349]

Looking at the test results it - is apparent you are still hypo. The TSH you state is way to high for either T4 or T3/T4 thyroid replacement meds.

It sounds like you went to 2 grains of natural thyroid meds right after these tests were ran.

Were the T3 and T4 test total - or were they Free t3 and Free T4 tests? I can't tell if you are having a possible issue with conversion of T4 into T3 with your tests you posted.

The word free is what you need to push for in testing - these are the free levels of hormones converting and going through the system and not measuring the inbound total hormones that do nothing for you at all.

I also see you say you were on Cytomel AND Armour together and not feeling better - in act you say worse.

There could be three ways of looking at that -

1 You could be pooling - or holding on to your T3 so it does not move around your system well. A simple RT3 test could rule that out.

2 Or you could have a possible cortisol/adrenal issue too. When your adrenals are weakened by staying at a hypo level - then all the medicine you are taking is not helping you out. Adrenal fatigue can be the major cause of Natural thyroid meds not being able to do their job. ( I am not sure of synthetic T3 is the same - yet it would make sense too.)

HOw long have you been doing the two grains- and are you taking any more meds with that?

You mention supplements - can you list them and their mg's dosages? Are you taking any amino acids?

You express the dizzyness and headaches - which can be normalized after taking an incease or changing over to a new med all together. But that takes a minimum of days.

  3 - It sounds lately you are not staying regular on your medication and that in itself can be the reason you are not leveling out on your symptoms

Direct T3 meds - even through short lived in the body require the thyroid patient to proper dose this med according to how the body produces it naturally. If you are on and then off a couple of days you are never maintaining anything for your body to adjust to  you will swing back and forth over and over.

If for example you are taking all your meds at once in the morning - then you on a high level about 2 hrs later and crash mid afternoon hard. Armour has a higher T3 "short leved" level then we produce as people - so if you are inducing more T3 at one given time - it could explain the headaches and dizzyness never resolving for you.

It may be wise to take a look at #3 first.

Try stabilizing your Armour into dosages through out the day. If you are on 120mgs as a total for 1 day - then distribute that 4 times a day - in even dosages. Do not take it past 3pm. By the third day you should see if this resolves some of the symptoms of dizzyness - but due to the change in meds recently - the headache may linger for two weeks or so.