swelling, itching

[faith63]

Has anyone else awakened to a very swollen face, especially around eyes and swelling of fingers and itching skin. Started happening last few days, gets better later in the day, but always have some around the eyes and have loss any shape to my face.  I have Hashimoto's and in the 15 months of treatment, have very few improvements.  Have just gone to Armour 120mgs.  Anemic and lowish cortisol, I think are stopping treatment from working.

Thank you!

[faith63]

Have found out that the large amounts of iron and/or vitamin D, I've been taking can cause rashes too.  This is definitely coming from internally.  Thank you.  Good luck to you too!

[Ericamegan]

Your body is probably freaking out with all the medicine changes. With Reverse T3 issues, adding T4 can actually make you feel worse. Since you just increased to 120mcg Armour, I would see how you feel in 4 weeks.  Give your body some time to balance back out and I bet the swelling and rashes will improve.  Good Luck!

[faith63]

I was given 50mcgs to take with the 90mgs of Armour.  I was on it a month.  My FT3 was not high enough in range yet and Armour should have been increased not added to.  After stopping the T4 for three weeks and taking 150mgs of iron daily, I upped the Armour to 120 and was able to tolerate it.  I have tried upping before and it effected my heart..racing and trembling, never a rash..never had rashes and have not changed anything.   The cortisol is only low in the AM.  I was put on 20mgs Hydrocortisone and I was gaining 3lbs weekly and my BP shot up..I felt terrible, the doc said to stay like this for 2 months so, I slowly decreased until the symptoms subsided which put me at 5mgs.so I just stopped it. that was 4 weeks ago.  The doc does some proper testing but not often enough.

[Ericamegan]

So, what dose of T4 were you on before Armour?  Maybe you increased too fast and your adrenals can't handle it. You should address the iron and cortisol issues.  What does your dr recommend.?  It looks like they are doing many of the proper tests.

[faith63]

Thanks to Bruce too!
Today, it has turned into a bumpy rash covering my back and upper arms and its on my nose and I'm very puffy in the eyes.  Interesting that a tiny wart has doubled in size and is red and sore..viral?  My labs are out dated as I had stopped t4 only meds 3 weeks ago.  A doc added this to my Armour, but my Armour should have been increased before trying this.  I really didn't want synthetic.
Feb: FT3 3.2 [2.3-4.4]pg/ml, more recent:
RT3 23.2 [13.5-34.2]ng/dl
RT3 Ratio less than 4.5
T3 105 [71-180]
FT4 1.14 [0.28-1.77]ng/dl  
No improvement on meds ever, just felt worse.  It was pointed out to me that I have a bad RT3 ratio. Ideas?  I'm anemic and have low AM cortisol.  I have read that all these issues can stop the thyroid meds from getting into the cells.  They discovered that I have a damaged pituitary, 3 months ago.  So it's very complex. Was put on hydrocortisone and couldn't tolerate anymore than 7.5mgs. I was thinking that I should be checked for Virus's.  Any input would be deeply appreciated.

[Brucergoldberg]

I actually got the itching when i was taking armour and increased.  It was from too much but went away quickly.  It was horrible.  If you look at the symptoms for "hyper"  you will see the itching is one of them.

[Ericamegan]

My lower face and eyes swell up when I'm Hypo.  I also have itching skin on fingers.  What med were you taking before Armour 120?  Do you Have your latest labs with Free T3, Free T4 ect?  Iron and Cortisol problems can cause issues for sure.