Do you feel any different skipping just 1 dose on the Synthroid?

[ChitChatNine]

I know I've asked before but really wanting a poll on answers.  I get tired and dizzy/spacy when I don't take it one day ???? Is this really possible?

I didn't take it this morning .. really really needed to take my anti-inflammatory for my ankle pain (I skipped 36 hrs as a test off this med and then it really crept back badly this AM) so I skipped the Synthroid (cannot take together as it reacts and makes me too dizzy to function) and then by the afternoon I was ready to take it but didn't bcz the last time I took it so late and then at reg. time in the AM I was spaced out hyper the next day big time.

I know .. don't mess with the synthroid but I did (oops) it again ... sometimes the ankle pain/swelling is so bad that I cannot cope w/o the med for it and that pre-empts the Synthroid only on occasion .. now I know I must continue to take it bcz the phys. therapy felt fine last night but attacked me during the night into this AM.  Boo Hoo.

C~

[Liz94]

If I miss a dose I will get a headache at about 3pm but that's about it. But, I work with a woman who is hypo and takes 100 mcg of Synthroid and she takes it sporadically. Some days she takes it and some days she doesn't. I talked to her about this and about what she is doing to her body.  When it's time for her refill she will wait WEEKS before getting it done. Makes me nuts.  And she feels nothing, says she feels fine. She did black out once behind the wheel of her car, flipped it and went into a ditch. Broke her leg. She says it has nothing to do with her thyroid.  It was just a "fluke" thing she says.  Ugh, I want to smack her!

[peggy64]

I can tell about 3 hours if I skip, my heart starts beating so heavy. Not really fast, just like it is really having to pump.  I can take my med, and in about 30 minutes it subsides.

[amela321]

Wow, you guys must be much more attuned to your bodies than I am.  I've been taking Synthroid after a near total thyroidectomy and RAI for 22 years.  Many many times in that 22 years, I've missed a few days worth of pills and never noticed the difference.  Even now (currently hypo in prep for additional RAI) it took over two weeks for me to really notice a difference.

[jgamm]

How about the hair loss from levo my hair is just falling out! never did so much with synthroid!

[EmpatheticJenny]

Hi, MJ--

Two and a half weeks after you sent me a comment, I finally am replying...sorry to have taken so long.  I hope that since your comments on August 4th, your back is feeling normal again. You are so right about Gold's Gym; there is something there for everyone, including the jacuzzi. I just hope that you are able to take advantage of the calorie-burning equipment, too. This thyroid-related weight-gain stuff is for the birds!

Lisa, if you are reading this, I just want to say: Nice to see a comment from you again. I hope that you are holding up to the demands of your very demanding job these days.

Best wishes,
Jenny

[proudarmywife05]

yes very much so, i seriously will get so tired i cant open my eyes or feel so listless,itsl ike the onset of mono..it sucks!

i'm so tired today and i cant remember if i took my pill or not! i think its worse than the period of cytomel and then no pill to RAI, now your body goes from full dose to nothing..

i have no words of wisdom, can only say i've been there!!

~Rachel

[mjane]

Thank you so much for the info.  More than I've gotten before!  I hope you get your meds straigtened out.  I'm looking forward to the end of this.  Thanks again!

[MJ13]

I was diagnosed with Graves Disease and papillary carcinoma.  I had 4 cold nodules with one being 9mm and cancerous. The other three were benign.  The dosage for RAI was 100.  It was kinda cool being able to set off a geiger counter.  I stayed in isolation for 48 hours at home.  I live by myself so I didn't have to worry about being around other, except my dog, which I had someone dogsit for about 4 days, just to make sure I didn't affect him.  And yes, I did the LID, which sucked big time!!!  I'm currently on 150 mcgs of levothyroxine (generic synthoid), which makes me feel hyper like before I had my TT.  I was off my meds for 3 weeks prior to RAI.  The last week before RAI and about 10 days afterwards was the really bad hypohe//.  Major brain fog, wanting to sleep all the time and body aching from head to toe. After RAI, my throat was a little soar for a couple of days, so I sucked on some hard candy like they recommended.  In the 3-4 months following RAI, my hair started falling out and became very thin and extremely dry.  The weird thing is when my hair stared growing back it came in curlier.  It was like getting a free perm!  

If you have any other questions, ask away.

[mjane]

You are too funny!!  By the way, I had the surgeries together, same day.  Hysto first and then thyroidectomy.  8 hour surgery!  When did you feel your worse--before or after RAI?  I hate not knowing the most.  My dr. says that, yes, I will feel like dog dodo, but I'm not sure if it's before or after the RAI.  How long did you stay in isolation and do you know how many millicuries you received for your RAI?  Maybe I'm confused again, (hypo, ya know!).  did  you have RAI for hyperthyroid? or cancer?  Treatment is same except you get a much bigger dose for cancer and you have to do the low iodine diet first.  I'm so glad to have found this board.  My family is tired of hearing how bad I feel and now I have a whole new audience!  I love it!

I wrote down the Effexor and will discuss it with my hormone dr.  She is at the Cleveland Clinic and every Friday she has a "group" session, where she has 12-15 patients (appt. only) all in one room and (after you sign a release) she goes patient by patient and discusses your chart with the whole group.  If you need addtional exam or test, her PA and nurse takes you out of the room for that.  It is fascinating and you learn so much listening to everyones treatment and history.  All ages and dx, but all with hormone needs.  Just great!

And yes, my mom calls me Mary Jane, but my real name is Mary Janelda.....bet you haven't heard that one before!

[MJ13]

First, does mjane stand for Mary Jane...that's my name.  Second, you need to ask your gyno/PCP for a drug called Effexor, which technically is a "happy" pill (aka anti-depressant) but for some unknown reason takes care of hot flashes.  I've been on it for about 3 months and don't have any "power surges" at all.    I can't believe you went thru the 2 surgeries you did in the same month!!!  I wouldn't want to be around you when you get ticked off!! Or since your hypo do you forget to get ticked off?!  

When did you last have your TSH tested?  How high does it have to be before RAI?  Mine had to be 30.  It got up to 36 just before RAI and was around 42 ten days after RAI and I had been taking levothyroxine for 7of those days.  And my bosses couldn't understand why I wasn't my normal self?  

The one good thing about all I've been thru is I haven't had a period since my surgery in Dec 06.   So that means all the sex I want with out the worry of getting pregnant.....now I just have to find someone to do IT with!!!!!  

My doctors told me the worse I felt off my meds waiting to do RAI, the better the radiation absorption would be.  Since I felt like dog doodoo and like I'd been ran over by at least 100 dump trucks, I'm sure every little thyroid cell left in my body got knocked off!!!  

We should form a special club for those who have gone thru hypohell and menopause at the same time.  We can call it "Hormone's Anonymous".  Hi, my name is Mary, and I *itched out 10 people today for no reason.....but I'm improving yesterday I *itched out 13!!!

[mjane]

I hope more people respond to this.  I in hypo now awaiting RAI ablation.  Have been off synthroid for 4 wks. and cytomel for 1 wk.  I can sure feel it.  I had a thyroidectomy and a total hysterectomy together in April!  Talk about hormone crazy!   I don't know which to blame for anything....the thyroid or the instant menopause.   Hopefully, I'll get this behind me and start feeling better in Sept.  I am 51 and had never had a hotflash until 2 months ago :-)

[tiredpuppy]

I go halves as well to avoid what I call a "dump" and if I miss a dose oh my goshhhhhhhhhhit is hell on my poor feet.

[MJ13]

I did somethingthis week to hopefully help get my energy level and my body back in shape, I switch from Curves to Gold's Gym.   Since my TT in Dec 06, I gained back most of the 35 lbs that I lost the year before.  I was getty bored with Curves and their hours didn't jive with my schedule.  I've decided if you can't find something in a gym like Gold's to do, you just don't want to exercise.  The ironic thing is that the day I joined this week, I did something to my back and now it hurts to move.  I got a 1/2 hour massage today and have another one scheduled for tomorrow morning.  I'm going to take a nice hot bubble bath tonight and hopefully that will help a little.  Tomorrow after my massage, I'll go to the gym and sit in the jacuzzi for awhile.  Like I said...the joys of getting older!!

[Carrie Anne]

You're not alone, one day off the syn I feel the dread, yet it takes weeks to get back to normal after I miss a dose...Sounds like we're not alone...to all my fellow thyroid friends, I have felt your agony and am glad to know I'm not loosing my marbles...So thanks for this post!!!!

[EmpatheticJenny]

Dear MJ,

Poor you!! There should be a rule that no one will be forced to go through a thyroid problem and the menopausal transition at the same time. I have had a rough time with each of those problems, but at least I had the menopausal stuff first, then a break of a few years during which I had a high level of energy and slept like a champion, and then my thyroid's problems began to assert themselves with increasing force.

No WONDER you are not finding it easy to get back into a good exercise regime. I am very glad for your sake that Lunesta is doing a good job for you. Needing more sleep than usual while having insomnia is a discomfort that is difficult to understand unless you have had it. I hope that eventually, you bounce all the way back to where you were before in regard to energy and sleep. You probably are like me: accepting of the idea that a person's energy level begans to sag with age, but not THIS soon!  AAAh, the joys, as you say.

Your fellow sufferer,
Jenny

[MJ13]

I had similar problem with higher BP and heart rate when my endo upped my dosage to 150 mcgs.  That's finally leveled off and BP is only slightly elevated and I don't notice the rapid heart rate near as much.  I don't have any problem getting my heart rate up during exercise.  My energy level has been slower than most coming back because not long after my RAI I found out that I was in full blown menopause (Geeze, God, what else are you going to throw at me?).  Between my levothyroxine dosage being so high and causing insomnia, being in menopause is causing me insomnia also.  I was taking Ambien and it didn't help at all.  I've been taking Lunesta for a few months and am finally getting enough sleep.  My body definitely requires more sleep than before all the stuff it's been through this past year.  I used to get by on 5-6 hours of sleep most nights.  Now if I don't get 7-8, I'm can't function.  Plus if I overdue I usually don't do anything but sleep off and on the next day.  AAAh, the joys of getting older!!!

[EmpatheticJenny]

In the early days of taking levothyroxine, I split the dose, because my blood pressure reacted with a big increase each time I went up the dosage scale. Splitting the dose seemed to tone down the blood pressure reaction. Since I have discovered that my pulse is quite a bit faster about 22 hours since the last medication dose, I have been thinking that maybe I should go back to splitting the dose, but I am not yet a good sport about needing to regiment my life. I liked it when I could eat anytime I thought about it rather than needing to be sure to have an empty stomach at a certain time of day. Oh, well, if that is the worst complaint I can find, then I am in pretty good shape!

Good luck with the exercise regime. I am curious: Were you finding it difficult to exercise before you reached the point of "seem to finally be doing okay" because of fatigue? Some other factor? The reason I ask is that just before I was handed a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, I had stopped exercising aerobically because I had developed a problem that I found a little creepy. There were days when it was extraordinarily difficult to boost my heart rate to a reasonable level and keep it there. I now strongly suspect it was a symptom of my thyroid gland's struggles.

[MJ13]

I've talked with some people who split there dosage, taking half in the a.m. and the other half in the p.m.  I seem to finally be doing okay on 150 mcgs. I usually take mine around 7 a.m. then it takes an hour to drive to work then I eat breakfast.  On the weekends I usually wake up early, take my levothyroxine, then go back to bed for an hour or two (Luxury of not having any kids or a husband).  I don't feel the racy heart like I used to quite as much.  Now I've just got to get back into a good exercise regime.

[SuzieQTT]

I too feel jittery if I miss a dose.  I also try to take it at the same time everyday and can tell when I am late taking it.

Suzie

[EmpatheticJenny]

Hi, Cheryl--

I have wanted to send you a comment ever since I read your question above, but I have been half-drowning in work for the last three weeks. Now that I am getting my head above water again, I am writing to say that judging by my experiences, it  really IS possible to feel tired and dizzy/spacy after skipping a dose of Synthroid. Come to think of it, someone else posted a comment one time on this same topic. She said that she never missed a dose of levothyroxine, because her body was so good at reminding her.

My body tends to start the reminders 22 hours after the last dose, believe it or not.  It does not happen all the time, by any means, but I have seen some striking examples of how sensitive my system is to what is supposed to be a non-dramatic event.

For example, a few months ago, I took a couple extra days off from work to start catching up on the chores at home that I had neglected during a seemingly endless time when I could barely hold daily life together. On two afternoons, I sat quietly at my kitchen table doing paperwork. Both days, I began to feel oddly jittery just about two hours before the time when I normally take the day's Levothroid dose (which I take in the late afternoon because I sleep better if I do). Both days, my pulse was 96. Then about 90 minutes after taking the day's Levothroid dose, I suddenly realized that I felt entirely calm again. I took my pulse, and it was 76. Same deal, both days.

In recent weeks, I have been able to pay pretty close attention to my pulse, thanks to a new toy. It is a wrist watch with a built-in heart-rate monitor. It uses EKG technology, according to the manufacturer, which I suppose means that it picks up electrical impulses from a person's wrist.  It seems to give an accurate reading, and it is handy to be able to hold down a button on my wristwatch and be able to see my pulse. What I have noticed is that my pulse often is just about twenty beats a minute faster before I take the day's dose of Levothroid than it is a couple of hours afterward.

Needless to say, while some of my symptoms of hypothyroidism have been the well-known ones, some of them have been contradictory in the extreme. Between my experiences and the experiences I have read about at the forum, I am beginning to think that the answer to "Is it possible?" is almost always "Of course." There are the medical models of how the thyroid gland functions and what happens when something goes wrong. Then there are the experiences that do not fit the models at all, and I have realized over time that those experiences are not rare at all.

I am just sorry that you have been having such a difficult time all the way around. In your situation, it would be nice if your system DID operate according to the standard medical model, meaning: It would be nice if you could skip a dose of Synthroid without starting an inner drama. Boo hoo is a highly appropriate comment! :o(

Sending you sympathetic e-hugs,
Jenny

[ChitChatNine]

The only thing about the storing of the real hormone is that it did take 2.5 weeks for my levels to drop after surgery.  The first TSH was normal and it was the next one that it showed I needed meds as the other side stopped working.  So under that premise the theory makes sense about storing ???BUT???? when it is synthetic hormone being put into the blood on a daily basis it makes me wonder as another posted if it has something to do with the dependency ???(now that has never come up as a side effect in the paperwork in the script) or lack of the inert ingredients taken on a daily basis or for that matter the Synthroid itself .. maybe the body draws from the stores differently when it is taken orally vs. made internally ?  We'll never know but I am going to ask my Endo next blood test . I always have at least ONE good ? for her ea. month LOL .. this month she'll get a mouthful about my ankle diagnosis and just maybe not be so quick on the draw with the next patient to say it probably is thyroid related w/o a simple x-ray or trip to an orthopedist to be certain.

C~

[DLA]

By 2pm I know that I have forgotten it.  Can't hardly function.  Endo and pharnacist don't believe me, either, but I know my own body (ought to after 37 yrs in it, huh) and I know how it affects me to miss just one dose.  Which also leads me to the question 'If this is suppose to build up in our systems what isn't working right that it doesn't?'  Just wondering.

Dac

[shaerich]

ChitChat... seems like the dr.'s will say it should not be felt if you miss one dose b/c the T4 is stored up in your body for so long, you should have reserves that would compensate for one missed dose.  Multiple missed doses would have an impact though.  That being said, I see/read people all the time who feel it as soon as they miss a dose.  I think everyone is different and has higher/lower sensitivity to drugs, fillers, etc.  I mean, I'm also told by my dr. that Levoxyl doesn't cause hairloss, yet my shower drain begs to differ and there are a few women on this board who have different experiences as well.  Hmph.

At The End of my Rope... I'm not surprised you're already feeeling the effects since you're on a T3 drug that has a really short life span in your body.  I hope your TSH shoots up fast so you can get RAI over with and move on with normal life again. :)

Thinking of you both and hoping you both feel better really soon!

[ChitChatNine]

I decided to to take 1/2 a pill and since posting the ? about an hour ago I feel tenfold better ... I figure this way 1/2 is better than none and by tomorrow it will only be 1/2 in the system when I take the next dosing vs. a full pill which is 100mcgs.

When I read you have such symptoms already that is what prompted my ? .. I guess it is possible .. look at the two of us!

C~