Aa
Hypothiroidism and brain fog
Thanks in advance for your time guys
I'm a male of 29 years old. About 6 months ago, I started to experience lethargy, confusion and memory loss. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (about TSH 11), and started a cure with euthyrox. My Doctor prescribed me 50 mg for the first period, then 75 mg, and about a week ago I've switched to 100 mg. She was confident things would get better. Actually my brain is very slowly starting to recover, nevertheless my time of reaction are still kind of slow. While she says things will inevitably get better, sometimes I'm afraid the condition will persist. She states it takes time, excercise and patience for the mind to recover, and that my fears are very common among thyroid patients. Have any of you experienced something similar? I've read about brain fog in the net, but I can't help this feeling of resignation and loneliness. Any help or counsel would be of great help. Thanks a lot guys.
I'm a male of 29 years old. About 6 months ago, I started to experience lethargy, confusion and memory loss. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (about TSH 11), and started a cure with euthyrox. My Doctor prescribed me 50 mg for the first period, then 75 mg, and about a week ago I've switched to 100 mg. She was confident things would get better. Actually my brain is very slowly starting to recover, nevertheless my time of reaction are still kind of slow. While she says things will inevitably get better, sometimes I'm afraid the condition will persist. She states it takes time, excercise and patience for the mind to recover, and that my fears are very common among thyroid patients. Have any of you experienced something similar? I've read about brain fog in the net, but I can't help this feeling of resignation and loneliness. Any help or counsel would be of great help. Thanks a lot guys.
I think that what the doctor was trying to convey is that since the half life of T4 is about one week, it takes about 4 weeks for the effect of a dose change to reach 90% of its final effect on serum levels. After 6 weeks a T4 dose change would be essentially fully reflected in serum levels.
That, however, does not mean that the full effect on symptoms would be felt. Symptoms correlate best with Free T3, and you are taking a T4 med and your Free T3 level is too low for most hypo patients, and you were not tested for Free T4, so you don't even know how your body is converting the T4 to T3. Also, symptom changes tend to lag somewhat changes in med dosage, dependent on severity of hypothyroidism and length of time hypo.
I know you are anxious to feel well, but it may take some time to get your meds adjusted and get your Free T4 and Free T3 levels optimized. And you also need to find out your Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin levels and supplement as needed. Patience is absolutely necessary for a hypothyroid patient to be successful.
That, however, does not mean that the full effect on symptoms would be felt. Symptoms correlate best with Free T3, and you are taking a T4 med and your Free T3 level is too low for most hypo patients, and you were not tested for Free T4, so you don't even know how your body is converting the T4 to T3. Also, symptom changes tend to lag somewhat changes in med dosage, dependent on severity of hypothyroidism and length of time hypo.
I know you are anxious to feel well, but it may take some time to get your meds adjusted and get your Free T4 and Free T3 levels optimized. And you also need to find out your Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin levels and supplement as needed. Patience is absolutely necessary for a hypothyroid patient to be successful.
Thanks a lot Gimel, you were really exhaustive and helpful. Just a last thing: is the time line my doctor have given me correct? In this first week I felt well and bad at intervals, she says it will take some time to stabilize and the complete results on my symptom will show up after six weeks. I just wonder why it would take that much time!
Thanks for your reply Gimel
I tested negative for Hashi. My family tends to develop Thyroid issues under stress. My levels of TSH tested high (5,0) even 2 years ago but my analyst thought they were in range. (a theory my endocrinologist later strongly objected to). It seems I've been hypothiroid for a while before the situation got worst and further symptoms developed. 5 months ago before starting the therapy my values were the following:
FT3 2,79 (2.0-4.0)
Thyroglobulin 21,71 (0-30)
TSH 11.70
Concerning Tsh I don't know what the range is. My analist told it should be around 0-4, while my endocrinologist insisted between 0 and 1. Seems like this is not so clear.
I tested again the Tsh one week ago, while a was treated with 3 doses of 100 mcg and 4 doses of 75 mcg a week (alternating).
One week ago I tested 4.30 on the TSH test, and the endecrinologist moved my levels to 100 mcg of euthyrox every day.
I feel more energetic, but cognitively still impaired. She says it will take about 6 weeks to get the real effect of the new dosage, and even then it may be necessary to adjust it again. Besides she told me I will certainly come back to ordinary brain activity, but any response is kind of subjective (depending on how long your thyroid has been underactive)
Do you think I can trust this diagnosis?
I tested negative for Hashi. My family tends to develop Thyroid issues under stress. My levels of TSH tested high (5,0) even 2 years ago but my analyst thought they were in range. (a theory my endocrinologist later strongly objected to). It seems I've been hypothiroid for a while before the situation got worst and further symptoms developed. 5 months ago before starting the therapy my values were the following:
FT3 2,79 (2.0-4.0)
Thyroglobulin 21,71 (0-30)
TSH 11.70
Concerning Tsh I don't know what the range is. My analist told it should be around 0-4, while my endocrinologist insisted between 0 and 1. Seems like this is not so clear.
I tested again the Tsh one week ago, while a was treated with 3 doses of 100 mcg and 4 doses of 75 mcg a week (alternating).
One week ago I tested 4.30 on the TSH test, and the endecrinologist moved my levels to 100 mcg of euthyrox every day.
I feel more energetic, but cognitively still impaired. She says it will take about 6 weeks to get the real effect of the new dosage, and even then it may be necessary to adjust it again. Besides she told me I will certainly come back to ordinary brain activity, but any response is kind of subjective (depending on how long your thyroid has been underactive)
Do you think I can trust this diagnosis?
Please post your thyroid related test results and reference ranges shown on the lab report. Also, if tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, please post those as well.
Serum thyroid levels are the sum of both natural thyroid hormone from the gland and also any thyroid med you are taking. So when starting on thyroid med, the TSH level will be reduced in response, and the output of natural thyroid hormone will also be reduced in response to the lower TSH. The net effect is often no change in serum thyroid levels until the TSH is suppressed and thyroid med is the only source of thyroid hormone. So we need to see what your levels were before the last med increase. Also were you diagnosed as having Hashi's?
Serum thyroid levels are the sum of both natural thyroid hormone from the gland and also any thyroid med you are taking. So when starting on thyroid med, the TSH level will be reduced in response, and the output of natural thyroid hormone will also be reduced in response to the lower TSH. The net effect is often no change in serum thyroid levels until the TSH is suppressed and thyroid med is the only source of thyroid hormone. So we need to see what your levels were before the last med increase. Also were you diagnosed as having Hashi's?
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Thyroid Disorders Community
We tapped the CDC for information on what you need to know about radiation exposure
Endocrinologist Mark Lupo, MD, answers 10 questions about thyroid disorders and how to treat them
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
TSH is a pituitary hormone that is affected by so many things that at best it is only an indicator to be considered along with more important indicators such as symptoms, and also levels of the biologically active thyroid hormones, Free T4 and Free T3. Symptom relief should be all important, not just test results, and especially not TSH results when already taking thyroid hormone. I say that about TSH because frequently it becomes suppressed below range when taking adequate dosage of thyroid hormone. Suppression of TSH does not mean hyperthyroidism, unless there are hyper symptoms due to excessive levels of Free T4 and Free T3. There are several scientific studies that support that, so TSH should not be used as a diagnostic by which to medicate a hypo patient.
A good thyroid doctor will treat a hypo patient clinically by testing and adjusting Free T4 and Free T3 as necessary to relieve symptoms, without being constrained by resultant TSH levels. You can get some good insight from this link written by a good thyroid doctor.
http://www.hormonerestoration.com/Thyroid.html
Many of our members say that symptom relief required Free T4 at the middle of its range, at minimum, and Free T3 in the upper third of its range, as necessary to relieve symptoms. I say this about Free T3 because scientific studies have shown that Free T3 correlated best with hypo symptoms, while Free T4 and TSH did not correlate at all. Taking that into consideration, your Free T3 is much too low for many people. Once we know your Free T4 level, we can see if the low Free T3 is indicative of poor conversion of T4 to T3. If that is the case you may have to add a source of T3 to your meds.
One further thing to be aware of is that hypo patients are frequently too low in the ranges for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin. Low levels can cause symptoms. Low D and ferritin can adversely affect how thyroid hormone is metabolized. So you need to test and supplement as needed. D should be about 55-60, B12 in the very upper end of its range, and ferritin should be 70 minimum.